Luke 1:30–37

1:30 So96 the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,97 Mary, for you have found favor98 with God! 1:31 Listen:99 You will become pregnant100 and give birth to101 a son, and you will name him102 Jesus.103 1:32 He104 will be great,105 and will be called the Son of the Most High,106 and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father107 David. 1:33 He108 will reign over the house of Jacob109 forever, and his kingdom will never end.” 1:34 Mary110 said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with111 a man?” 1:35 The angel replied,112 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow113 you. Therefore the child114 to be born115 will be holy;116 he will be called the Son of God.

1:36 “And look,117 your relative118 Elizabeth has also become pregnant with119 a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month!120 1:37 For nothing121 will be impossible with God.”

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96	tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Gabriel’s statement is a response to Mary’s perplexity over the greeting.
97	sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.
98	tn Or “grace.” sn The expression found favor is a Semitism, common in the OT (Gen 6:8; 18:3; 43:14; 2 Sam 15:25). God has chosen to act on this person’s behalf.
99	tn Grk “And behold.”
100	tn Grk “you will conceive in your womb.”
101	tn Or “and bear.”
102	tn Grk “you will call his name.”
103	tn See v. 13 for a similar construction. sn You will name him Jesus. This verse reflects the birth announcement of a major figure; see 1:13; Gen 16:7; Judg 13:5; Isa 7:14. The Greek form of the name Iēsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.
104	tn Grk “this one.”
105	sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.
106	sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.
107	tn Or “ancestor.”
108	tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.
109	tn Or “over Israel.” sn The expression house of Jacob refers to Israel. This points to the Messiah’s relationship to the people of Israel.
110	tn Grk “And Mary.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
111	tn Grk “have not known.” The expression in the Greek text is a euphemism for sexual relations. Mary seems to have sensed that the declaration had an element of immediacy to it that excluded Joseph. Many modern translations render this phrase “since I am a virgin,” but the Greek word for virgin is not used in the text, and the euphemistic expression is really more explicit, referring specifically to sexual relations.
112	tn Grk “And the angel said to her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. The pronoun αὐτῇ (autē, “to her”) has not been included in the translation since it is redundant in contemporary English.
113	sn The phrase will overshadow is a reference to God’s glorious presence at work (Exod 40:34–35; Ps 91:4).
114	tn Or “the one born holy will be called the Son of God.” The wording of this phrase depends on whether the adjective is a predicate adjective, as in the text, or is an adjective modifying the participle serving as the subject. The absence of an article with the adjective speaks for a predicate position. Other less appealing options supply a verb for “holy”; thus “the one who is born will be holy”; or argue that both “holy” and “Son of God” are predicates, so “The one who is born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
115	tc A few mss (C* Θ f1 33 pc) add “by you” here. This looks like a scribal addition to bring symmetry to the first three clauses of the angel’s message (note the second person pronoun in the previous two clauses), and is too poorly supported to be seriously considered as authentic.
116	tn Or “Therefore the holy child to be born will be called the Son of God.” There are two ways to understand the Greek phrase τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον (to gennōmenon hagion) here. First, τὸ γεννώμενον could be considered a substantival participle with ἅγιον as an adjective in the second predicate position, thus making a complete sentence; this interpretation is reflected in the translation above. Second, τὸ ἅγιον could be considered a substantival adjective with γεννώμενον acting as an adjectival participle, thus making the phrase the subject of the verb κληθήσεται (klēthēsetai); this interpretation is reflected in the alternative reading. Treating the participle γεννώμενον as adjectival is a bit unnatural for the very reason that it forces one to understand ἅγιον as substantival; this introduces a new idea in the text with ἅγιον when an already new topic is being introduced with γεννώμενον. Semantically this would overload the new subject introduced at this point. For this reason the first interpretation is preferred.
117	tn Grk “behold.”
118	tn Some translations render the word συγγενίς (sungenis) as “cousin” (so Phillips) but the term is not necessarily this specific.
119	tn Or “has conceived.”
120	tn Grk “and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.” Yet another note on Elizabeth’s loss of reproach also becomes a sign of the truth of the angel’s declaration.
121	tn In Greek, the phrase πᾶν ῥῆμα (pan rhēma, “nothing”) has an emphatic position, giving it emphasis as the lesson in the entire discussion. The remark is a call for faith.

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