Luke

¹Many⁶¹⁵ have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, ²even as those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word since the beginning have delivered them to us. ³[For this reason], it seemed good to me also, after reviewing the course of all things accurately from the beginning, to write an ordered account to you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

The birth of John the Baptist is announced

⁵In the days of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zacharias who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶Both of them were righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. ⁷Yet, they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and both were well advanced in years. ⁸Now it came to pass that while Zacharias was performing his priestly office before God in the order of his division, ⁹according to the custom of the priest’s office, that his lot was [drawn] to enter into the sanctuary⁶¹⁶ of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole multitude of the people was praying outside.

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²Zacharias was startled when he saw the angel and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵Indeed, he will be great in the sight of the Lord! He will drink no wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶He will bring back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷He will go before the Lord⁶¹⁷ in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah), ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years!”

¹⁹The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.⁶¹⁸ I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.^{619 20}Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

²¹The people were waiting for Zacharias and wondering as he delayed in the sanctuary. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them and they understood that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He continued to make signs to them and remained mute. ²³When the days of his service were fulfilled, Zacharias returned to his house. ²⁴After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying: ²⁵”The Lord has done this to me in the days when he looked at me, in order to take away my disgrace among men.”

The Annunciation of the birth of Jesus

²⁶Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice,⁶²⁰ full of grace!⁶²¹ The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!”⁶²²

²⁹But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at his saying and considered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name ‘Jesus.’ ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his Kingdom there shall be no end.”⁶²³

³⁴Mary said to the angel, “How can this be [happening] to me⁶²⁴, since I do not know a man?”⁶²⁵

³⁵The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow⁶²⁶ you. Therefore, the holy one who is born⁶²⁷ will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Behold, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month [of her pregnancy] for her who was called barren. ³⁷For nothing shall be impossible with God.”

³⁸Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid⁶²⁸ of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

And the angel departed from her.

Mary, the Theotokos and new Ark, visits Elizabeth

³⁹In those days, Mary arose and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah. ⁴⁰She entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹And it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴²In a loud voice, she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord⁶²⁹ should come to me? ⁴⁴For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the baby leaped⁶³⁰ in my womb out of joy! ⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed, for the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled!”

The Magnificat

⁴⁶Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord

⁴⁷And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

⁴⁸for he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid.⁶³¹

For behold, from now on, all generations shall call me blessed!

⁴⁹Indeed, he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and Holy is his Name!

⁵⁰His mercy is for generations of generations

on those who fear him.

⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm,

he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,⁶³²

⁵²He has put down princes from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.⁶³³

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things,

he has sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has given help to Israel, his servant,

so that he might remember mercy,

⁵⁵As he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and his posterity⁶³⁴ forever.

⁵⁶Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months, and then returned to her house.

The birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷Now the time when Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and they wanted to name him Zacharias after his father. ⁶⁰But his mother answered, “It shall not be! Instead, he will be called John!”

⁶¹They said to her, “But there is no one among your relatives who is called by this name!” ⁶²They made signs to his father to see what he wanted to have his son called.

⁶³Zacharias asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”

They were all very surprised. ⁶⁴Suddenly, his mouth was opened and his tongue was freed. He began to speak, blessing God. ⁶⁵Awe came upon all who lived around them, and people talked about these sayings throughout the entire hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶All those who heard these things took them to heart and exclaimed, “What then will this child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with the child.⁶³⁵

The canticle of Zacharias

⁶⁷His father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has visited and worked redemption for his people;

⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David

⁷⁰(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

⁷¹salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to show mercy toward our fathers,

to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father,

to grant us ⁷⁴that being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,

we should offer him divine service⁶³⁶ without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him,

all the days of our life.

⁷⁶And you, child, [you] will be called a prophet of the Most High,

for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the dawn from on high has visited⁶³⁷ us,

⁷⁹to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death;

to guide our feet into the way of peace.

⁸⁰And the child grew up and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

The Nativity of our Lord

615. Perhaps a reference to Matthew (or Proto-Matthew) and Mark
616. In this case the ‘holy place’ (not the ‘holy of holies’)
617. Greek “him”
618. Greek aresthkw.j evnw,pion tou/ qeou/
619. Or indeed “Good News”
620. Or “Hail!”/“Greetings”—One of the most common Hebrew greetings is ~Alv’, “peace,” reflected in eivrh,nh in Lk 10:5; 24:36, but the LXX never translates ~Alv’, “peace,” by the imperative Cai/re. J. McHugh, in The Mother of Jesus, 38-39, notes, “The imperative form Cai/re, far from being a conventional greeting, always refers to the joy attendant on the deliverance of Israel; wherever it occurs, it is a translation of a Hebrew verb meaning ‘Rejoice greatly!’” (or “shout” for joy).
621. This is the traditional expression. “The perfect participle kecaritwme,nh has the strongest connotation of the present: ‘having been favored and as a result still being in this blessed condition.’ The root in the verb is ca,rij, grace, the unmerited favor bestowed by God. The passive voice makes God the agent.” (R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1946) p. 62). Many translations have “Greetings, favored one!” or something similar.
622. CT omits “Blessed are you among women”
623. Used in the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople
624. Other manuscripts omit “happening to me”
625. Or “since I am a virgin?”
626. Greek evpiskia,sei—Compare Exodus 40:33-35 LXX which is the only other instance where this verb is used: “And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of testimony, because the cloud overshadowed (evpeski,azen) it, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord”
627. TR adds “from you”
628. Greek “bond-maid” (female slave)
629. Compare 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms) 6:9. This verse, coupled with John 1:1,14; 20:28 is the basis for the expression Theotokos applied to the Virgin Mary at the Council of Ephesus in 431. This is a Christological title used to safeguard the unity of the divine hypostatis of the incarnate Word from the point of conception onward. Luke 1:39-50 parallels 2 Samuel 6 (see Introductory Section—Typologies), indicating that Mary is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant.
630. Also spelled “leapt”
631. Greek “bond-maid” (female slave)
632. Or “those who are proud in their inmost thoughts” (NIV)
633. Compare Sirach 10:14
634. Or “seed/descendants”
635. Greek “him”
636. Greek latreu,ein
637. CT reads “will visit” instead of “has visited”