1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering 1 his mercy, 2
1:55 as he promised 3 to our ancestors, 4 to Abraham and to his descendants 5 forever.”
1:68 “Blessed 6 be the Lord God of Israel,
because he has come to help 7 and has redeemed 8 his people.
1:69 For 9 he has raised up 10 a horn of salvation 11 for us in the house of his servant David, 12
1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, 13
1:71 that we should be saved 14 from our enemies, 15
and from the hand of all who hate us.
1:72 He has done this 16 to show mercy 17 to our ancestors, 18
and to remember his holy covenant 19 –
1:73 the oath 20 that he swore to our ancestor 21 Abraham.
This oath grants 22
1 tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.
2 tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”
3 tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalhsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.
4 tn Grk “fathers.”
5 tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).
6 sn The traditional name of this psalm, the “Benedictus,” comes from the Latin wording of the start of the hymn (“Blessed be…”).
7 sn The verb come to help can refer to a visit, but can also connote concern or assistance (L&N 85.11).
8 tn Or “has delivered”; Grk “has accomplished redemption.”
sn Has redeemed is a reference to redemption, but it anticipates the total release into salvation that the full work of Messiah will bring for Israel. This involves both spiritual and material benefits eventually.
9 tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.
10 sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.
11 sn The horn of salvation is a figure that refers to the power of Messiah and his ability to protect, as the horn refers to what an animal uses to attack and defend (Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14; 2 Sam 22:3). Thus the meaning of the figure is “a powerful savior.”
12 sn In the house of his servant David is a reference to Messiah’s Davidic descent. Zechariah is more interested in Jesus than his own son John at this point.
13 tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”
14 tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”
15 sn The theme of being saved from our enemies is like the release Jesus preached in Luke 4:18-19. Luke’s narrative shows that one of the enemies in view is Satan and his cohorts, with the grip they have on humanity.
16 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.
17 sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.
18 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.
19 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).
20 tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.
21 tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”
22 tn Again for reasons of English style, the infinitival clause “to grant us” has been translated “This oath grants” and made the beginning of a new sentence in the translation.