Luke 1:68-72

1:68 “Blessed ¹  be the Lord God of Israel,

because he has come to help ²  and has redeemed ³  his people.

1:69 For ⁴  he has raised up ⁵  a horn of salvation ⁶  for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷ 

1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, ⁸ 

1:71 that we should be saved ⁹  from our enemies, ¹⁰ 

and from the hand of all who hate us.

1:72 He has done this ¹¹  to show mercy ¹²  to our ancestors, ¹³ 

and to remember his holy covenant ¹⁴  –

[1:68]  ¹ sn The traditional name of this psalm, the “Benedictus,” comes from the Latin wording of the start of the hymn (“Blessed be…”).

[1:68]  ² sn The verb come to help can refer to a visit, but can also connote concern or assistance (L&N 85.11).

[1:68]  ³ tn Or “has delivered”; Grk “has accomplished redemption.”

[1:69]  ⁴ tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.

[1:69]  ⁵ sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.

[1:69]  ⁶ sn The horn of salvation is a figure that refers to the power of Messiah and his ability to protect, as the horn refers to what an animal uses to attack and defend (Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14; 2 Sam 22:3). Thus the meaning of the figure is “a powerful savior.”

[1:69]  ⁷ sn In the house of his servant David is a reference to Messiah’s Davidic descent. Zechariah is more interested in Jesus than his own son John at this point.

[1:70]  ⁸ tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”

[1:71]  ⁹ tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”

[1:71]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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).