Luke 1:41

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her,^[a] and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:41 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 1:41

And it came to pass that when Elisabeth heard the
salutation of Mary
Which might be before she saw her, and at some little distance from her:

the babe leaped in her womb:
which motion was not natural, but supernatural; being made at hearing the voice of Mary, who had now conceived the Messiah, whose forerunner this babe, John the Baptist, was to be; and who, by this motion, gave the first notice of his conception, which his mother Elisabeth took from hence; as he afterwards pointed him out by his finger, and by his baptism made him manifest to Israel:

and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost
not with the ordinary graces of the Spirit, for these she had been filled with before, but with extraordinary gifts, with a spirit of prophecy; by which she knew that the Messiah was conceived, and that Mary was the mother of her Lord; that many things had been told her; that she had believed them; and there would be a performance of them; and perhaps it was at this time that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost also; see ( Luke 1:15 ) .

Luke 1:41 In-Context

39 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah

40 where she entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 Then she exclaimed with a loud cry: You are the most blessed of women, and your child will be blessed!

43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit leaped in her abdomen or womb