Luke 1:54-56

1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ¹  his mercy, ² 

1:55 as he promised ³  to our ancestors, ⁴  to Abraham and to his descendants ⁵  forever.”

1:56 So ⁶  Mary stayed with Elizabeth ⁷  about three months ⁸  and then returned to her home.

Luke 1:70-73

1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, ⁹ 

1:71 that we should be saved ¹⁰  from our enemies, ¹¹ 

and from the hand of all who hate us.

1:72 He has done this ¹²  to show mercy ¹³  to our ancestors, ¹⁴ 

and to remember his holy covenant ¹⁵  –

1:73 the oath ¹⁶  that he swore to our ancestor ¹⁷  Abraham.

This oath grants ¹⁸ 

[1:54]  ¹ tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.

[1:54]  ² tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”

[1:55]  ³ tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalhsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.

[1:55]  ⁴ tn Grk “fathers.”

[1:55]  ⁵ tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).

[1:56]  ⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.

[1:56]  ⁷ tn Grk “her”; the referent (Elizabeth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:56]  ⁸ sn As is typical with Luke the timing is approximate (about three months), not specific.

[1:70]  ⁹ tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”

[1:71]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”

[1:71]  ¹¹ sn The theme of being saved from our enemies is like the release Jesus preached in Luke 4:18-19. Luke’s narrative shows that one of the enemies in view is Satan and his cohorts, with the grip they have on humanity.

[1:72]  ¹² tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ¹³ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ¹⁴ tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ¹⁵ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[1:73]  ¹⁶ tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.

[1:73]  ¹⁷ tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”

[1:73]  ¹⁸ tn Again for reasons of English style, the infinitival clause “to grant us” has been translated “This oath grants” and made the beginning of a new sentence in the translation.