Luke 1:39

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 

Luke 1:65

1:65 All ³  their neighbors were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea all these things were talked about.

Luke 3:5

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ⁴ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

Luke 4:29

4:29 They got up, forced ⁵  him out of the town, ⁶  and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that ⁷  they could throw him down the cliff. ⁸ 

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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.

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.

³ tn Grk “And all.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

sn Fear is the emotion that comes when one recognizes something unusual, even supernatural, has taken place.

⁴ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.

⁵ tn Grk “cast.”

⁶ tn Or “city.”

⁷ tn The Greek conjunction ὥστε (Jwste) here indicates their purpose.

⁸ sn The attempt to throw him down the cliff looks like “lynch law,” but it may really be an indication that Jesus was regarded as a false prophet who was worthy of death (Deut 13:5). Such a sentence meant being thrown into a pit and then stoned.