The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke1:57–66

The Birth of John the Baptist

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Luke 1:57–66 — The Birth of John the Baptist. 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.

57

When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho chronos eplēsthē Tē Elisabet tou autēn tekein kai egennēsen huion

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdeWhenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
χρόνοςchronostimeG5550
√ χρόνος — a space of time (in general, and thus properly distinguished from G2540 (καιρός), which designates a fixed or special occasionNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπλήσθηeplēsthēcameG4130
√ πλήθω — to "fill" (literally or figuratively (imbue, influence, supply))VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
plēthō: to fill, to be filled full An aorist passive with no named agent, the standard Lukan way of saying God did it without saying the Name. The same lexeme fills Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit at Luke 1:41 and fills the days of Mary's purification at Luke 2:21. Benson draws the pastoral edge: promised mercies come when the full time for them is come, and not before.
ΤῇTēforG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ἘλισάβετElisabetElizabethG1665
√ Ἐλισάβετ — Elisabet, an IsraelitessNounDative Feminine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
αὐτήνautēnvvvG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τεκεῖνtekeinto have her childG5088
√ τίκτω — to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etcVerbAorist Infinitive Active
tiktō: to bring forth, to bear The ordinary word for childbearing, standing here at the end of a sentence whose first verb was a divine passive. Luke will use it again of Mary at Luke 2:7. The grammar makes one point twice: the womb that had been shut (Luke 1:7) now does what every womb does, and that is the whole wonder.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγέννησενegennēsenshe gave birth toG1080
√ γεννάω — to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
gennaō: to beget, to generate Exactly the verb of the angel's promise reported in Luke 1:13, where Elizabeth would bear (G1080) a son (G5207) to Zacharias. Poole reads the fulfillment as evidentiary: it happened “to show the truth of God's promises.” The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes; the sentence is the promise cashed.
υἱόνhuiona sonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
huios: son The promised term, not merely a child. G5207 is the word the angel used and the word Gabriel used to Mary of a greater Son (Luke 1:36 shares it in the same chapter).
58

Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autēs hoi perioikoi kai hoi syngeneis ēkousan hoti Kyrios emegalynen autou met’ autēs to eleos kai synechairon autē

Word by word19 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
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
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
περίοικοιperioikoineighborsG4040
√ περίοικος — housed around, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
συγγενεῖςsyngeneisrelativesG4773
√ συγγενής — a relative (by blood)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἤκουσανēkousanheardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
akouō: to hear The unit is framed by hearing: the kinsfolk hear here, and all who hear lay it up in v. 66. Luke is tracking the spread of a report, not only an event.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΚύριοςKyrios[the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐμεγάλυνενemegalynenhad shown her greatG3170
√ μεγαλύνω — to make (or declare) great, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
megalynō: to make or declare great A rare verb (8 verses). Ellicott's observation is the sharpest exegetical note in this brief: Mary sang μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον, and now the neighbours' report of Elizabeth uses the same root, with the Lord as subject and his mercy as object. The song and the gossip say one thing from two directions.
αὐτοῦautou. . .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 PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μετ’met’. . .G3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτῆςautēs. . .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 PronounGenitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ἔλεοςeleosmercyG1656
√ ἔλεος — compassion (human or divine, especially active)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
eleos: compassion, mercy, especially active The covenant word, standing in Zacharias's own coming hymn (Luke 1:72, 78). What the neighbours call a happy birth, the Greek calls the enlargement of God's mercy, which is precisely the reading the Benedictus will make explicit a few verses later.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συνέχαιρονsynechaironthey rejoiced withG4796
√ συγχαίρω — to sympathize in gladness, congratulateVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syncharō: to rejoice with, congratulate Imperfect, durative. Poole turns it on the reader: congratulations at such a birth are ordinary in every age, but the taking notice of “that God, who openeth the womb” is what makes the meeting Christian rather than pagan.
αὐτῇautēherG846
√ 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
59

On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, they were going to name him after his father Zechariah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

en tē tē ogdoē hēmera Kai egeneto ēlthon peritemein to paidion kai ekaloun auto epi tō onomati autou tou patros Zacharian

Word by word21 · parsed
ἐνenOnG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὀγδόῃogdoēeighthG3590
√ ὄγδοος — the eighthAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
ogdoos: eighth A rare word (5 verses), and every one of this brief's voices reaches past Luke to the same two statutes: Genesis 17:12, Leviticus 12:3. JFB adds the halakhic point that the eighth day held even when it fell on a sabbath (compare John 7:23, Philippians 3:5). Benson offers the older reason for not circumcising sooner: the mother was unclean seven days (Leviticus 12:1-2).
ἡμέρᾳhēmeradayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγένετοegenetowhenG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἦλθονēlthonthey cameG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
περιτεμεῖνperitemeinto circumciseG4059
√ περιτέμνω — to cut around, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
peritemnō: to cut around, to circumcise The covenant sign given to Abraham, here performed on the forerunner of the one who will make the sign obsolete. Luke will use the same lexeme of Jesus at Luke 2:21 and Stephen will use it of Abraham and Isaac at Acts 7:8; the Verifier confirms the shared lexeme in both places.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
παιδίονpaidionchildG3813
√ παιδίον — a childling (of either sex), iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκάλουνekalounthey were going to nameG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
kaleō: to call, to name Imperfect of attempted action, the hinge of the scene. Ellicott: the kinsfolk “seem to have assumed that, in the dumbness of the father, the duty devolved on them.” Gill, from the rabbinic blessings at a circumcision, notes that a mute father could not say the father's blessing at all, which is why the family moved to fill the silence.
αὐτὸauto[him]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 PronounAccusative Neuter 3rd Person Singular
ἐπὶepiafterG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῷtō. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ὀνόματιonomati. . .G3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounDative Neuter Singular
onoma: a name (authority, character) In Scripture a name is not a label but a claim. To call him Zacharias (“the LORD has remembered”) would have honoured the house; the name already given by the angel honours the grace of the LORD instead.
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
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
πατρὸςpatrosfatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΖαχαρίανZacharianZechariahG2197
√ Ζαχαρίας — Zacharias (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
60

But his mother replied, “No! He shall be called John.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autou hē mētēr apokritheisa eipen Ouchi alla klēthēsetai Iōannēs

Word by word10 · parsed
καὶkaiButG2532
√ 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
ἡhēG3588
√ 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 Luke names her by relation, not by name, at the exact moment she acts with more authority than the kinsfolk.
ἀποκριθεῖσαapokritheisarepliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΟὐχίOuchiNoG3780
√ οὐχί — not indeedAdverb
ouchi: not indeed Emphatic refusal. One syllable from a woman overturns both the custom of naming after the father and the assumption that a mute father had forfeited the right.
ἀλλὰallaG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
κληθήσεταιklēthēsetaiHe shall be calledG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call (Future Passive) The grammatical heart of the unit. Every human calling in this scene is active and defeated (v. 59 ἐκάλουν, v. 62 καλεῖσθαι); the naming that stands is passive, and its unnamed agent is the angel's word at Luke 1:13. Ellicott and Gill agree Elizabeth learned it from Zacharias in writing; Gill allows she may have known it by revelation, being filled with the Holy Spirit at Luke 1:41.
ἸωάννηςIōannēsJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Iōannēs: Yôḥānān, the LORD is gracious Cambridge, quoting Bengel, calls this the first word written under the Gospel. Henry reads the name as programmatic: he is called Gracious “because he shall bring in the gospel of Christ, wherein God's grace shines most bright.” The child's whole office is packed into four syllables the family did not choose.
61

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who bears this name.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai eipan pros autēn hoti estin Oudeis ek sou tēs syngeneias hos kaleitai toutō tō onomati

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπανeipanThey saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
αὐτὴνautēnherG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἐστινestinThere isG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΟὐδείςOudeisno oneG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
oudeis: not even one The strongest form of the objection, and the last purely human argument in the scene.
ἐκekamongG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
συγγενείαςsyngeneiasrelativesG4772
√ συγγένεια — relationship, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
syngeneia: kinship, relationship Rare (3 verses). The Verifier flags the other two occurrences, both in Acts 7, where Stephen recounts God calling Abram out of his kindred and Joseph sending for all his kindred. The word carries the weight of the family as the unit of covenant memory, which is precisely the claim Elizabeth has just set aside.
ὃςhoswhoG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
καλεῖταιkaleitaibearsG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call, to be named The third appearance of the lexeme in three verses. Barnes gives the sober reason behind the custom: the tribes and families were kept distinct, and genealogical tables were kept clean by reusing ancestral names.
τούτῳtoutōthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounDative Neuter Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ὀνόματιonomatinameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounDative Neuter Singular
62

So they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted to name the child.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de eneneuon tō autou patri to ti an theloi kaleisthai auto

Word by word11 · parsed
δὲde[So]G1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐνένευονeneneuonthey made signsG1770
√ ἐννεύω — to nod at, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
enneuō: to nod at, to signal A New Testament hapax. Gill supplies the legal background from the Mishnah: a mute man “nods and is nodded to,” and a deaf-mute father was questioned by signs precisely to establish which son was the firstborn (Gittin 5:7 with Bartenora, and Maimonides on inheritance). The family is following an established procedure, not improvising.
τῷtōtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine 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
πατρὶpatrifatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounDative Masculine Singular
patēr: father The office is undisputed (Poole: it was the parents' place, the father's especially, to give children their names); what is about to be disputed is whether the father still has anything to decide.
τὸto[to find out]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
τίtiwhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
θέλοιtheloihe wantedG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Optative Active3rd Person Singular
thelō: to determine, to will Optative mood, rare outside Luke and Paul, marking a courteous indirect question. Strong's gives the root force as determination “from subjective impulse.” They are asking for the father's will, which turns out to be no longer his own to choose.
καλεῖσθαιkaleisthaito nameG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
αὐτόauto[the child]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 PronounAccusative Neuter 3rd Person Singular
63

Zechariah asked for a tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai aitēsas pinakidion egrapsen legōn autou onoma estin Iōannēs kai pantes ethaumasan

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αἰτήσαςaitēsas[Zechariah] asked forG154
√ αἰτέω — to ask (in genitive case)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
πινακίδιονpinakidiona tabletG4093
√ πινακίδιον — a tablet (for writing on)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
pinakidion: a little tablet for writing A New Testament hapax and the physical hinge of the narrative. Barnes, Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit independently describe the wax-covered board and the iron stylus; Ellicott notes that our word “style” descends from that instrument. Cambridge, following Bengel, presses the theological irony that the first word written under the Gospel is a name meaning grace, where the age of the written Law had closed with the word curse (Malachi 3:24 in the Hebrew numbering, 4:6 in English).
ἔγραψενegrapsen[and] wroteG1125
√ γράφω — to "grave", especially to writeVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
graphō: to grave, to write Strong's root sense is to engrave. The only act Zacharias can still perform is inscription, and what he inscribes is not his choice but the angel's word repeated.
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine 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
ὄνομαonomanameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounNominative Neuter Singular
ἐστὶνestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (Present Indicative) One word settles the dispute. Not “let him be called” and not “he shall be called,” but “his name is John”: the naming happened in the temple nine months earlier (Luke 1:13), and the tablet only reports it.
ἸωάννηςIōannēsJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάντεςpantesvvvG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἐθαύμασανethaumasanthey were all amazedG2296
√ θαυμάζω — to wonderVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
thaumazō: to wonder The first of the two crowd reactions that close this unit, the second being φόβος in v. 65. Wonder at a coincidence becomes awe at a presence once the mouth opens.
64

Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de parachrēma autou to stoma aneōchthē kai autou hē glōssa kai elalei eulogōn ton Theon

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
παραχρῆμαparachrēmaImmediatelyG3916
√ παραχρῆμα — at the thing itself, iAdverb
parachrēma: at the thing itself, immediately Luke uses this adverb far more than any other New Testament writer. Here it ties the miracle to the obedience: JFB says the mouth opened “on thus palpably showing his full faith in the vision, for disbelieving which he had been struck dumb.”
αὐτοῦautou[Zechariah’s]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 PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
στόμαstomamouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounNominative Neuter Singular
ἀνεῴχθηaneōchthēwas openedG455
√ ἀνοίγω — to open up (literally or figuratively, in various applications)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
anoigō: to open up Aorist passive, agent unnamed, the same construction as ἐπλήσθη in v. 57. Poole reads the angel's sentence in Luke 1:20 as a term with a stated expiry (“until the day these things come to pass”), so the loosing is not a pardon granted but a punishment run out.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ 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
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
γλῶσσαglōssatongue [was released]G1100
√ γλῶσσα — the tongueNounNominative Feminine Singular
glōssa: the tongue Left verbless in the Greek, which is why every English version supplies a word. The bare noun following the passive verb reads as a second item swept up in the same divine act.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐλάλειelaleihe began to speakG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
laleō: to talk, to utter Inceptive imperfect against the preceding aorist. The grammar itself distinguishes the moment of release from the flow of praise that follows it, which Pulpit and Ellicott both identify with the Benedictus of vv. 68-79.
εὐλογῶνeulogōnpraisingG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
eulogeō: to speak well of, to bless The first use of his restored speech is not explanation to the guests but blessing toward God. Henry's line is the whole verse in one sentence: unbelief closed his mouth, and believing opened it again.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΘεόνTheonGodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounAccusative Masculine Singular
65

All their neighbors were filled with awe, and people throughout the hill country of Judea were talking about these events.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai pantas tous perioikountas autous egeneto epi phobos kai en holē tē oreinē tēs Ioudaias dielaleito panta tauta ta rhēmata

Word by word20 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάνταςpantasAllG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
τοὺςtoustheirG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
περιοικοῦνταςperioikountasneighborsG4039
√ περιοικέω — to reside around, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
αὐτούςautous. . .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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐγένετοegenetowere filled withG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἐπὶepi. . .G1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
φόβοςphobosaweG5401
√ φόβος — alarm or frightNounNominative Masculine Singular
phobos: alarm, fright, reverence Luke's standard response to a manifest act of God; JFB lines up the parallels within this Gospel (Luke 5:26; 7:16; 8:37), and Gill and Poole both compare Acts 2:43. Barnes puts the cause precisely: the circumstances of the birth and the sudden restoration of speech convinced them God was there.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνen[people] throughoutG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὅλῃholē. . .G3650
√ ὅλος — "whole" or "all", iAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὀρεινῇoreinēhill countryG3714
√ ὀρεινός — mountainous, iAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
oreinos: mountainous, hill country A rare word (2 verses). Its only other occurrence is Luke 1:39, the journey of Mary to this same house. The one term frames the visitation and its aftermath, so that the country that received the mother of the Lord in silence is now the country that cannot stop talking.
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἸουδαίαςIoudaiasof JudeaG2449
√ Ἰουδαία — the Judæan land (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
διελαλεῖτοdielaleitowere talking aboutG1255
√ διαλαλέω — to talk throughout a company, iVerbImperfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
dialaleō: to talk throughout a company Rare (2 verses). Its only other New Testament occurrence is Luke 6:11, where the scribes and Pharisees, filled with fury, talked among themselves what they might do to Jesus. The same verb carries wonder here and murderous counsel there; Luke uses one rare word for both kinds of circulating talk.
πάνταpantaG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
ταῦταtautatheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ῥήματαrhēmataeventsG4487
√ ῥῆμα — an utterance (individually, collectively or specially),NounNominative Neuter Plural
rhēma: an utterance, a matter The Hebraic double sense, word and thing. Luke will use it again of Mary keeping all these ῥήματα (Luke 2:19, 51), so the verb of the crowd here and the pondering of the mother there are two responses to the same reported word.
66

And all who heard this wondered in their hearts and asked, “What then will this child become?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai pantes hoi akousantes ethento en autōn tē kardia legontes Ti ara touto to paidion estai kai gar Kyriou cheir ēn met’ autou

Word by word23 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάντεςpantesallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκούσαντεςakousanteswho heard [this]G191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔθεντοethentowonderedG5087
√ τίθημι — to place (in the widest application, literally and figurativelyVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
tithēmi: to place, to set (Middle) The middle voice makes the hearers themselves the beneficiaries of the depositing: they stored these things up in their own keeping. Luke describes the same posture of Mary at Luke 2:19 and 2:51 with different verbs (συνετήρει, διετήρει) and uses this very lexeme in the middle of Paul purposing in the spirit at Acts 19:21. Geneva's gloss, that they printed them in their hearts, catches the force better than any modern rendering here.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ 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
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
καρδίᾳkardiaheartsG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounDative Feminine Singular
kardia: the heart Singular in the Greek ("in their heart"), the Hebraic seat of deliberation and will rather than of sentiment, a Semitic distributive singular under a plural possessor that English cannot keep. The contrast across these two verses is therefore not public talk against private emotion: it is a whole district circulating a report (v. 65) against individuals lodging a matter where decisions are actually made.
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΤίTiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ἄραarathenG686
√ ἄρα — a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as follows)Conjunction
ara: therefore, then (inferential) A small particle doing heavy work: the question is drawn as a conclusion from the whole chain of signs, the vision, the dumbness, the birth, the name, the loosed tongue. It is the question the unit exists to raise, and the Benedictus answers it at Luke 1:76.
τοῦτοtouto{will} thisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
παιδίονpaidionchildG3813
√ παιδίον — a childling (of either sex), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
ἔσταιestaibecomeG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (Future) The future tense in a crowd's mouth. They ask what he will become; Luke has already told the reader (Luke 1:15-17), and the unit's last clause quietly answers before the child can.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ΚυρίουKyriouthe Lord’sG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
χεὶρcheirhandG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounNominative Feminine Singular
cheir: the hand, figuratively power The formula of the prophets. JFB points to 1 Kings 18:46 and 2 Kings 3:15 for the Old Testament usage and Acts 11:21 for the Christian one; Ellicott adds Judges 2:15, 2 Chronicles 30:12 and Ezra 7:9; Cambridge cites Psalm 80:17. Poole insists on the distinction that in Ezekiel the hand upon a man means the spirit of prophecy, whereas this phrase denotes God's protecting favour, and Benson agrees. Gill allows both, including the prophetic gift that appeared in John later.
ἦνēnwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μετ’met’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτοῦautouhimG846
√ 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

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 time filled, the mercy magnified — Luke 1:57-58

The unit opens on a passive verb with no agent: ἐπλήσθη (G4130), “the time was filled full.” Benson reads the pace of it: the child “was conceived in the womb by a miracle” but “continued in the womb according to the ordinary course of nature,” and so “promised mercies are to be expected when the full time for them is come, and not before.” Poole does the arithmetic that makes the point checkable, counting Luke 1:36 and Luke 1:56 forward to a full term. Then the neighbours speak, and Luke gives them a verb far larger than their occasion: ἐμεγάλυνεν (G3170, rare, 8 verses), with his mercy as its object. Ellicott is the one who hears it: “The verb is the same as that which opens the Magnificat, and may well be looked upon as a kind of echo of it.” Gill supplies the Hebrew idiom behind the construction, citing Genesis 19:19. ⚙ So the gossip of a village and the song of a girl in the same chapter use one root: what Mary's soul does to the Lord, the Lord has done to his mercy. Poole then turns the scene on the reader, noting how ordinary such congratulations are and how rarely the God “who openeth the womb” is taken notice of in them.

ii. The eighth day, and a name that is not the family's to give — Luke 1:59-63

Everything in this movement turns on one lexeme, G2564 kaleō, in four forms. The kinsfolk use an imperfect of attempted action, ἐκάλουν: Cambridge, “Rather, they wished to call... the imperfect by an idiomatic use often expresses an unfulfilled attempt”; JFB, “were for calling.” Ellicott explains the presumption, that “in the dumbness of the father, the duty devolved on them,” and Gill adds from the rabbinic blessings that a mute father could not even pronounce the father's blessing at the rite. The mother answers with a future passive, κληθήσεται: not what we will do, but what has been settled. The kinsfolk answer with a present, καλεῖται, appealing to living custom, and Barnes gives that custom its dignity (the tribes were kept distinct, the tables kept clean). Then they turn to the father with a New Testament hapax, ἐνένευον (G1770), nodding at a man who cannot hear; JFB, four words: “showing he was deaf, as well as dumb,” while Cambridge grants the inference and calls the question unimportant. Zacharias asks for a πινακίδιον (G4093, also a hapax) and writes a present indicative. Ellicott: “There is something emphatic in the use of the present tense. It was not a question to be discussed. The name had been given already.” Cambridge, quoting Bengel, sets the tablet against the last word of the old canon: “‘John,’ ‘the grace of Jehovah,’ is the first word written under the Gospel.” And JFB locates the marvel exactly: they wondered “at his giving the same name, not knowing of any communication between them on the subject.”

iii. The mouth opened, the country talking, the question left standing — Luke 1:64-66

The release is instantaneous (παραχρῆμα, G3916) and passive (ἀνεῴχθη, G455), closing the bracket opened by the passive of v. 57. JFB ties cause to effect: the mouth opened “on thus palpably showing his full faith in the vision, for disbelieving which he had been struck dumb.” Poole reads the angel's sentence at Luke 1:20 as a term with a stated end, now served. Barnes measures the cost honestly: “For one act of disbelief all this calamity had come upon him, and it had not come without effect.” Cambridge catches the tense change (aorist for the opening, inceptive imperfect for the speaking), and Ellicott notes that “loosed” has to be supplied because the single Greek verb “applied strictly only to the mouth.” Henry compresses the whole verse: unbelief closed his mouth, and believing opened it again. Then the circle widens by two rare words. ὀρεινῇ (G3714, 2 verses) reaches back to Luke 1:39 and the same hill country Mary climbed; διελαλεῖτο (G1255, 2 verses) sends the report round with no speaker named. Ellicott traces “the gradual spread of the report... from the immediate neighbourhood to the wider district,” and Cambridge sets it in an age whose minds “were full of dread and agitated expectancy.” The unit ends not with an answer but with a filed question, Τί ἄρα, and with a Hebrew idiom Luke does not bother to smooth into Greek: the hand of the Lord was with him.

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

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. Luke has built these ten verses around a single question: who has the right to name. The family has custom, blood and the tables of genealogy on its side, and Barnes shows that its case is a good one. It loses anyway, and it loses to grammar before it loses to argument: every human naming in the scene is active and fails (ἐκάλουν, καλεῖσθαι), while the naming that stands is a passive with an unnamed agent (κληθήσεται) and then a bare present indicative (ἐστὶν). The same shape governs the frame: the time was filled (v. 57) and the mouth was opened (v. 64), both passive, both agentless, both God. Between those two passives sits the one thing a human being contributes, a man writing down a word he was given nine months earlier and had not been able to say. That is what the unit means by faith, and it is why the tongue is loosed at the tablet and not at the birth: Zacharias is restored not when the promise comes true but when he signs his name to it. Notice too what the crowd does with it. They talk (διελαλεῖτο), and they lay it up in the heart (ἔθεντο, middle voice, Geneva: “printed them in their hearts”), and their question, “what then will this child be,” is left unanswered by the narrator on purpose, because the answer is a person the child has not yet pointed to. The forerunner's whole office is already in his name: grace, given before he could ask, spoken by God before the family could vote.

The mouth is opened not when the promise comes true, but when the man writes down the word he could not say. (⚙ synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

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 angel's sentence, cashed to the letter verbal / quotation: confirmed

Luke 1:13 is the promise this unit pays out: Elizabeth (Ἐλισάβετ, G1665) will bear (γεννάω, G1080) a son (υἱός, G5207) and “you shall call his name John.” Verses 57 and 60 and 63 use the same lexemes in the same order of events, which is why Gill can say the son came “according to the angel's prediction both to Zacharias and Mary,” and why Poole reads the delivery as evidence “to show the truth of God's promises.” The link is internal to Luke and internal to Greek, so the shared vocabulary is a real verbal tie and not a translator's coincidence.

Luke 1:13

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1665 Ἐλισάβετ (in 8 vv, rare), G1080 γεννάω (in 65 vv), G5207 υἱός (in 344 vv); Greek to Greek within one author, and the later verse narrates the fulfillment of the earlier verse's own wording

The hill country, entered in silence and left in speech structural / thematic: confirmed

ὀρεινός (G3714) occurs in only two verses in the New Testament, and both are in this chapter: Mary “went into the hill country” at Luke 1:39, and at Luke 1:65 the whole hill country is talking. ⚙ The rare word functions as a bracket around the visitation: the same region that received the mother of the Lord without a word of public notice now cannot stop repeating what happened in one house in it. Ellicott describes the district as the plateau south of Jerusalem reaching its height at Hebron, and Gill places Zacharias's household there.

Luke 1:39

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3714 ὀρεινός (in 2 vv, rare) plus G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv). The lexeme is rare enough to be a genuine verbal tie, but the claim made here is a narrative frame, not a quotation, so the tier is deliberately downgraded

One rare verb for two kinds of talk verbal / quotation: confirmed

διαλαλέω (G1255, “to talk throughout a company”) occurs in only two verses in the New Testament. Here the hill country passes round the wonder of a birth and a loosed tongue; at Luke 6:11 the scribes and Pharisees, filled with fury, “talked among themselves what they might do to Jesus.” ⚙ Luke also uses the same lexeme G4130 (plēthō, filled) in both places, of a filled term here and of filled rage there. The observation is a reader's, not a commentator's: no voice in this brief draws it.

Luke 6:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1255 διαλαλέω (in 2 vv, rare, the only two occurrences in the New Testament) and G4130 πλήθω (in 24 vv); Greek to Greek within one author. No quotation is claimed, only the rare shared vocabulary

Circumcised the eighth day: the statute behind verse 59 structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke does not cite the law; he assumes it. Genesis 17:12 sets circumcision at eight days old for every male of Abraham's house, and Leviticus 12:3 repeats it for Israel. Poole gives both references and notes what Scripture does not legislate: neither the circumciser nor the place. Gill, Cambridge, JFB and Ellicott all cite Genesis 17:12 here, and JFB adds that the eighth day held even when it fell on a sabbath (compare John 7:23). Benson gives the older rationale from Leviticus 12:1-2, that mother and child were unclean for seven days.

Genesis 17:12 · Leviticus 12:3

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's number is possible and no verbal tier may be claimed. The recorded basis is the statute itself plus the unanimous citation of Genesis 17:12 and Leviticus 12:3 by Poole, Gill, Cambridge, JFB, Benson and Ellicott on this verse

Naming at circumcision, because God once renamed at circumcision structural / thematic: confirmed

Why was a name given on the eighth day at all? Benson: “The law did not enjoin that the child should have his name given him at circumcision; but it was customary to do it then, because at the institution of the rite, God changed the names of Abraham and Sarah, Genesis 17:5; Genesis 17:16.” JFB and Cambridge say the same, Cambridge citing Genesis 17:15. Poole is the dissenting voice, arguing that naming at circumcision “appeareth not from Scripture” and that the name was only declared then. ⚙ Either way the custom the kinsfolk invoke was itself born from an occasion on which God, not the family, chose the name, which is exactly what happens again here.

Genesis 17:5 · Genesis 17:15

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so the tier cannot be verbal. Basis is the explicit appeal to Genesis 17:5 and 17:15 by Benson, JFB, Cambridge and Gill at this verse, with Poole recorded as dissenting on whether the naming custom is scriptural

The second child of a closed womb, named and circumcised on the eighth day typological

Genesis 21:3-4 puts the two acts together for Isaac: Abraham “called the name of his son... Isaac,” and “circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old.” Poole cites the sequence and JFB cites it as the origin of naming at the rite. Genesis 21:6 gives the neighbours' part: Sarah says all who hear will laugh with her, which is what Elizabeth's kinsfolk do (συνέχαιρον, G4796). ⚙ Read figurally, John stands in the line of children given where nature had closed the way, a line that runs Isaac, Samuel, Samson, and ends in the only birth that needed no womb opened but a virgin's consent. This is an old and widely held figural reading, but Luke himself does not name Isaac here, and the thread is offered as figure, not as proof.

Genesis 21:3 · Genesis 21:6

basis: Cross-Testament and figural: no shared Strong's lexeme is possible between Hebrew and Greek. The eighth-day naming of Isaac is cited here by Poole and JFB; the barren-womb typology is the tool's own extension of that citation and is marked as ancient and widely held rather than demonstrated from Luke's wording

“What then will this child be?” and the child who is a sign structural / thematic: confirmed

Isaiah 8:18 gives the prophet and his children as “signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts,” and Isaiah 8:3 has a child named by divine command rather than family custom. ⚙ Luke 1:66 leaves exactly that shape hanging: a child around whom a whole district asks a question it cannot answer, whose name was fixed before birth, and of whom Luke says only that the hand of the Lord was with him. Honesty requires the flag: none of the ten voices in this brief cites Isaiah 8 here, and the connection is the tool's own reading of a shared pattern, not a quotation and not a received tradition.

Isaiah 8:3 · Isaiah 8:18

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so no verbal tier. Basis is a shared pattern only (a child named by God before birth who becomes a public sign provoking a question in Israel); no commentator in this brief draws the link, and it is recorded as machine synthesis

“The hand of the LORD was with him”: a prophet's formula structural / thematic: confirmed

The last clause of the unit is Hebrew wearing Greek. JFB reads it as “special tokens marking him out as one destined to some great work” and gives 1 Kings 18:46 (the hand of the LORD on Elijah), 2 Kings 3:15 (on Elisha at the minstrel's playing) and Acts 11:21 (the hand of the Lord with the preachers at Antioch). Ellicott adds Judges 2:15, 2 Chronicles 30:12 and Ezra 7:9, and calls the idiom one the Hebrews could use boldly “because they had clearer thoughts of God as not made after the similitude of men.” Poole restricts the sense here to protecting favour, distinguishing it from the Ezekiel usage where the hand means the spirit of prophecy; Gill allows both. ⚙ That the formula lands on Elijah in one of its clearest Old Testament instances is not nothing, given Luke 1:17.

1 Kings 18:46 · 2 Kings 3:15 · Ezra 7:6 · Acts 11:21

basis: Mixed Testament refs, so no verbal tier is permitted even though the Acts 11:21 leg does share G5495 χείρ and G2962 κύριος with this verse in Greek; the Old Testament legs are Hebrew and can share no Strong's number. Basis is the shared idiom, cited at this verse by JFB (1 Kings 18:46; 2 Kings 3:15; Acts 11:21), Ellicott (Judges 2:15; 2 Chronicles 30:12; Ezra 7:9), Poole (1 Samuel 3:19; 1 Chronicles 28:19; Psalm 80:17) and Cambridge (Psalm 80:17)

Stephen's summary: the covenant of circumcision on the eighth day structural / thematic: confirmed

Acts 7:8 compresses into one sentence what Luke 1:59 stages as a scene: God “gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day.” The same author, the same three lexemes, the eighth day (ἡμέρα), the cutting (περιτέμνω) and the begetting (γεννάω). ⚙ Luke 2:21 will do it a third time for Jesus, adding the naming: the third eighth day in the two volumes is the one that matters, and it is the child John is born to announce.

Acts 7:8 · Luke 2:21

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4059 περιτέμνω (in 15 vv), G1080 γεννάω (in 65 vv), G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv) with Acts 7:8, and G4059 περιτέμνω, G4130 πλήθω (in 24 vv), G3686 ὄνομα (in 214 vv) with Luke 2:21; Greek to Greek within one author. No quotation is claimed, only a shared rite-and-naming pattern, so the tier is structural

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Grace named before the child could ask for it ancient/widely-held

The one word written under this unit is Ἰωάννης, Yôḥānān, “the LORD is gracious.” Henry: he is called Gracious “because he shall bring in the gospel of Christ, wherein God's grace shines most bright.” Pulpit says the same of the meaning; Cambridge, quoting Bengel, sets the tablet against the closing word of the old canon, so that the first word written in the Gospel age is grace where the age of the Law had ended in curse. Benson runs it straight to the Fourth Gospel: the name was “very proper for him who was to be the first preacher of the kingdom of grace, and who was to point out him from whose fulness we receive grace for grace, John 1:16.” ⚙ The naming dispute of vv. 59-63 is therefore not a family quarrel that Luke happened to record. It is the announcement that the era about to open is not named by ancestry, custom or merit, and the forerunner carries the announcement in his own name before he can speak a syllable of it.

John 1:16 · Luke 1:13 · Luke 1:76

Two things opened that nature had shut novel

Luke frames the unit with two agentless passives: a term filled in a womb long barren (v. 57, ἐπλήσθη) and a mouth opened that had been shut nine months (v. 64, ἀνεῴχθη). Barnes underlines the cost and the cause: “For one act of disbelief all this calamity had come upon him, and it had not come without effect.” Henry states the reversal in a line: unbelief closed his mouth, and believing opened it again. Geneva calls the whole birth an accompaniment of “new miracles.” ⚙ Read forward, the pattern is the Gospel's: the shut womb and the shut mouth are the two impossibilities the coming Kingdom keeps opening, and the first sound out of the opened mouth is not explanation but blessing (εὐλογῶν, G2127), which is what the redeemed always do first. The extension of this pattern to Christ's own opening of ears and tongues is the tool's reading, not a claim any voice in this brief makes here.

Luke 1:20 · Luke 1:68

The hand upon the forerunner, holding him for the One he must point to ancient/widely-held

Luke ends the unit by answering the crowd's question without letting them hear the answer: “for indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.” Benson denies that the phrase here means the spirit of prophecy and takes it as “the grace, protection, and blessing of God” from infancy; Poole agrees, comparing 1 Samuel 3:19 of Samuel; Gill allows the prophetic gift as well, which “in process of time, appeared in him, qualifying him for his high office and work.” Henry: “The hand of the Lord was working with John. God has ways of working on children in their infancy, which we cannot account for. We should observe the dealings of God, and wait the event.” ⚙ That is the christological point of the last clause. The child is not kept for his own greatness; he is kept for a naming still to come, and the same hand that guards him in the hill country will be the hand that points at the Lamb of God. The crowd's question is left open here because Luke intends the reader to receive its answer from John's own mouth later, and from Christ's.

Luke 1:17 · Luke 1:76 · Luke 3:4

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)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. The Greek is the Berean interlinear with Strong's numbers; the English base is the BSB. At v. 66 Cambridge reports καὶ γάρ (“For indeed”) with א, B, C, D and L, which makes the closing clause Luke's comment rather than part of the crowd's speech; Barnes records the alternative that the clause belongs to the neighbours' words, and Ellicott notes that “some good MSS. give ‘for the hand of the Lord.’” Both readings are preserved in the verse notes; nothing here depends on which is right.

Sources. Ten public-domain commentators were available for this unit: Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit, Ellicott. Two cautions. First, the entries filed under Barnes at Luke 1:57 and 1:58 in the source set are in fact his notes on the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) rather than on these verses, so Barnes is quoted here only where his comment genuinely addresses the verse (1:61, 1:63, 1:64, 1:65, 1:66). Second, Henry's entry is a single block covering 1:57-66 and is repeated under every verse in the source; it is quoted once. Poole's comments are grouped (57-58, 59-61, 62-63, 65-66) and several verses carry only a cross-reference stub.

Uncertain. That Zacharias was deaf as well as mute is an inference from the signs of v. 62, drawn by Ellicott, JFB, Gill, Benson and Pulpit; Cambridge grants that the narrative “seems to imply” it but calls the question unimportant. Luke never says it. Whether Elizabeth knew the name by her husband's writing or by revelation is likewise undecided in the text: Ellicott and Barnes assume writing, Gill allows either. Cambridge's claim that messianic expectancy “had spread even to the heathen,” supported from Virgil, the Sibylline Oracles, Suetonius, Tacitus and Josephus, is nineteenth-century synthesis and is disputed. The thread to Isaiah 8 is the tool's own and is labelled as such. Gill's rabbinic citations (Mishnah Gittin, Maimonides) establish custom, not Luke's intent. Minor typographic errors in the source editions (Poole's “religions” for “religious,” Pulpit's “It. was,” “unnsual”) are quoted as printed rather than corrected. The interlinear's placeholder glosses (“vvv,” “. . .”) are artifacts of the Berean word alignment and carry no meaning.

✦ = 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)