The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke1:39–45

Mary Visits Elizabeth

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Luke 1:39–45 — Mary Visits Elizabeth. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

39

In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de en tautais tais hēmerais Mariam Anastasa eporeuthē meta spoudēs eis polin eis tēn oreinēn Iouda

Word by word16 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐνenInG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ταύταιςtautaisthoseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounDative Feminine Plural
ταῖςtaisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιςhēmeraisdaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day The dative plural in a demonstrative phrase, “in these days,” is Luke's soft historical hinge. Cambridge reads the demonstrative as “these” rather than “those” and places the journey probably within a month of the annunciation.
ΜαριὰμMariamMaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἈναστᾶσαAnastasagot readyG450
√ ἀνίστημι — to stand up (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
anistēmi: to stand up, rise The aorist participle is the hinge of the whole unit: the word of Gabriel produces motion in a body. Luke uses the same verb across his two volumes for resurrection and for setting out, and here the rising is a young woman's obedience taking its first physical step. Cambridge notes that the notion of haste is already involved in this participle before meta spoudēs repeats it.
ἐπορεύθηeporeuthē[and] hurriedG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
μετὰmeta. . .G3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
σπουδῆςspoudēs. . .G4710
√ σπουδή — "speed", iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
spoudē: speed, earnestness The noun means both hurry and diligence. JFB reads it as being transported by the announcement and by the news of Elizabeth's condition; Cambridge reads it darker, as flight from the suspicion that a betrothed virgin's visible pregnancy would raise, and Pulpit agrees that the events of Matthew 1:18 to 25 belong in the gap before this verse. The Greek fixes only the urgency, not the motive.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
πόλινpolina townG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
εἰςeisinG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ὀρεινὴνoreinēnhill countryG3714
√ ὀρεινός — mountainous, iAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
oreinos: mountainous A rare adjective: the Verifier finds it in only two verses, here and Luke 1:65, where all these sayings are talked of throughout the whole hill country of Judea. Luke names the region twice and so frames the visitation between a silent arrival and a public rumour in the same hills.
ἸούδαIoudaof JudahG2448
√ Ἰουδά — Judah (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Iouda: Judah A genitive of the tribal name, not a city name, which is why the commentators divide. Ellicott and Cambridge favour Juttah (Joshua 15:55), a priestly town; Benson, JFB, Poole, Geneva, Gill and Pulpit favour Hebron. Cambridge admits plainly that we can hardly venture to alter the reading. The Gospel leaves the town unnamed, and so should we.
40

where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai eisēlthen eis ton oikon Zachariou kai ēspasato tēn Elisabet

Word by word10 · parsed
καὶkai[where]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἰσῆλθενeisēlthenshe enteredG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eiserchomai: to enter The aorist marks a single completed crossing of a threshold. Luke gives no dialogue, no journey's end, only the entry and the greeting: the narrative weight is entirely on what the greeting does once it is heard.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
οἶκονoikonhomeG3624
√ οἶκος — a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
oikos: a dwelling, household A priestly house in the hill country. Gill notes that Mary greets Elizabeth and not Zacharias, whether because he was absent, or because being deaf and dumb he could neither hear nor return a greeting, or because custom did not have women salute men.
ΖαχαρίουZachariouof ZechariahG2197
√ Ζαχαρίας — Zacharias (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἠσπάσατοēspasatogreetedG782
√ ἀσπάζομαι — to enfold in the arms, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
aspazomai: to enfold in the arms, to greet The middle voice makes the greeting the subject's own act, and the cognate noun aspasmos (G783) is repeated twice in the next four verses (1:41, 1:44). Luke is building the whole episode on one ordinary word: a woman's hello is the instrument through which the Spirit moves.
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἘλισάβετElisabetElizabethG1665
√ Ἐλισάβετ — Elisabet, an IsraelitessNounAccusative Feminine Singular
41

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai egeneto hōs hē Elisabet ēkousen tēs Marias ton aspasmon to brephos eskirtēsen en autēs tē koilia kai hē Elisabet eplēsthē Hagiou Pneumatos

Word by word23 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγένετοegenetoWhenG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ὡςhōs. . .G5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
ἘλισάβετElisabetElizabethG1665
√ Ἐλισάβετ — Elisabet, an IsraelitessNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἤκουσενēkousenheardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
akouō: to hear The pivot of the verse is an ear. Nothing is seen, nothing is told: a voice is heard and two things happen at once, in the womb and in the mother. Gill notes that the hearing may well have preceded any sight of Mary.
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ΜαρίαςMariasMary’sG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀσπασμὸνaspasmongreetingG783
√ ἀσπασμός — a greeting (in person or by letter)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
aspasmos: a greeting The noun from v. 40's verb. Ellicott supposes the words were the usual formula, peace be with thee or the Lord be with thee, possibly with something of what the angel had said. Luke never records them, which is itself significant: the power is not in a formula but in who is carried by the one speaking.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
βρέφοςbrephosbabyG1025
√ βρέφος — an infant (properly, unborn) literally or figurativelyNounNominative Neuter Singular
brephos: an infant, properly unborn One of the load-bearing words of the unit. Because Luke calls the unborn John brephos and the newborn Jesus brephos (Luke 2:12, 2:16), and Peter uses the same noun of newborn believers craving milk (1 Peter 2:2), the noun quietly refuses the distinction English keeps between foetus and child.
ἐσκίρτησενeskirtēsenleapedG4640
√ σκιρτάω — to jump, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
skirtaō: to leap, to spring A rare verb (three verses). Poole is careful: ordinary movement in the womb after quickening is nothing unusual, but this movement was more than ordinary and so had a more than ordinary cause. Geneva calls it no ordinary or usual type of moving; JFB, citing v. 44, calls it a sympathetic emotion of the unconscious babe at the presence of the mother of his Lord. The Fallible Machine notes what the text itself does not say: Luke reports the leap and its interpretation by a Spirit-filled woman, not a claim about the infant's consciousness.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτῆςautēsherG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
κοιλίᾳkoiliawombG2836
√ κοιλία — a cavity, iNounDative Feminine Singular
koilia: a cavity, the womb The same noun runs through vv. 41, 42 and 44, binding the two wombs together. The whole episode happens between two hidden interiors and one spoken voice.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
ἘλισάβετElisabetElizabethG1665
√ Ἐλισάβετ — Elisabet, an IsraelitessNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἐπλήσθηeplēsthēwas filledG4130
√ πλήθω — to "fill" (literally or figuratively (imbue, influence, supply))VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
plēthō: to fill, imbue, supply Aorist passive. Ellicott observes that what was predicted of the child at Luke 1:15, that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, is now fulfilled abundantly in the mother herself. Gill takes it as extraordinary gift rather than ordinary grace, a spirit of prophecy.
ἉγίουHagiouwith [the] HolyG40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
ΠνεύματοςPneumatosSpiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
pneuma: a current of air, breath, Spirit The genitive with eplēsthē. Pulpit identifies this filling with the Spirit of prophecy so often mentioned in the Old Testament, and Barnes makes the same equation: joy, praise, and prophetic knowledge, all produced by the Holy Spirit. It is worth noticing that in this unit the Spirit's first recorded New Testament act on an adult produces speech in a woman.
42

In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai megalē kraugē anephōnēsen kai eipen Eulogēmenē sy en gynaixin kai eulogēmenos ho karpos tēs sou koilias

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μεγάλῃmegalēIn a loudG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
κραυγῇkraugēvoiceG2906
√ κραυγή — an outcry (in notification, tumult or grief)NounDative Feminine Singular
kraugē: an outcry A word used elsewhere of tumult and of grief. Here it is turned to benediction, and its violence is the point: the first human confession of the incarnate Lord in Luke is not a considered statement but a shout.
ἀνεφώνησενanephōnēsenshe exclaimedG400
√ ἀναφωνέω — to exclaimVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anaphōneō: to exclaim A single occurrence in the New Testament, and Luke spends it on Elizabeth. Paired with the cognate dative kraugē it makes a figure of emphasis (she called out with a calling out) that no English version keeps, and it is the verb that carries the first confession of Christ in this Gospel: a shout, before any doctrine had words.
καὶkai. . .G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΕὐλογημένηEulogēmenēBlessed areG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
eulogeō: to speak well of, to bless Perfect passive participle, feminine: a state already conferred and still standing. Ellicott notes the language is drawn from the poetry of the older Scriptures, with a singular contrast between its application there to Jael the murderess (Judges 5:24) and here to the mother of the Lord. Barnes and Poole both observe that Elizabeth repeats almost exactly the angel's own words of Luke 1:28, so the Spirit tells her what she could not have been told.
σὺsyyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
γυναιξίνgynaixinwomenG1135
√ γυνή — a womanNounDative Feminine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐλογημένοςeulogēmenosblessed isG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
eulogeō: to speak well of, to bless The same perfect participle, now masculine, attached to the child. Poole draws the necessary distinction: Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and blessed in another manner than any creature can be blessed. Gill puts it the other way round, that the mother is called blessed because her child is blessed, being that seed in whom all nations were to be blessed.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
καρπὸςkarposfruitG2590
√ καρπός — fruit (as plucked), literally or figurativelyNounNominative Masculine Singular
karpos: fruit With koilias it forms the Hebraic idiom for offspring (as in Psalm 132:11 and Genesis 30:2 in the Greek). Benson hears in it the promised seed in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed, citing Psalm 72:17.
τῆςtēsofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
κοιλίαςkoiliaswombG2836
√ κοιλία — a cavity, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
43

And why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai pothen moi touto hina hē mētēr tou mou Kyriou elthē pros eme

Word by word13 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πόθενpothenwhyG4159
√ πόθεν — from which (as interrogative) or what (as relative) place, state, source or causeAdverb
pothen: from what source The question is about origin, not merit. Benson paraphrases it as how have I deserved this honour; the Greek word is closer to Elizabeth asking where such a thing could possibly have come from. It is the same form of astonishment that David speaks in 2 Samuel 6:9, how can the ark of the LORD come to me.
μοιmoiam IG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
τοῦτοtoutoso [honored]G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ἵναhinathatG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
μήτηρmētērmotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounNominative Feminine Singular
mētēr: mother Cambridge is precise about the limit of the title: she does not address Mary as Domina but as mater Domini, and expressions such as Theotokos and Mother of God are unknown to Scripture. Gill argues the opposite way, that since she is parent of the child who is in union with him who is truly Lord and God, she may be called the mother of God in that sense. The brief preserves both; the text itself says only mother of my Lord.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
μουmoumyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ΚυρίουKyriouLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
kyrios: supreme in authority, Lord The weightiest word in the unit. An unborn child is called Kyrios by a woman filled with the Spirit, before any miracle, any teaching, any resurrection. JFB, quoting Olshausen, says we shall never be able to see the propriety of calling an unborn child Lord except by supposing Elizabeth enlightened like the prophets of old to perceive the Messiah's divine nature. Barnes will not go so far, holding only that she used it of great dignity and honour. The Fallible Machine sides with the majority here while recording Barnes's caution.
ἔλθῃelthēshould comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come or go The subject of the coming is the mother, but the astonishment is about who comes with her. Luke's grammar quietly makes Mary the visible term and the Lord the hidden one, which is the whole shape of the visitation.
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
ἐμέememeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
44

For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar idou hōs hē phōnē tou sou aspasmou egeneto eis mou ta ōta to brephos en mou tē koilia eskirtēsen en agalliasei

Word by word22 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἰδοὺidouas soonG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
idou: behold A frozen imperative used as a discourse marker. It is the Septuagint's word for calling a witness to look, and here it introduces Elizabeth's evidence: she is telling Mary how she knows.
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
φωνὴphōnēsoundG5456
√ φωνή — a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial)NounNominative Feminine Singular
phōnē: a tone, a sound The chain of causation Elizabeth reports runs sound, ear, leap. Poole notes that by these words she declares she looked on the motion of the child, at Mary's salutation, as something more than natural. Gill calls it the signal by which she knew the mother of her Lord had come.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ἀσπασμοῦaspasmougreetingG783
√ ἀσπασμός — a greeting (in person or by letter)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐγένετοegenetoreachedG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
μουmoumyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ὦτάōtaearsG3775
√ οὖς — the ear (physically or mentally)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
βρέφοςbrephosbabyG1025
√ βρέφος — an infant (properly, unborn) literally or figurativelyNounNominative Neuter Singular
brephos: an infant, properly unborn The second use of the noun in four verses, and Elizabeth's own word for her unborn son. Luke will use it next for the newborn Jesus in the manger (Luke 2:12, 2:16); the same evangelist uses it of children brought to Jesus (Luke 18:15) and of the infants exposed in Egypt (Acts 7:19).
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
μουmoumyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
κοιλίᾳkoiliawombG2836
√ κοιλία — a cavity, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐσκίρτησενeskirtēsenleapedG4640
√ σκιρτάω — to jump, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
skirtaō: to leap, to spring The verb repeats from v. 41, and here it is joined to a noun of joy. Luke 6:23, the only other verse in the New Testament with this verb, commands the persecuted to leap for joy in that day because their reward is great in heaven: the same rare word, the same joy, once involuntary in a womb and once commanded of disciples.
ἐνenforG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἀγαλλιάσειagalliaseijoyG20
√ ἀγαλλίασις — exultationNounDative Feminine Singular
agalliasis: exultation A rare noun, five verses. It names the joy proper to salvation seen and recognised, and Luke has already used its family at 1:14 for the joy at John's birth and will use the cognate verb at 1:47 for Mary's spirit exulting in God her Saviour. The forerunner's first prophecy is not speech but this.
45

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord’s word to her will be fulfilled.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai makaria hē pisteusasa hoti Kyriou tois lelalēmenois autē para estai teleiōsis

Word by word12 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μακαρίαmakariaBlessed [is]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
makarios: supremely blest The Beatitude word, spoken over a woman for believing before any promise had visibly come true. It is worth setting beside Luke 11:28, where Jesus answers a blessing on his mother's womb with a blessing on those who hear the word of God and keep it. Poole makes exactly that comparison: Mary was blessed not so much in bringing forth Christ as in believing in him.
ἡhēshe whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
πιστεύσασαpisteusasahas believedG4100
√ πιστεύω — to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
pisteuō: to have faith, to believe The unit's verdict. Gill sets it against Zacharias, a man, a man in years, a priest by office, who disbelieved a lesser thing for which there were precedents in Sarah and Hannah, while a young woman believed a thing without precedent. JFB reads the same contrast as tacit and delicate. Luke has built two annunciations so that the difference between them is faith.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΚυρίουKyriou[the] Lord’sG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῖςtoisvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
λελαλημένοιςlelalēmenoiswordG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveDative Neuter Plural
laleō: to talk, to speak A Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, dative neuter plural, with the article: “to the things having been spoken,” a completed speaking whose effects stand. The perfect tense does the theological work: God's word, once said, remains said.
αὐτῇautēto herG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
παρὰparaG3844
√ παρά — properly, nearPreposition
ἔσταιestaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
τελείωσιςteleiōsisfulfilledG5050
√ τελείωσις — (the act) completion, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
teleiōsis: completion, perfecting The rarest word in the unit and the last word of Elizabeth's prophecy. It appears only here and at Hebrews 7:11, where the writer asks what further need there would have been if teleiōsis had come through the Levitical priesthood. Luke sets the noun in the mouth of a priest's wife, standing in a priestly town, about a child not of Aaron's line. The link is lexical and checkable; what is drawn from it here is synthesis, not source.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The rising and the road — Luke 1:39 to 1:40

⚙ Luke opens with an aorist participle, Ἀναστᾶσα (anistēmi, G450): Mary having risen up. Cambridge observes that the notion of haste is already carried in that participle before μετὰ σπουδῆς repeats it. Where the haste comes from, the commentators divide honestly. JFB reads her as transported by the announcement and by the tidings of Elizabeth's condition. Gill reads it as going to make use of the sign the angel had given, for the further confirmation of her faith, and Poole agrees she went not only to rejoice with her kinswoman but to strengthen her own faith. Cambridge and Pulpit read it darker, placing the suspicion and the dream of Matthew 1:18 to 25 in the gap before this verse, so that the haste is flight to the sympathy of an aged kinswoman. Luke supplies the speed and withholds the motive.

The destination is equally withheld. The Greek says only εἰς πόλιν εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν Ἰούδα, into a city, into the hill country of Judah. Benson, JFB, Poole, Geneva, Gill and Pulpit make it Hebron, the great priestly city; Ellicott and Cambridge prefer Juttah of Joshua 15:55, and Cambridge concedes that we can hardly venture to alter the reading. Barnes simply says all is conjecture. Ellicott adds the one thing worth keeping from the whole dispute: if it was a priestly city within Judah, the journey brought the Virgin not far from the very spot where she would give birth. Then two clauses close the movement: she entered a house, and she greeted a woman. The house is Zacharias's, and Gill notes the greeting goes to Elizabeth and not to him, whether because he was absent or because, struck dumb, he could neither hear a greeting nor return one.

ii. The sound, the leap, the filling — Luke 1:41

⚙ Everything in this verse turns on a single ordinary noun, ἀσπασμὸν (aspasmos, G783), a greeting. Ellicott supposes the words were the usual formula, peace be with thee, and Luke never records them: the power is not in the syllables but in who is carried by the one saying them. What follows is two simultaneous events that no one arranged. The rare verb ἐσκίρτησεν (skirtaō, G4640, three verses in the New Testament) says the βρέφος leaped. Poole's caution is exact and worth keeping: movement in the womb after quickening is nothing unusual, but this movement was more than ordinary, and so had a more than ordinary cause. Geneva puts it in six words, that this was no ordinary or usual type of moving. JFB, reading back from v. 44, calls it a sympathetic emotion of the unconscious babe at the presence of the mother of his Lord. Cambridge supplies the lexical fact underneath all of it: this is the Septuagint's verb for the twins struggling in Rebekah's womb at Genesis 25:22.

Then ἐπλήσθη, aorist passive: she was filled. Ellicott notices the symmetry precisely, that what had been promised of the child at Luke 1:15 is now fulfilled abundantly in the mother. Barnes lists what the filling produced (joy, praise, prophetic knowledge) and refers all of it to the Spirit; Pulpit names it the Spirit of prophecy so often mentioned in the Old Testament; Gill distinguishes extraordinary gifts from the ordinary graces she already had. ⚙ The Fallible Machine adds only this observation, offered as synthesis and not as a sourced claim: the Spirit's first recorded act in Luke's Gospel upon an adult produces speech, and the mouth it opens is a woman's, in a house where the priest has been silenced.

iii. The cry, and the question in it — Luke 1:42 to 1:44

⚙ Elizabeth does not speak; she shouts. ἀνεφώνησεν (G400, once in the New Testament) with the cognate dative κραυγῇ (G2906, an outcry, used elsewhere of tumult and grief) gives a Greek redundancy English cannot keep: she cried out with a cry. Cambridge records that Codex B has the stronger word kraugē here for phōnē. What she cries is not her own: Barnes and Poole both note she repeats almost exactly the angel's words of Luke 1:28, which she had no natural way of knowing. Ellicott traces the phrase further back, to the poetry of the older Scriptures, and marks the singular contrast between its application there to the murderess Jael (Judges 5:24) and here to the mother of the Lord. Cambridge lists the same field of parallels (Ruth 3:10, Jael in Judges 5:24, and Judith, which is outside the canon and which we record only as Cambridge's own reference) and then fixes the difference: in those cases the blessing is pronounced by women, here the word means blessed by God. Pulpit widens it: the language of both women in this chapter is drawn from Hannah's song, Deborah's hymn, the psalms and the prophets.

The double perfect participle Εὐλογημένη and εὐλογημένος is the same form said twice, over the mother and over the fruit of her womb, and Poole will not let the repetition level them: Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and blessed in another manner than any creature can be blessed. Then comes the question. πόθεν asks not why but from what source, and the sentence has no verb at all: and whence to me this. Ellicott says the contrast with her own great son leaves no room for doubt that she used Κυρίου in its highest sense, and Pulpit quotes Plumptre to the same effect; JFB, citing Olshausen, says we could never see the propriety of calling an unborn child Lord except by supposing Elizabeth enlightened like the prophets of old. Barnes dissents in the careful direction, holding only that she used it of great dignity and honour. Cambridge draws the boundary on the other side: she does not call Mary Domina but mater Domini, and Theotokos is unknown to Scripture, while Gill argues that since the child is in union with him who is truly Lord and God, the title may in that sense be allowed. We print the disagreement rather than settle it. Verse 44 then gives Elizabeth's evidence: ἰδοὺ, behold, the bare φωνὴ of a greeting entered her ears and the babe leaped ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, which Cambridge corrects from for joy to in exultation.

iv. Blessed is she who believed — Luke 1:45

⚙ The last word of Elizabeth's prophecy is not about a child but about faith, and Luke changes vocabulary to mark it: not eulogēmenē now but μακαρία (G3107), the Beatitude word. JFB hears the comparison it implies, an additional benediction on the Virgin for her implicit faith, in tacit and delicate contrast with her own husband. Gill makes the contrast explicit and it is devastating: Zacharias, a man in years, a priest by office, doubted a thing for which Sarah and Hannah were precedent, while a young woman believed a thing without precedent at all. Poole draws the consequence that Luke 11:28 will later draw for us, that Mary was blessed not so much in bringing forth Christ as in believing in him. Barnes adds that she was blessed not only in the act of believing but because the thing promised would certainly be fulfilled.

The clause hangs on ὅτι, and Ellicott states the ambiguity plainly: for and that are equally tenable grammatically, and he prefers that, since the alternative appears to make the fulfilment of the promise depend on the Virgin's faith. Cambridge, JFB and Benson all record the same split, Benson noting that Campbell's reading is also the reading of the margin. The noun she ends on is τελείωσις (G5050), a completion, and the Verifier finds it in only one other verse in all the New Testament: Hebrews 7:11, where teleiōsis is exactly what the Levitical priesthood could not give.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the Fallible Machine's own reading, offered under Sola Scriptura to be tested and discarded if it fails. The visitation is Luke's quietest argument, and it is made almost entirely out of hidden things. Two wombs, one greeting, no miracle anyone could photograph. Yet in these seven verses the whole order of the Gospel is already set: the Lord arrives before he is announced, and he is recognised by joy before he is recognised by argument. John the forerunner does his office before he has a voice; the first prophecy about Christ in the New Testament is a movement, not a sentence, and only afterwards does the Spirit give Elizabeth the words for it. Note what Luke refuses to say. He does not say the child knew. He says the child leaped, and that a Spirit-filled woman interpreted the leap. That restraint should govern ours.

Notice too where the speech happens. The priest of the house is dumb (Luke 1:20) because he asked for a sign; his wife, filled with the Spirit, shouts in his house what he cannot say. The only mouth open in a priestly home belongs to a woman, and what she says is the first confession of Jesus as Kyrios in the Gospel. If that is right, the last word of her prophecy is not decoration: teleiōsis, completion, the noun Hebrews 7:11 will use to say that the Levitical priesthood never delivered it. The silence of Zacharias and the fullness of Elizabeth are the old order and the new, standing in one room.

And the verdict pronounced is not on a womb but on a faith. Elizabeth's final beatitude falls on believing, which is precisely where Jesus will put it himself when a woman in the crowd blesses the womb that bore him (Luke 11:27 to 28). The mother of the Lord is honoured here for the thing every reader can imitate: she believed there would be a completion of what was spoken to her, before there was anything to see.

The forerunner's first sermon had no words in it: he leaped, and a Spirit-filled woman told everyone what it meant. (This line is the tool's fallible synthesis, not a verse of Scripture.)

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Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The leap that becomes a command verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The verb Luke uses twice for the unborn John, ἐσκίρτησεν (skirtaō, G4640), is one of the rarest verbs in the Gospel: the Verifier finds the lexeme in only three verses of the New Testament, and two of them are in this unit. The third is Luke 6:23, where Jesus tells the persecuted to rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because their reward is great in heaven. The same evangelist, the same rare word: once involuntary in a womb at the nearness of Christ, once commanded of disciples under hatred. Verse 44 attaches the noun ἀγαλλιάσει to the leap, and Luke 6:23 attaches the same field of exultation to the command. None of the commentators in this brief draws this link; the lexeme count is the Verifier's.

Luke 6:23

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4640 σκιρτάω, found in only 3 verses in the New Testament (Luke 1:41, Luke 1:44, Luke 6:23); also shared G2400 ἰδού and G2250 ἡμέρα. Both texts are Greek and both are Luke, so the verbal link is real; it is a shared rare lexeme, not a quotation of one text by the other.

τελείωσις: the completion the priesthood could not give verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Elizabeth's prophecy ends on τελείωσις (teleiōsis, G5050), a noun the Verifier finds in exactly two verses of the New Testament: Luke 1:45 and Hebrews 7:11. In Hebrews the word carries the whole argument: if teleiōsis had come through the Levitical priesthood, what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek? The Verifier notes that Hebrews 7:11 also shares ἀνίστημι (G450) with Luke 1:39, the verb of Mary's rising and of the priest's arising. ⚙ The setting sharpens it: a priest's wife, in a priestly town in the hill country of Judah (so Benson, JFB, Poole, Geneva and Gill, who argue for Hebron), says that the things spoken to Mary will reach completion, and the child in question is not of Aaron's line. The lexical link is checkable; the reading drawn from it is synthesis, and no commentator in this brief makes it.

Hebrews 7:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5050 τελείωσις, found in only 2 verses in the New Testament (Luke 1:45, Hebrews 7:11); also shared G450 ἀνίστημι (in 107 vv). Greek to Greek, so a genuine verbal link; neither text quotes the other.

βρέφος: one word for the child before and after birth verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Luke calls the unborn John βρέφος in vv. 41 and 44, and then calls the newborn Jesus βρέφος in Luke 2:12 and 2:16, the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. The lexicon glosses the noun as an infant, properly unborn. The Verifier finds the lexeme in only eight verses, and the range is instructive: Luke 18:15 (the infants brought to Jesus), Acts 7:19 (the infants exposed in Egypt), 2 Timothy 3:15 (Timothy knowing the Scriptures from infancy), 1 Peter 2:2 (newborn babes craving pure milk). ⚙ Luke does not change the noun at the moment of birth, in either nativity. This is an observation about vocabulary; what anyone builds on it is another matter, and nothing in this brief builds anything on it.

Luke 2:12 · Luke 2:16 · Luke 18:15 · 1 Peter 2:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1025 βρέφος, found in only 8 verses (Luke 1:41, 1:44, 2:12, 2:16, 18:15, Acts 7:19, 2 Timothy 3:15, 1 Peter 2:2). Greek to Greek across one author and beyond; a rare shared lexeme, not a quotation.

The hill country: silent arrival, public rumour verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The adjective ὀρεινὴν (oreinos, G3714) occurs in only two verses in the New Testament, and both are in Luke 1: here, where Mary comes into the hill country unnoticed, and Luke 1:65, where after John's birth and the loosing of Zacharias's tongue all these sayings are talked of throughout the whole hill country of Judea. Gill notes that the Septuagint uses this same word for the hill country of Joshua 10:40. ⚙ Luke frames the visitation between the two occurrences: what enters the hills in secret leaves them as public report.

Luke 1:65

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3714 ὀρεινός, found in only 2 verses (Luke 1:39, Luke 1:65). Greek to Greek within one chapter; a rare shared lexeme forming an inclusio, not a quotation.

“Blessed are you among women”: Jael, Ruth, and the reversal structural / thematic: confirmed

✦ Ellicott states the link and its irony directly: the language is taken from the poetry of the older Scriptures, and there is a singular contrast between its application there to the murderess Jael (Judges 5:24) and here to the mother of the Lord. Cambridge adds Ruth 3:10 and, on a far lower level of meaning, Jael, and fixes the difference: in those cases the blessing is pronounced by women, but here the word means blessed by God. Pulpit widens the frame to Hannah's song, Deborah's hymn and the psalms as the shared idiom of both women in this chapter. ⚙ The formula that once crowned a woman who drove a tent peg through a general's temple now crowns a woman who carries the Lord in her body; the shape of the praise is kept and its content is inverted.

Judges 5:24 · Ruth 3:10

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek New Testament to Hebrew Old Testament), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed and no verbal tier is possible. The basis is the shared benediction formula named by Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit, who cite Judges 5:24 by chapter and verse. Luke does not present it as a quotation and no citation formula appears.

Children struggling in the womb: Rebekah and Elizabeth structural / thematic: confirmed

✦ Cambridge supplies the fact in one line: the same word is applied to unborn babes in Genesis 25:22, LXX. There the twins struggle together in Rebekah's womb and she goes to enquire of the LORD, and the answer is a word about two nations and the elder serving the younger. ⚙ Here the movement in the womb is again a sign requiring interpretation, and again the interpretation is given to the mother; but Luke's ἐσκίρτησεν is joy rather than contention, and the two children in view are in two different women. The link runs through the Septuagint's Greek, which is why it cannot be scored as a shared Strong's lexeme between a Hebrew and a Greek text.

Genesis 25:22

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew Old Testament to Greek New Testament): no shared Strong's number can be computed, so this cannot be tiered verbal. The recorded basis is Cambridge's own lexical observation that the Septuagint of Genesis 25:22 uses this verb, plus the shared motif of prenatal movement read as a sign.

The ark comes up into the hill country typological

⚙ The closest Old Testament analogue to this scene is 2 Samuel 6. David rises and goes up to bring the ark of the LORD from the hill country of Judah; when the ark strikes Uzzah down he cries out, how can the ark of the LORD come to me? (2 Samuel 6:9); the ark then remains three months in the house of Obed-edom, who is blessed (2 Samuel 6:11); and when it is finally brought up David leaps and dances before it (2 Samuel 6:16). Luke's sequence runs the same four beats in the same order: Mary rises and travels into the hill country of Judah, Elizabeth cries whence to me this, that the mother of my Lord should come to me (1:43), the child leaps (1:41, 1:44), and Mary remains about three months (1:56). ⚙ Honesty requires this to be said plainly: not one of the ten commentators in this brief draws the parallel. Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit reach for Judges 5:24 and Hannah's song, not for 2 Samuel 6. The correspondence is real at the level of narrative shape, and the reading built on it is the Fallible Machine's own.

2 Samuel 6:9 · 2 Samuel 6:11 · 2 Samuel 6:16

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew Old Testament to Greek New Testament): shared Strong's lexemes cannot be computed and no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is a four point sequence correspondence (rising and going into the hill country of Judah; the cry how can it come to me; three months in a house with blessing; leaping before the Lord). Figural, not quotation. Not drawn by any commentator in this brief, so it is offered as a novel typological reading, not a received one.

The mother of the king, honoured typological

⚙ Elizabeth's astonishment is not that a relative visits but that the mother of my Lord does. The Old Testament office behind that phrase is the gebirah, the mother of the reigning king: at 1 Kings 2:19 Solomon rises to meet his mother, bows to her, and has a throne set at his right hand. ⚙ The honour Elizabeth reckons too great for herself is the honour Israel's court gave the king's mother. Cambridge, in the same breath, draws the limit sharply: she does not address Mary as Domina but as mater Domini, and Theotokos and Mother of God are unknown to Scripture; Gill argues the other way. The royal background is the Fallible Machine's observation and no commentator in this brief names 1 Kings 2:19.

1 Kings 2:19

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew Old Testament to Greek New Testament): no shared Strong's lexeme is computable, so no verbal tier. Basis is the royal court institution of the king's mother receiving honour, set against Elizabeth's honorific for the mother of my Lord. Figural and novel to this brief; deliberately tiered typological rather than structural because the connection is an institutional pattern, not a shared motif in the texts themselves.

Which city in the hill country? Hebron, Juttah, or unnamed flagged: verify source

✦ The commentators do not agree and one of them says why. Benson proposes Hebron, which belonged to the house of Aaron; JFB gives Hebron citing Joshua 20:7 and 21:11; Poole gives Hebron but says whether it was so or not cannot be certainly determined; Geneva says flatly that a city of Juda is Hebron, formerly Kirjatharba; Gill argues at length for Hebron as a city peculiar to the priests; Pulpit records a rabbinical tradition in the Talmud placing Zacharias at Hebron. Against them, Ellicott and Cambridge prefer Juttah of Joshua 15:55 and 21:16, Cambridge crediting the conjecture to Reland and then admitting that we can hardly venture to alter the reading, and noting that tradition names Ain Karim. Barnes says all is conjecture. ⚙ The Greek says only a city, in the hill country of Judah, using the tribal name and no city name at all.

Joshua 15:55 · Joshua 21:11

basis: Provenance is contested among the sources themselves: six commentators (Benson, JFB, Poole, Geneva, Gill, Pulpit) say Hebron, two (Ellicott, Cambridge) prefer Juttah as a textual conjecture from Reland, Barnes calls it conjecture, and Cambridge also reports the tradition of Ain Karim. Cross-Testament in any case, so no verbal tier. Flagged rather than confirmed: the identification cannot be established from the text.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Kyrios before the cradle ancient/widely-held

The first person in Luke's Gospel to call Jesus Κύριος is a pregnant woman speaking about a child who has not been born, and who is perhaps days old in the womb. ✦ Ellicott holds that the contrast with her own great son (Luke 1:15) leaves no room for doubt that she used the word Lord in its highest sense, and Pulpit quotes Dean Plumptre to exactly the same effect, adding that the Spirit revealed to her that the Babe was not only the promised Messiah but the Son of the Highest. ✦ JFB, quoting Olshausen, presses it hardest: turn this as we will, we shall never be able to see the propriety of calling an unborn child Lord, except by supposing Elizabeth, like the prophets of old, enlightened to perceive the Messiah's divine nature. ✦ Poole says she acknowledges both the incarnation and the union of the divine and human nature in the one person of the Mediator. ✦ Barnes is the dissenting voice and deserves to be heard: the word can mean master or teacher, and it is clear only that Elizabeth used it as denoting great dignity and honour. ⚙ The Fallible Machine judges the majority right, on the grammar of the contrast Ellicott names, while recording that Barnes's caution is honest and that Luke gives no definition of the term. Either way the order matters: the confession precedes the birth, the ministry, the cross and the resurrection. Nothing had yet been done that could be used as evidence.

Luke 1:43 · Luke 1:15 · John 20:28

The forerunner's first prophecy has no words in it ancient/widely-held

John's office is to go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, and he begins in the womb. ✦ Gill states the mechanism: the motion was not natural but supernatural, made at hearing the voice of Mary, and by it he gave the first notice of the conception of the Messiah, as he afterwards pointed him out with his finger and made him manifest to Israel. ✦ Benson reads the leap as transported with joy, as if sensible of the approach of Him whose forerunner he was appointed to be. ✦ JFB calls it a sympathetic emotion at the presence of the mother of his Lord; ✦ Geneva, tersely, no ordinary or usual type of moving; ✦ Poole grants that ordinary movement is common but insists this had a more than ordinary cause. ⚙ What the text says and does not say should be kept apart. Luke reports a leap and reports a Spirit-filled woman's interpretation of it, and he uses a rare verb of exultation to do it. He does not report the infant's knowledge. That is enough: the first witness borne to Christ in the New Testament is joy, and it is borne by someone who could not yet speak, which is a fair picture of how recognition of Christ generally begins.

Luke 1:41 · Luke 1:44 · Luke 1:15 · John 1:29

Completion where the priesthood ended novel

⚙ Elizabeth's last word is τελείωσις (G5050), and the only other verse in the New Testament that uses it is Hebrews 7:11, where the writer argues that if completion had come through the Levitical priesthood there would have been no need of another priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Verifier confirms the lexeme count (two verses). The scene makes the coincidence worth weighing: the speaker is a priest's wife, of the daughters of Aaron (Luke 1:5); the house is a priest's house in a priestly town, if Benson, JFB, Poole, Geneva and Gill are right about Hebron; the priest himself is dumb; and the completion she announces belongs to a child of David's line, not Aaron's. ⚙ This is the Fallible Machine's reading and it is novel here: not one commentator in this brief connects Luke 1:45 with Hebrews 7:11, and the case rests on the rare shared noun plus the priestly setting, not on any citation. We offer it to be tested.

Luke 1:45 · Hebrews 7:11 · Luke 1:5

Faith, not flesh, is what gets the beatitude ancient/widely-held

The unit ends by blessing a believer, not a womb, and Luke will make that explicit later when a woman in the crowd blesses the womb that bore Jesus and he answers, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. ✦ Poole makes the connection in advance: Mary was blessed not in this so much, that she brought forth Christ, as in this, that she believed in him. ✦ Gill measures her faith against Zacharias, a man in years and a priest by office, who doubted a thing for which Sarah, Hannah and Manoah's wife were precedents, while she believed a thing that had no precedent at all. ✦ JFB calls the comparison tacit and delicate. ✦ Barnes adds that she was blessed not only in the act of believing but because the thing promised would certainly be fulfilled, though he then turns the verse into a polemic against praying to Mary, which belongs to his controversy and not to Luke's sentence. ⚙ The redemptive-historical point is simple and it is the unit's own: the way anyone receives Christ is the way Mary did, by believing there will be a completion of what was spoken, before there is anything to see.

Luke 1:45 · Luke 1:38 · Luke 11:28

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0); the interlinear surface forms, transliterations, Strong's numbers and parsings are from the Berean interlinear as supplied in the brief. The lexicon glosses are Strong's and several are truncated in the source data (for example G782 ἀσπάζομαι reads “to enfold in the arms, i” and G2836 κοιλία reads “a cavity, i”); where a gloss is cut off we have not silently completed it beyond what the parse and context support.

Variant noted by a source. Cambridge reports that at Luke 1:42 Codex B reads kraugē, cry, for phōnē, voice. The Berean text underlying this unit has κραυγῇ. We record the variant as Cambridge states it and have not consulted the manuscripts ourselves.

What is genuinely uncertain here. (1) The city is unnamed in the Greek, which says only a city in the hill country of Judah; the Hebron and Juttah identifications are both conjecture and are flagged as such in the threads. (2) At Luke 1:45 the conjunction ὅτι can be rendered “for” or “that,” changing whether Elizabeth gives the ground of the beatitude or the content of Mary's faith; Ellicott says both are equally tenable grammatically and Benson notes Campbell's reading is the margin's. Our literal rendering keeps “that” and flags the choice. (3) What the leap of the child means about the child's own awareness is not stated by Luke; Poole, Geneva, JFB, Gill and Benson all press beyond the text to some degree, and our notes mark the boundary.

Sources used with care. Cambridge's parallel at Luke 1:42 includes Judith, which is outside the canon; we report it only as Cambridge's own reference and do not treat it as Scripture. Gill at Luke 1:44 cites Targum, Zohar and Talmud traditions that infants sang at the Red Sea; those are rabbinic sources adduced by Gill, not evidence for Luke. Barnes at Luke 1:45 attaches a long polemic against Roman Catholic devotion to Mary; we quote only his exegesis of the clause and note the polemic's existence rather than reproducing it. Gill and Cambridge stand in direct opposition on whether Mary may be called the mother of God; both are printed and neither is adopted.

Machine layer. Everything marked ⚙ is this tool's fallible synthesis: the 2 Samuel 6 ark correspondence, the 1 Kings 2:19 royal mother background, the Luke 1:45 to Hebrews 7:11 reading, and the observation about the silenced priest and the speaking woman are all ours and are drawn by none of the ten commentators in this brief. The thread bases citing shared Strong's lexemes and their frequencies are the Verifier's computed output. Cross-Testament threads carry no verbal tier because shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed between Hebrew and Greek texts, and that limitation is stated in each such basis.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)