Luke 1:29

1:29 But ¹  she was greatly troubled ²  by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. ³ 

Luke 1:41

1:41 When ⁴  Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped ⁵  in her ⁶  womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁷ 

Luke 1:44

1:44 For the instant ⁸  the sound of your greeting reached my ears, ⁹  the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ¹⁰ 

---

¹ 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.

² sn On the phrase greatly troubled see 1:12. Mary’s reaction was like Zechariah’s response.

³ 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).

⁴ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here either.

⁵ sn When the baby leaped John gave his first testimony about Jesus, a fulfillment of 1:15.

⁶ tn The antecedent of “her” is Elizabeth.

⁷ sn The passage makes clear that Elizabeth spoke her commentary with prophetic enablement, filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁸ tn Grk “for behold.”

⁹ tn Grk “when the sound of your greeting [reached] my ears.”

¹⁰ sn On the statement the baby in my womb leaped for joy see both 1:14 and 1:47. This notes a fulfillment of God’s promised word.