The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Luke1:46–56

Mary’s Song

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Luke 1:46–56 — Mary’s Song. 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.

46

Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai Mariam eipen mou hē psychē Megalynei ton Kyrion

Word by word9 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΜαριάμMariamMaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounNominative Feminine Singular
Μαρία: Maria or Mariam Luke keeps the Semitic form Mariam here (and again at v. 56), not the Hellenized Maria. The singer is named before the song so that the song cannot be detached from her station: a betrothed girl of a broken royal house in Nazareth.
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Bare aorist of saying. Luke spends no word on ecstasy.
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
ψυχήpsychēsoulG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
ψυχή: breath, the animate life The first of the paired terms. In the Septuagint of 1 Samuel 2:1 Hannah's exulting is of the heart and horn; here it is soul and spirit, the standard Hebrew doubling for the undivided self. Poole: “Soul and spirit are but two words signifying the same thing,” teaching that praise with the lips is of no significance without the heart.
ΜεγαλύνειMegalyneimagnifiesG3170
√ μεγαλύνω — to make (or declare) great, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μεγαλύνω: to make or declare great The Septuagint verb of Psalm 34:3, “magnify the LORD with me.” Barnes is careful that it does not mean to make great in fact but to increase in our estimation, to extol. The root reappears in this unit as the neuter plural μεγάλα at v. 49: she declares Him great, and the great things are His doing, not hers. The title of the whole hymn in Western use, Magnificat, is simply the Latin of this one word.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΚύριονKyrionLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
κύριος: supreme in authority The accusative object of the magnifying. Every later act in the song (scattering, casting down, filling, taking hold) has this same subject.
47

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai mou to pneuma ēgalliasen epi tō Theō mou tō Sōtēri

Word by word11 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μουmoumyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
πνεῦμάpneumaspiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
πνεῦμα: breath, current of air The second half of the Hebrew doubling begun in v. 46.
ἠγαλλίασενēgalliasenrejoicesG21
√ ἀγαλλιάω — properly, to jump for joy, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀγαλλιάω: to jump for joy A violent verb of gladness, used in the Septuagint Psalter for festal shouting and in Luke 1:44 of the unborn John leaping in the womb. The same joy runs through both cousins and both children in this scene; the verb is the link Luke leaves for the reader to find.
ἐπὶepiinG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΘεῷTheōGodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounDative Masculine Singular
θεός: God The dative of the object rejoiced over, not merely the source of the joy.
μουmoumyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΣωτῆρίSōtēriSaviorG4990
√ σωτήρ — a deliverer, iNounDative Masculine Singular
σωτήρ: a deliverer The pivot of the whole canticle. Cambridge supplies the Old Testament ground (Isaiah 45:21, “a just God and a Saviour”) and the later Pauline usage, “God our Saviour,” 1 Timothy 1:1 and Titus 3:4. JFB draws the doctrinal consequence bluntly: a woman who needs a Savior is not sinless. Benson agrees from the other side, that she rejoiced in salvation through faith in Him, a blessing common to all believers, more than in being His mother in the flesh.
48

For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hoti epeblepsen epi tēn tapeinōsin tēs autou doulēs apo tou nyn pasai hai geneai gar idou me makariousin

Word by word18 · parsed
ὅτιhotiForG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἐπέβλεψενepeblepsenHe has looked with favorG1914
√ ἐπιβλέπω — to gaze at (with favor, pity or partiality)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιβλέπω: to gaze at with favor or pity A rare verb (three verses). James 2:3 uses it of a congregation's eye falling on fine clothing and passing over the poor man; here God's eye does the exact opposite. Barnes gathers the principle from Romans 2:11, that God is not a respecter of persons, and from Psalm 138:6 and Isaiah 57:15, that He looks to the lowly.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ταπείνωσινtapeinōsinhumble stateG5014
√ ταπείνωσις — depression (in rank or feeling)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
ταπείνωσις: depression in rank or feeling A rare noun (four verses), and the seed of the song's whole reversal: the adjective from the same root, ταπεινούς, returns at v. 52 as those God lifts. Cambridge links the phrase to Hagar (Genesis 16:11) and to Hannah's vow (1 Samuel 1:11). Gill reads it doubly, of her outward poverty in a reduced house of David and of the low estate of every child of Adam.
τῆςtēsofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
δούληςdoulēsservantG1399
√ δούλη — a female slave (involuntarily or voluntarily)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
δούλη: a female slave Her own self-designation at the annunciation, taken up now as the standing description of the person God looked at. The relationship claimed is possession, not merit.
ἀπὸapoFromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
νῦνnynnow onG3568
√ νῦν — "now" (as adverb of date, a transition or emphasis)Adverb
νῦν: now The hinge of the sentence: a fixed point from which all future generations are counted. The conception has already happened.
πᾶσαιpasaiallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
αἱhaiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
γενεαίgeneaigenerationsG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Plural
γὰρgarvvvG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἰδοὺidouvvvG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἰδού: lo, behold An aorist imperative doing the work of a particle; the Greek Old Testament's standard attention marker, common enough (226 verses) to carry no weight of its own.
μεmevvvG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
μακαριοῦσίνmakariousinwill call me blessedG3106
√ μακαρίζω — to beatify, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
μακαρίζω: to pronounce happy Very rare (two verses). Its only other New Testament occurrence, James 5:11, pronounces happy those who endured, and points to Job's end: the same verb, the same logic of a verdict passed after the suffering rather than before it. Gill compares Leah at Genesis 30:13; Barnes grants the beatitude and denies that it warrants prayer to her.
49

For the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hoti ho dynatos epoiēsen megala moi kai hagion autou to onoma

Word by word11 · parsed
ὅτιhotiForG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
δυνατόςdynatosMighty OneG1415
√ δυνατός — powerful or capable (literally or figuratively)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
δυνατός: powerful, capable The title answers Gabriel's word at Luke 1:37, that nothing will be impossible with God. Poole notes the direction of the whole song: the virgin attributes all to God and ascribes nothing to herself.
ἐποίησένepoiēsenhas doneG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ποιέω: to make or do The same verb opens v. 51, “He did might.” What He did for her and what He does in the world are one act, described twice.
μεγάλαmegalagreat thingsG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
μέγας: great Neuter plural without a noun, a Septuagint idiom for God's saving deeds (Psalm 71:21, Psalm 126:3, both cited by Cambridge). Benson presses the Exodus association through the Septuagint usage.
μοιmoifor meG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἅγιονhagionHoly [is]G40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
ἅγιος: sacred, set apart Predicate adjective, fronted. Barnes takes the name as standing for the essential being of God, derived from the verb “to be” at Exodus 3:14, and therefore not to be used commonly or profanely (Exodus 20:7). Gill draws the point back to the conception itself: the great thing was done without impurity, so that the human nature assumed could be a sacrifice.
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὄνομαonomanameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounNominative Neuter Singular
ὄνομα: name, authority, character Standing in for God Himself, as in Psalm 111:9.
50

His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autou to eleos eis tois phoboumenois auton geneas kai geneas

Word by word11 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ἔλεοςeleosmercyG1656
√ ἔλεος — compassion (human or divine, especially active)NounNominative Neuter Singular
ἔλεος: compassion, active mercy The keyword of the song's last movement. Poole hears in it the promise to be the God of Abraham and his seed, and notes that the wording is almost that of Psalm 103:17. Gill ties it to the incarnation specifically, as the mercy remembered in v. 54.
εἰςeis[extends]G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoisto thoseG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
φοβουμένοιςphoboumenoiswho fearG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveDative Masculine Plural
φοβέω: to fear, revere Present participle, continuous. Barnes: not the fear of a servant toward a cruel master, but of a dutiful child toward a kind father, a fear of injuring his feelings, of dishonoring him by our life. Geneva glosses it plainly as those who live godly and religiously, as the Hebrews say. The recipients of the mercy are marked by posture, not by descent, which is the hinge Ellicott presses toward the nations.
αὐτόνautonHimG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
γενεὰςgeneasfrom generationG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounAccusative Feminine Plural
γενεά: a generation Accusative of extent of time. The same noun stood in v. 48 for the generations who will call her happy; the two lines measure the same span from opposite ends, her name and His mercy running together to the end.
καὶkaitoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γενεὰςgeneasgenerationG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounAccusative Feminine Plural
51

He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Epoiēsen kratos en autou brachioni dieskorpisen hyperēphanous dianoia autōn kardias

Word by word10 · parsed
ἘποίησενEpoiēsenHe has performedG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κράτοςkratosmighty deedsG2904
√ κράτος — vigor ("great") (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
κράτος: vigor, might The cognate object of epoiēsen. The idiom is Septuagintal, and it is the first of six aorists that carry the rest of the song. Cambridge calls these aorists gnomic: they state what God normally does, not one past episode, which is why the reversals can be sung as accomplished before the child is born.
ἐνenwithG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
βραχίονιbrachioniarmG1023
√ βραχίων — the arm, iNounDative Masculine Singular
βραχίων: the arm Rare (three verses). Its other uses are Acts 13:17, where Paul says God brought Israel out of Egypt with an uplifted arm, and John 12:38, where Isaiah 53:1 asks to whom the arm of the LORD has been revealed. Between those two the term names both the Exodus and the crucified Servant; Mary's line stands inside that arc. Cambridge gives the Psalter parallel, Psalm 89:13.
διεσκόρπισενdieskorpisenHe has scatteredG1287
√ διασκορπίζω — to dissipate, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὑπερηφάνουςhyperēphanous[those who are] proudG5244
√ ὑπερήφανος — appearing above others (conspicuous), iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ὑπερήφανος: appearing above others Rare (five verses). The etymology is visual, showing oneself over others. Its other occurrences cluster in one sentence quoted twice, James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Barnes reads the scattering historically, of Assyria, Egypt and Babylon coming against the people of God; Gill reads it of the contemporary expectation that Messiah would come from a noble Judean house.
διανοίᾳdianoiain [the] thoughtsG1271
√ διάνοια — deep thought, properly, the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication, its exerciseNounDative Feminine Singular
αὐτῶνautōnof theirG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καρδίαςkardiasheartsG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart Genitive governing dianoia: the thought that belongs to the heart. The defeat happens at the point of the proud man's planning, not at the point of his strength.
52

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

katheilen dynastas apo thronōn kai hypsōsen tapeinous

Word by word7 · parsed
καθεῖλενkatheilenHe has brought downG2507
√ καθαιρέω — to lower (or with violence) demolish (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθαιρέω: to lower, to demolish A verb of physical handling rather than of policy: what one takes down with this word is a tent, a wall, or a body. Luke's other use of it, at 23:53, is Joseph of Arimathea taking the body of Jesus down from the cross, so the Gospel that here empties thrones with this verb later uses it of a corpse. Cambridge would render the whole line as a standing rule, “He puts down potentates from thrones,” since the aorists are gnomic and do not express single acts.
δυνάσταςdynastasrulersG1413
√ δυνάστης — a ruler or officerNounAccusative Masculine Plural
δυνάστης: a ruler or officer Rare (three verses). Cognate with the divine title of v. 49; the song sets the only true dynatos against every human dynastēs.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
θρόνωνthronōn[their] thronesG2362
√ θρόνος — a stately seat ("throne")NounGenitive Masculine Plural
θρόνος: a stately seat The same noun Gabriel used eighteen verses earlier, promising the child the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32). Thrones are emptied in this line and one is filled in that one.
καὶkai[but]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὕψωσενhypsōsenhas exaltedG5312
√ ὑψόω — to elevate (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὑψόω: to elevate Paired with katheilen as its exact reverse. Cambridge gathers the biblical commonplace behind the couplet: Luke 18:14, Daniel 4:30, 1 Samuel 2:6-10, Psalm 113:6-8, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, and adds that the ancients noticed the same wheel of fortune without drawing the true lesson from it.
ταπεινούςtapeinous[the] humbleG5011
√ ταπεινός — depressed, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ταπεινός: depressed, low Rare (eight verses), cognate with tapeinōsis in v. 48. Benson applies the reversal to the royal line itself: the highest of David's descendants expected the honor, and a person in the meanest condition of all the royal seed was raised to it.
53

He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

eneplēsen peinōntas agathōn kai exapesteilen ploutountas kenous

Word by word7 · parsed
ἐνέπλησενeneplēsenHe has filledG1705
√ ἐμπίπλημι — to fill in (up), iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐμπίπλημι: to fill up, satisfy Rare (five verses). Its counterweight inside Luke is 6:25, “Woe to you who are well fed now,” where the same root and the same adverb nyn appear; the song and the sermon on the plain use one vocabulary.
πεινῶνταςpeinōntas[the] hungryG3983
√ πεινάω — "pine")VerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀγαθῶνagathōnwith good thingsG18
√ ἀγαθός — "good" (in any sense, often as noun)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
ἀγαθός: good Genitive of content. Cambridge supplies the Old Testament ground: Isaiah 65:13, “My servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry,” with Isaiah 25:6 and Psalm 34:10.
καὶkai[but]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξαπέστειλενexapesteilenhas sentG1821
√ ἐξαποστέλλω — to send away forth, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πλουτοῦνταςploutountas[the] rich {away}G4147
√ πλουτέω — to be (or become) wealthy (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
πλουτέω: to be or become wealthy Present participle, “ones being rich,” matching “ones hungering.” Both parties are described by what they are doing, not by what they own. Gill reads the rich here as those rich in their own opinion and works, who come full as the Pharisee came and are sent away as they came; Ellicott allows both the literal and the spiritual fulfilment.
κενούςkenousemptyG2756
√ κενός — empty (literally or figuratively)AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
κενός: empty Final word of the line. Henry states the principle flatly: He will satisfy the desires of the poor in spirit, while the self-sufficient shall be sent empty away.
54

He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

antelabeto autou paidos Israēl mnēsthēnai eleous

Word by word6 · parsed
ἀντελάβετοantelabetoHe has helpedG482
√ ἀντιλαμβάνομαι — to take hold of in turn, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἀντιλαμβάνομαι: to take hold of in turn Rare (three verses). Its other uses are Paul at Acts 20:35, supporting the weak, and 1 Timothy 6:2, of those who benefit from service. Poole: the word signifies “he hath sustained, or as it were lifted up with his hand.” The image assumes Israel is down, not merely disadvantaged.
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
παιδὸςpaidosservantG3816
√ παῖς — a boy (as often beaten with impunity), or (by analogy), a girl, and (genitive case) a childNounGenitive Masculine Singular
παῖς: a child, a servant The Servant of Isaiah 41:8-9 and 42:1, which Ellicott identifies with the nation and, elsewhere, with the nation's Head. Gill reads the double sense as deliberate: the helplessness that requires help, and the adoption that motivates it.
ἸσραὴλIsraēlIsraelG2474
√ Ἰσραήλ — Israel (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Ἰσραήλ: Israel The first plural noun in the song that is not a class of people (proud, rulers, hungry, rich) but the covenant nation. From here to the end the hymn has no first person singular at all; Maclaren notes that the personal element fades entirely.
μνησθῆναιmnēsthēnairememberingG3403
√ μιμνήσκω — to remind, iVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
μιμνήσκω: to remind, to be brought to mind Aorist passive infinitive of purpose. Benson explains the biblical idiom: God is said signally to remember His people when, after a long oppression in which He seemed to have forgotten them, He works a mighty salvation. Remembering here is an act, not a mental event.
ἐλέουςeleousto be mercifulG1656
√ ἔλεος — compassion (human or divine, especially active)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
55

as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kathōs elalēsen pros hēmōn tous pateras tō Abraam kai tō autou spermati eis ton aiōna

Word by word15 · parsed
καθὼςkathōsasG2531
√ καθώς — just (or inasmuch) as, thatAdverb
ἐλάλησενelalēsenHe promisedG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λαλέω: to talk, to speak Aorist. The plainest possible verb for the act that founds the covenant; the weight is in who spoke and to whom, not in the manner.
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
ἡμῶνhēmōnourG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Plural
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
πατέραςpaterasfathersG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
πατήρ: a father The forefathers of the nation. Ellicott and JFB both read the clause as a parenthesis, which changes the sentence: the mercy is remembered toward Abraham and his seed, and the fathers are those to whom the remembering was announced.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἈβραὰμAbraamto AbrahamG11
√ Ἀβραάμ — Abraham, the Hebrew patriarchNounDative Masculine Singular
Ἀβραάμ: Abraham The last proper name in the song and the earliest in its history. Barnes points to Genesis 22:17-18 for the promise in view; Poole to Genesis 17 and to the extent of the promise as argued in Romans 9:6-9. The hymn's argument is finally not about what God has just done but about what He swore centuries before.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
σπέρματιspermatidescendantsG4690
√ σπέρμα — something sown, iNounDative Neuter Singular
σπέρμα: something sown, seed Singular, and the last substantive of the covenant clause. The root sense is agricultural, something sown and therefore expected to come up, which is why the Greek Old Testament can use it of a nation and of a single descendant without strain. Cambridge sets Galatians 3:16 beside it, where Paul rests an argument on this very number; Gill takes it as the spiritual seed among Jews and Gentiles to the end of the world. The Greek decides neither question: it says only that the mercy runs to Abraham and to what was sown from him.
εἰςeisvvvG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸνtonvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
αἰῶναaiōnaforeverG165
√ αἰών — properly, an ageNounAccusative Masculine Singular
αἰών: an age The closing word of the canticle, and a term of duration rather than a metaphysical one: Strong's root is properly “an age,” and eis ton aiōna is the Septuagint's regular rendering for the Hebrew le-olam of covenant oaths. JFB hears in it the perpetuity of Messiah's kingdom as Gabriel had promised it at Luke 1:33, which ends the hymn exactly where the annunciation ended. It measures the oath, not the singer.
56

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Mariam Emeinen syn autē hōs treis mēnas kai hypestrepsen eis autēs ton oikon

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΜαριὰμMariamMaryG3137
√ Μαρία — Maria or Mariam (iNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἜμεινενEmeinenstayedG3306
√ μένω — to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μένω: to stay, to abide Three months of shared waiting, which JFB stands back to marvel at: an ordinary roof over two women whose progeny “have made the world new.”
σὺνsynwithG4862
√ σύν — with or together (but much closer than G3326 (μετά) or G3844 (παρά)), iPreposition
αὐτῇautē[Elizabeth]G846
√ 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
ὡςhōsfor aboutG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
τρεῖςtreisthreeG5140
√ τρεῖς — "three"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
τρεῖς: three Gill supplies a concrete reason the number matters: three months was the fixed rabbinic waiting period for determining whether a woman was with child, in cases of divorce or death. On that reckoning the visit itself functioned as the confirmation of the sign Gabriel had given her in Elizabeth's pregnancy.
μῆναςmēnasmonthsG3376
√ μήν — a monthNounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiand thenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὑπέστρεψενhypestrepsenreturnedG5290
√ ὑποστρέφω — to turn under (behind), iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὑποστρέφω: to turn back A Lukan signature verb (twenty-one occurrences in this Gospel, per Cambridge). The narrative closes the way Luke habitually closes scenes, by sending people home.
εἰςeisvvvG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
αὐτῆςautēsvvvG846
√ 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
τὸνtonvvvG3588
√ 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
οἶκος: a dwelling Nazareth. Poole and Gill both note that the events of Matthew 1:18-25, Joseph's discovery and the angel's reassurance, belong in the true order of the history at this point; Luke says nothing of them.

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 quiet introduction, and a song that is almost entirely borrowed — 1:46-1:47

Luke gives the greatest song in his Gospel two words of setting: Καὶ Μαριὰμ εἶπεν, “And Mary said.” Pulpit makes the contrast do real work: Elizabeth “was filled with the Holy Ghost” and spoke “with a loud voice,” while Mary, on this occasion, shows no sign of a sudden visitation, and Pulpit infers that she had been living under that influence continuously since the annunciation, so that “hence the quiet introduction to her hymn.” Then comes the borrowing. Ellicott states it as plain fact: the song “is manifestly based upon that of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), both in its opening words and in much of its substance.” Cambridge is blunter still, that it is “so full of Hebraisms as almost to form a mosaic of quotations from the Old Testament.” JFB adds the musical image, that the strain of Hannah's ancient song “is caught up, and just slightly modified and sublimed.” Maclaren meets head on the critical argument that this borrowing proves forgery, and turns it around: “must the simple village maiden be a poetess because she is the mother of our Lord?” The absence of originality, he argues, favours its genuineness. ⚙ Worth noticing what the Greek adds to all this: the first verb, Μεγαλύνει, is present, and the second, ἠγαλλίασεν, is aorist, which Cambridge identifies as gnomic. The song begins in the middle of an act and immediately steps back into what God characteristically does.

ii. Why the ground of the song is a social fact, not a feeling — 1:48-1:49

Two rare words carry v. 48. ἐπέβλεψεν (three verses in the New Testament) is the favorable gaze; ταπείνωσιν (four verses) is the low condition gazed at. Geneva glosses the noun literally, “My baseness, that is, my base estate: so that the virgin did not boast of her deserts, but the grace of God,” and Poole insists that the translators were right to render it “low estate,” adding that “Mary doubtless doth not here commend her own humility.” Gill gives the material detail: David's house “had its seat not at Jerusalem, but at Nazareth, in Galilee,” and she was betrothed to a carpenter. Cambridge places her with Hagar (Genesis 16:11) and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11). So the ground of the praise is not her virtue but her position, and the verb of the crowd's response, μακαριοῦσίν, is future and passive toward her: Benson, following Doddridge, presses that it means “shall call me happy,” since the Greek for “blessed” proper is eulogētos. Then v. 49 names the doer: ὁ δυνατός, which Cambridge identifies with El Shaddai and Gibbôr, and the deed, μεγάλα, which Benson shows the Septuagint uses for the miracles in Egypt and the wilderness. Barnes and Cambridge agree that “holy is His name” means God Himself is holy, Shem being a reverent Hebrew periphrasis.

iii. Six aorists, and whether they report history or state a law — 1:50-1:53

From v. 51 the song turns to a run of aorists: He did might, He scattered, He pulled down, He lifted, He filled, He sent away. Pulpit reads them prophetically, that Mary “speaks or writes as though the future had become the past.” Cambridge reads them grammatically, that “the aorists throughout are gnomic, i. e. they do not express single but normal acts,” and would translate “He puts down potentates from thrones.” ⚙ These two readings are not rivals so much as two ends of one claim, and the Greek slightly favours Cambridge, since gnomic aorist is a recognised category and the verse pairs are proverbial in shape. Poole supplies the historical instances without deciding the grammar: “thus he did by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar,” and on the other side “thus he exalted Moses, Joseph, Jacob, David.” The vocabulary is pointedly rare: βραχίων (three verses), δυνάστης (three verses), ὑπερήφανος (five verses), ταπεινός (eight verses), ἐμπίπλημι (five verses). Geneva catches the picture in the scattering verb, “Even as the wind does to the chaff,” and records honestly that the dative διανοίᾳ may mean either that He scattered them along with the imagination of their hearts or that He scattered them by means of it. Ellicott notes that the couplet of v. 53 anticipates the beatitudes of Luke 6:21, and Pulpit exclaims at how the virgin “caught the thought, almost the very words,” of the sermon her Son would preach thirty years later.

iv. The song stops being about her — 1:54-1:56

Maclaren observes the structure: “in the earlier part the personal element is present, and in the later it fades entirely.” The last two verses have no first person singular at all. ἀντελάβετο is, per Cambridge, literally “took by the hand,” and points to Isaiah 41:8-9 in the Greek; Barnes gives the same force, “to take hold of one, to help him up when he is in danger of falling.” Ellicott identifies παιδὸς as the Servant title of the later chapters of Isaiah, “identified with the nation, as elsewhere with the nation's Head,” and draws a dating inference from it: at the time Luke wrote, the rejection rather than the restoration of Israel was the dominant thought, so an unclouded hope like this one reads as early. Cambridge repunctuates v. 55 so that “to Abraham and his seed” attaches to “to remember His mercy,” with “even as He spake to our fathers” as a parenthesis, and Ellicott independently argues the same construction from the Greek; JFB agrees that the sense requires the clause to be read as a parenthesis, and cites Micah 7:20 and Psalm 98:3. Then the song ends and Luke returns to household prose: three months, and home. Gill notes that three months was exactly the rabbinic waiting period by which it was determined whether a woman was with child, which makes the stay itself a kind of confirmation. JFB stands back at the scene: “What an honored roof was that which, for such a period, overarched these cousins!”

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

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The Magnificat is not a poem about a humble woman; it is a poem about a God who looks down and then acts downward, and the woman is the evidence. Read the vocabulary as a chain and the structure appears without any help from us. ταπείνωσιν in v. 48 is the low condition God looked at; ταπεινούς in v. 52 is the class He lifts, from the same root; and δυνατός, the Mighty One who did great things to her in v. 49, is the same root as δυνάστας, the potentates He takes down off their thrones in v. 52. Put those two pairs side by side and the private mercy and the public reversal are the one act described twice, once in the singular and once in the plural. That is why we think Cambridge's gnomic aorist is the better reading of the six past tenses: Mary is not predicting that God will do something, and not only recalling that He once did, but naming what He is like, with herself as the case in hand. The song's nerve is that the case in hand is not yet visible to anyone. Nothing has fallen. Herod is on his throne, Rome is intact, the rich are eating, and a pregnant girl in a hill town of Judah says all of it is already over, on the strength of an oath sworn to Abraham and a child not yet born. If she is wrong, the song is delusion. If she is right, then every arrangement of power described in v. 52 is being scored against a verdict already entered. We also take Barnes's caution seriously: the beatitude of v. 48 is real (“it is therefore right to consider her as highly favored or happy”), and it terminates on God, since the very next clause makes the Mighty One the actor and her the recipient. The line printed as our pullquote is machine commentary, not Scripture, and should be tested against the text and discarded if it fails.

She does not ask God to pull the thrones down; she sings as though the pulling were finished, and the only evidence on the table is that He looked at her.

⚙

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.

Hannah's song: the mould the Magnificat was poured into structural / thematic: confirmed

Every commentator in this brief says it. Ellicott: the song “is manifestly based upon that of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), both in its opening words and in much of its substance.” Cambridge: “closely analogous to the Song of Hannah.” JFB: the strain of Hannah's ancient song “is caught up, and just slightly modified and sublimed.” Barnes notes the striking similarity, and Maclaren answers the critics who call the resemblance fatal to its authenticity. The correspondences run phrase by phrase: the exulting heart, the raising of the poor from the dust, the full hiring themselves out for bread while the hungry cease to hunger (1 Samuel 2:5), the LORD who brings low and lifts up (1 Samuel 2:7). ⚙ Notice, though, that this is a link of pattern and diction, not of citation: Luke never says “as it is written,” and no clause of the Magnificat reproduces a clause of 1 Samuel 2 word for word.

1 Samuel 2:1-10 · 1 Samuel 1:11

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek text against a Hebrew original), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible by construction and no verbal tier is available; the wording is Hannah's and the Psalter's rather than a quotation formula. Basis is the recorded judgment of Ellicott, Cambridge, JFB, Barnes and Maclaren that the hymn is modelled on Hannah's, plus the shared motif set (lowliness regarded, the mighty brought low, the hungry filled). Cambridge adds 1 Samuel 1:11 for the phrase about the low estate of the handmaid.

Two rare words that travel together: the proud and the lowly verbal / quotation: confirmed

The pair ὑπερηφάνους and ταπεινούς in vv. 51 and 52 is not a general contrast; both words are rare, and they occur together elsewhere in the New Testament only in one sentence, quoted twice, that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes. ⚙ Both of those apostolic texts are themselves quoting Proverbs 3:34 in Greek, which means Mary, James and Peter are drawing on a common stock of Greek Old Testament wording rather than on each other.

James 4:6 · 1 Peter 5:5

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5244 ὑπερήφανος (in 5 vv) and G5011 ταπεινός (in 8 vv), both rare, occurring as the same contrasted pair. All refs are New Testament, Greek to Greek, so the verbal tier is legitimate; the link is one of shared Septuagintal diction, not of one text citing another.

Her humiliation and the Servant's: ταπείνωσις in Luke's two volumes verbal / quotation: confirmed

ταπείνωσιν (G5014) stands in only four verses of the New Testament, and the one that matters most is in Luke's own second volume: the Ethiopian is reading Isaiah 53 aloud, “in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who will declare his generation” (Acts 8:33). The Verifier records both that noun and γενεά as shared. Cambridge, commenting on Luke 1:48, points to exactly this verse for the sense of the word: “The word may be rendered humiliation, Acts 8:33.” ⚙ The result is that Luke uses the same rare noun for the state God looked at in Mary and for the state of the Servant whose generation no one can declare, and then in Acts has the evangelist begin from that verse and preach Jesus.

Acts 8:33

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5014 ταπείνωσις (in 4 vv, rare) and G1074 γενεά (in 37 vv). Both refs are New Testament and by the same author, so the verbal tier applies; note that Acts 8:33 is itself quoting Isaiah 53:8 in Greek, so the Isaianic link behind it would be cross-Testament and is not claimed here as verbal.

The slave woman: the annunciation word repeated, and Joel's promise verbal / quotation: confirmed

When Gabriel finished, Mary answered “Behold the δούλη of the Lord” (Luke 1:38); eight verses later that is still the only word she uses for herself. The noun stands in just three verses of the New Testament, and the third is Peter at Pentecost quoting Joel: “on My menservants and My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Acts 2:18). The Verifier records the shared lexeme in both cases. ⚙ Read forward, the term she chose for her own nothingness is the term Joel had already chosen for those on whom the Spirit would fall.

Luke 1:38 · Acts 2:18

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1399 δούλη (in 3 vv, rare), plus G3137 Μαρία and G2400 ἰδού with Luke 1:38, and G4151 πνεῦμα with Acts 2:18. All refs are New Testament, Greek to Greek. The onward link from Acts 2:18 to Joel 2:29 is a Greek to Hebrew link and is deliberately not claimed as verbal here.

The arm: Exodus deliverance and the Servant nobody believed verbal / quotation: confirmed

βραχίων (G1023) appears in only three New Testament verses, and Mary has one of them. The second is Paul in the synagogue at Antioch: God exalted the people in Egypt and “with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land” (Acts 13:17), where the Verifier also records the shared ὑψόω and Ἰσραήλ. The third is John's citation of Isaiah 53:1, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed” (John 12:38). Poole explains the figure itself, that God is spoken of as having an arm by which no more is signified than a mighty power, and Benson reports Grotius grading finger, hand and arm, with the arm reserved for the Red Sea (Exodus 15:16).

Acts 13:17 · John 12:38

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1023 βραχίων (in 3 vv, rare) with both refs, plus G5312 ὑψόω (in 16 vv) and G2474 Ἰσραήλ (in 66 vv) with Acts 13:17. All refs are New Testament, Greek to Greek. The Exodus 15:16 and Isaiah 53:1 backgrounds are cross-Testament and are stated here as commentary, not as a verbal claim.

The Magnificat and the sermon on the plain verbal / quotation: confirmed

Ellicott notes that the couplet of v. 53 anticipates the beatitudes as Luke reports them, and Pulpit is astonished that the virgin caught “the thought, almost the very words” of the sermon preached thirty years later. The Verifier gives the mechanism: Luke 6:25 shares the participle πεινάω, the rare verb ἐμπίπλημι and the adverb νῦν with this unit. ⚙ The overlap is one author's vocabulary, which is a real and checkable link and also the reason it should not be pressed as proof of literary dependence in either direction.

Luke 6:25 · Luke 6:21

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3983 πεινάω (in 23 vv), G1705 ἐμπίπλημι (in 5 vv, rare) and G3568 νῦν (in 140 vv) with Luke 6:25; Luke 6:21 is added as the matching beatitude on the same vocabulary. All refs are New Testament and by the same author. The direction of dependence is not claimed.

The oath to Abraham: mercy that was sworn, not felt structural / thematic: confirmed

The song ends on an oath. Cambridge repunctuates v. 55 so that the object of remembering is the mercy promised “to Abraham and his seed for ever,” and cites Micah 7:20, “Thou wilt perform … the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old,” with Galatians 3:16 on the singular seed. JFB adds Psalm 98:3. Poole carries it back to the covenant itself in Genesis, and Barnes to Genesis 22:17-18. ⚙ This is why ἔλεος in vv. 50 and 54 should not be read as leniency: in this register it renders Hebrew chesed, sworn covenant loyalty, and the last word of the hymn, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, is the term of the oath, not a flourish.

Micah 7:20 · Genesis 22:17 · Genesis 17:7 · Psalm 103:17

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed and no verbal tier is possible. Basis is the recorded citation of Micah 7:20 by Cambridge and JFB, of Genesis 22:17-18 by Barnes, of the Abrahamic promise by Poole and Gill, and of Psalm 103:17 by Poole for the near-identical wording of v. 50; the link is of covenant formula and motif, not of quotation.

The closed womb opened: a type Luke sets beside her typological

Luke does not give this song to a barren woman who has been given a child. He gives it to a virgin, standing inside the house of a barren woman who has been given a child. The commentators supply the separate links: Cambridge sets Mary's low estate beside Hagar (Genesis 16:11) and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11), and Ellicott, Cambridge, JFB and Barnes all derive the hymn itself from Hannah's. ⚙ The figure is what those links make when laid together. From Sarah onward the Scriptures tell of wombs shut and then opened by God alone, and what comes out of them is a song saying that the shut and the low are where God works. Elizabeth is the last of that line; Mary is not in it. Nothing in her was closed, and what she is given is not a child late but a child with no father. Offered to be tested, not asserted.

1 Samuel 1:11 · Genesis 16:11 · Genesis 21:1-2 · Luke 1:7

basis: Figural, and deliberately not verbal: the Hebrew refs stand against a Greek text, so no shared Strong's basis exists or is claimed. The sourced part is Cambridge's citation of Hagar (Genesis 16:11) and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11) at Luke 1:48 and the unanimous derivation of the hymn from Hannah's song. The figural step, reading the barren-womb narratives as a type that the virgin conception stands outside of rather than inside, is widely held in Christian tradition but is asserted by no voice in this brief; treat it as ours and test it.

Psalm 89:19 and the verb “helped”: a link we cannot check flagged: verify source

JFB glosses ἀντελάβετο in v. 54 by comparing Psalm 89:19, “I have laid help on One that is mighty.” Cambridge instead takes the verb literally as “took by the hand” and sends the reader to Isaiah 41:8-9 in the Greek. ⚙ We record both and press neither. The English word “help” is doing the connecting in JFB's note; whether the Greek verb here answers the Greek of that Psalm is exactly the kind of claim that cannot be settled from shared Strong's numbers across the Testaments, and the Verifier offers no basis for it. Ellicott's Isaiah 41:8 identification of the Servant with the nation is the better supported of the two proposals, and even that is a structural reading.

Psalm 89:19 · Isaiah 41:8

basis: Provenance contested. The Psalm 89:19 connection is JFB's alone and rests on the English rendering “help”; no shared lexeme basis exists or could exist for a Greek to Hebrew pair, and the Verifier returned no candidate for it. Isaiah 41:8 is on firmer ground (Cambridge cites the Greek of Isaiah 41:8-9 for ἀντιλαμβάνομαι, Ellicott and Barnes for the Servant title), but it too is cross-Testament and would at most be structural. Flagged so the reader checks before repeating either.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Savior she rejoices in is the child she is carrying ancient/widely-held

The hinge is Σωτῆρί in v. 47. Ellicott holds that the choice of the word was determined by the meaning of the name she had been told to give her Son. Benson says she turns her thoughts here to Christ Himself, who was to be born of her, and that she rejoiced in hope of salvation through faith in Him more than in being His mother in the flesh. Gill reaches the same place from the other direction, that the consideration of Christ as God her Savior “gave her greater joy, than being the mother of him as man.” JFB draws the negative consequence: a woman singing of her Savior is not claiming to be sinless. Barnes and Poole both insist she praises God as one who had regarded her, not as one who owed her. ⚙ The structure of the Greek presses the same way, since the whole song has one subject: He looked, He did, He scattered, He pulled down, He lifted, He filled, He took hold. She is never the subject of a saving verb.

Luke 1:47 · Luke 2:11 · Isaiah 45:21

The arm of the LORD, revealed where nobody looked ancient/widely-held

Mary sings that God “did might with His arm” (v. 51). The only other uses of βραχίων in the New Testament are Paul's account of the Exodus (Acts 13:17) and John's citation of Isaiah, “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (John 12:38), which John applies to the unbelief that met Jesus. Gill already reads v. 51 this way, that the strength shown with His arm is the working out of salvation by one “mighty to save, and travelling in the greatness of his strength,” citing Isaiah 63:1. ⚙ Taken together, the arm that split the sea is the arm revealed in a Servant who was not believed, and Mary names it while the arm in question is an embryo. The identification of the arm of the LORD with Christ is the ancient reading recorded in John's own citation.

John 12:38 · Isaiah 53:1 · Acts 13:17

The reversal He sang about, He underwent novel

v. 52 is built from two verbs, καθεῖλεν and ὕψωσεν, and one rare adjective, ταπεινούς. ⚙ Each of the three reappears at the center of the apostolic account of Christ Himself: He humbled Himself and God exalted Him (Philippians 2:8-9), and the verb Luke uses here for taking potentates down off thrones is the verb he uses at Luke 23:53 for taking a body down from a cross. Cambridge's reading of the aorists as gnomic makes this more than a play on words: if the couplet states God's normal way of acting, then the deepest instance of it is not a king deposed but the Son who went down before He was lifted. We mark this as our own reading. The kenosis pattern is ancient and universally held; the specific pairing of Luke's katheilen and hypsōsen in the Magnificat with Philippians 2 is not claimed by any voice in this brief, and should be tested rather than repeated on our authority.

Philippians 2:8-9 · Luke 23:53 · Luke 18:14

The Servant taken by the hand, and the oath that stood behind Him ancient/widely-held

v. 54 calls Israel God's παῖς. Ellicott identifies the term as the Servant of the later chapters of Isaiah, who at Isaiah 41:8 is the nation and elsewhere the nation's Head (Isaiah 42:1). Cambridge translates the verb literally, “took by the hand,” pointing to the Greek of Isaiah 41:8-9, and repunctuates the sentence so that the mercy remembered is the mercy sworn to Abraham, citing Micah 7:20 and Galatians 3:16 on the singular seed. Poole reads “Israel” here as believers, Abraham's seed who lived in the faith and expectation of the Messiah, and Gill likewise as the elect of both Jew and Gentile. ⚙ The Greek noun σπέρματι is singular, which is the whole of Paul's argument in Galatians 3:16; we do not claim Luke intends Paul's point, only that the same singular stands in the text.

Isaiah 41:8-9 · Isaiah 42:1 · Galatians 3:16 · Micah 7:20

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)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • 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: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers; the eleven verses of this unit are all Greek, and every parse, gloss and lexeme frequency cited above comes from that apparatus rather than from our own analysis.

What is uncertain. (1) Attribution. A small number of Old Latin witnesses read “Elizabeth said” at v. 46 instead of “Mary said,” and the question has been argued in the modern period; no voice in this brief raises it, and the Greek manuscript tradition supports Mary, which is what the text above follows. We record the variant so the reader knows it exists. (2) The tense question. Cambridge's claim that the aorists of vv. 51 to 53 are gnomic and Pulpit's claim that they are prophetic past tenses are genuinely different readings of the same forms; we lean to Cambridge but the choice is interpretive, not settled by the parse, which reports only aorist indicative active. (3) The punctuation of vv. 54 and 55. Ellicott, Cambridge and JFB all argue that “as He spake to our fathers” is a parenthesis and that “to Abraham and his seed” depends on “to remember His mercy.” That is a decision about a text with no original punctuation, and BSB's rendering reflects a different choice. (4) The dative διανοίᾳ in v. 51 is ambiguous and Geneva records both constructions; English translations must pick one silently.

Provenance of the cross-references. Every thread badge above states its own basis. Greek to Greek links inside the New Testament are tiered verbal only where the Verifier reports a genuinely rare shared lexeme. Every link to the Hebrew Scriptures, including the Hannah model that the commentators are unanimous about, is tiered structural or typological, because shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed across the Testaments and because the Magnificat cites nothing: as Cambridge puts it, it is a mosaic. One thread (Psalm 89:19) is flagged rather than tiered, since it rests on an English word rather than a checkable Greek one.

Limits of the machine layer. The ⚙ material above (literal renderings, divergences, word notes, the sola reading, and the third Christ entry) is fallible synthesis and is marked as such. Where it goes beyond a named voice it says so. The commentary excerpts are verbatim public-domain text quoted under the tag of the author named; the polemical passages in JFB, Poole, Barnes and Gill against Roman devotion to Mary are seventeenth to nineteenth century controversy reproduced as written, and the reader should weigh them as such rather than as exegesis of the Greek.

✦ = 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)