1:49 because he who is mighty 1 has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
1:67 Then 2 his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, 3
1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, 4
1:72 He has done this 5 to show mercy 6 to our ancestors, 7
and to remember his holy covenant 8 –
1 tn Traditionally, “the Mighty One.”
2 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
3 tn Grk “and he prophesied, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.
sn Prophesied. The reference to prophecy reflects that Zechariah is enabled by the Spirit to speak God’s will. He does so in this case through a praise psalm, which calls for praise and then gives the reason why God should be praised.
4 tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”
5 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.
6 sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Grk “in that very hour” (an idiom).
10 tn Grk “what it is necessary to say.”