Luke 1:39-45

Mary and Elizabeth

1:39 In those days ¹  Mary got up and went hurriedly into the hill country, to a town of Judah, ²  1:40 and entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 1:41 When ³  Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped ⁴  in her ⁵  womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁶  1:42 She ⁷  exclaimed with a loud voice, ⁸  “Blessed are you among women, ⁹  and blessed is the child ¹⁰  in your womb! 1:43 And who am I ¹¹  that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me? 1:44 For the instant ¹²  the sound of your greeting reached my ears, ¹³  the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ¹⁴  1:45 And blessed ¹⁵  is she who believed that ¹⁶  what was spoken to her by ¹⁷  the Lord would be fulfilled.” ¹⁸ 

[1:39]  ¹ sn The expression In those days is another general time reference, though the sense of the context is that the visit came shortly after Mary miraculously conceived and shortly after the announcement about Jesus.

[1:39]  ² sn The author does not say exactly where Elizabeth stayed. The location is given generally as a town of Judah. Judah is about a three day trip south of Nazareth.

[1:41]  ³ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here either.

[1:41]  ⁴ sn When the baby leaped John gave his first testimony about Jesus, a fulfillment of 1:15.

[1:41]  ⁵ tn The antecedent of “her” is Elizabeth.

[1:41]  ⁶ sn The passage makes clear that Elizabeth spoke her commentary with prophetic enablement, filled with the Holy Spirit.

[1:42]  ⁷ tn Grk “and she.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:42]  ⁸ tn Grk “and she exclaimed with a great cry and said.” The verb εἶπεν (eipen, “said”) has not been included in the translation since it is redundant in contemporary English.

[1:42]  ⁹ sn The commendation Blessed are you among women means that Mary has a unique privilege to be the mother of the promised one of God.

[1:42]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “fruit,” which is figurative here for the child she would give birth to.

[1:43]  ¹¹ tn Grk “From where this to me?” The translation suggests the note of humility and surprise that Elizabeth feels in being a part of these events. The ἵνα (Jina) clause which follows explains what “this” is. A literal translation would read “From where this to me, that is, that the mother of my Lord comes to visit me?”

[1:44]  ¹² tn Grk “for behold.”

[1:44]  ¹³ tn Grk “when the sound of your greeting [reached] my ears.”

[1:44]  ¹⁴ sn On the statement the baby in my womb leaped for joy see both 1:14 and 1:47. This notes a fulfillment of God’s promised word.

[1:45]  ¹⁵ sn Again the note of being blessed makes the key point of the passage about believing God.

[1:45]  ¹⁶ tn This ὅτι (Joti) clause, technically indirect discourse after πιστεύω (pisteuw), explains the content of the faith, a belief in God’s promise coming to pass.

[1:45]  ¹⁷ tn That is, “what was said to her (by the angel) at the Lord’s command” (BDAG 756 s.v. παρά A.2).

[1:45]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that there would be a fulfillment of what was said to her from the Lord.”