Discovery BoxLuke 1:31-33 
Context1:31 Listen: 1 You will become pregnant 2 and give birth to 3 a son, and you will name him 4 Jesus. 5 1:32 He 6 will be great, 7 and will be called the Son of the Most High, 8 and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father 9 David. 1:33 He 10 will reign over the house of Jacob 11 forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
1 tn Grk “And behold.”
2 tn Grk “you will conceive in your womb.”
3 tn Or “and bear.”
4 tn Grk “you will call his name.”
5 tn See v. 13 for a similar construction.
sn You will name him Jesus. This verse reflects the birth announcement of a major figure; see 1:13; Gen 16:7; Judg 13:5; Isa 7:14. The Greek form of the name Ihsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.
6 tn Grk “this one.”
7 sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.
8 sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.
9 tn Or “ancestor.”
10 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.
11 tn Or “over Israel.”
sn The expression house of Jacob refers to Israel. This points to the Messiah’s relationship to the people of Israel.
