Luke 1:12

1:12 And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, ¹  was seized with fear. ² 

Luke 1:29-30

1:29 But ³  she was greatly troubled ⁴  by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. ⁵  1:30 So ⁶  the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, ⁷  Mary, for you have found favor ⁸  with God!

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¹ tn The words “the angel” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

² tn Or “and he was afraid”; Grk “fear fell upon him.” Fear is common when supernatural agents appear (1:29-30, 65; 2:9; 5:8-10; 9:34; 24:38; Exod 15:16; Judg 6:22-23; 13:6, 22; 2 Sam 6:9).

³ tc Most mss (A C Θ 0130 ˹³ Ï lat sy) have ἰδοῦσα (idousa, “when [she] saw [the angel]”) here as well, making Mary’s concern the appearance of the angel. This construction is harder than the shorter reading since it adds a transitive verb without an explicit object. However, the shorter reading has significant support (א B D L W Ψ Ë¹ 565 579 1241 sa) and on balance should probably be considered authentic.

⁴ sn On the phrase greatly troubled see 1:12. Mary’s reaction was like Zechariah’s response.

⁵ tn Grk “to wonder what kind of greeting this might be.” Luke often uses the optative this way to reveal a figure’s thinking (3:15; 8:9; 18:36; 22:23).

⁶ 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.

⁷ sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.

⁸ 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.