Luke 1:57-80

John Is Born

57 Now the time ^[a]had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had ^[b]1displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

59 And it happened that on ²the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, ^[c]after his father.

60 But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but ³he shall be called John."

61 And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."

62 And they ⁴made signs to his father, as to what * he wanted him called.

63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "⁵His name is John." And they were all astonished.

64 ⁶And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all ⁷the hill country of Judea.

66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, "What then will this child turn out to be?" For ⁸the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

Zacharias's Prophecy

67 And his father Zacharias ⁹was filled with the Holy Spirit, and ¹⁰prophesied, saying:

68 "¹¹Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished ¹²redemption for His people,

69 And has raised up a ¹³horn of salvation for us In the house of David ¹⁴His servant -

70 ¹⁵As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets ¹⁶from of old -

71 ^[d]17Salvation ¹⁸FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;

72 ¹⁹To show mercy toward our fathers, ²⁰And to remember His holy covenant,

73 ²¹The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

75 ²²In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

76 "And you, child, will be called the ²³prophet of ²⁴the Most High; For you will go on ²⁵BEFORE THE LORD TO ²⁶PREPARE HIS WAYS;

77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation ^[e]By ²⁷the forgiveness of their sins,

78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which ²⁸the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79 ²⁹TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the ³⁰way of peace."

80 ³¹And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Luke 1:57-80 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LUKE

The writer of this Gospel, Luke, has been, by some, thought, as Origen {a} relates, to be the same with Lucius, mentioned in Ro 16:21, but he seems rather to be, and without doubt is, Luke the beloved physician, who was a companion of the Apostle Paul in great part of his travels in the Gentile world: he came with him to Jerusalem, and from thence accompanied him to Rome, and continued with him when in prison, and was with him to the last; see Ac 16:10,11 \Col 4:14 2Ti 4:11 Phm 1:24\. Jerom {b}, and others, say, he was a physician of Antioch in Syria; where it may be the Apostle Paul met with him, and might be the happy instrument of his conversion; so that he seems to be, by nation, a Syrian, as Jerom {c} calls him. Grotius thinks his name is Roman, and that it is the contraction of Lucilius. It is not an Hebrew name, but might be in common use in Syria; for though the Jews reckon owqwl, "Lukus", among foreign names, yet say {d} a it was a very illustrious one, and well known to them, as it may well be thought to be if Syriac, the language being spoke by them: and many Jews lived in Syria, and particularly in Antioch. Some say that this Gospel was written by the advice, and assistance, and under the direction of the Apostle Paul, as the Gospel according to Mark was by that of Peter; though the following preface does not seem so well to accord with this. Eusebius says {e} that it was the sense of the ancients, that whenever the Apostle Paul makes mention of his Gospel, he intends this according to Luke. The time of the writing of it is not certain; some say it was written in the fifteenth year after the ascension of our Lord; others in the twenty second; and others in the twenty seventh. It is commonly thought to have been written after the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, according to the order in which it stands; but this is rejected by some learned men, who rather think that Luke wrote first of all: and indeed, there are some things in his preface which look as if there had not, as yet, been any authentic account published, at least which was come to the knowledge of this evangelist. The place where he wrote it is also uncertain. Jerom says {f}, he wrote it in the parts of Achaia, perhaps at Corinth: according to the titles prefixed to the Syriac and Persic versions, he wrote it in Alexandria: the former of these runs thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, the Evangelist, which he spake and published in Greek in Alexandria the great.''

And the latter thus;

``the Gospel of Luke, which he wrote in the Greek tongue in Alexandria of Egypt.''

However, it is agreed on all hands, that it is genuine, and of divine inspiration. Eusebius {g} relates, that it was affirmed by some, that this Gospel, together with those of Matthew and Mark, were brought to the Apostle John, who approved of them, and bore witness to the truth in them.

{a} In Rom. xvi. 21. {b} Catalog. Script. Eccles. sect. 17. fol. 91. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 4. {c} Praefat in Luc. {d} T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 11. 2. & Gloss. in ib. {e} Ubi supra. (Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 39.) {f} Praefat in Luc. {g} Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 24.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 19:19
• 2. Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 2:21; Philippians 3:5
• 3. Luke 1:13, 63
• 4. Luke 1:22
• 5. Luke 1:13, 60
• 6. Luke 1:20
• 7. Luke 1:39
• 8. Acts 11:21
• 9. Luke 1:41; Acts 2:4, 8; Acts 9:17
• 10. Joel 2:28
• 11. 1 Kings 1:48; Psalms 41:13; Psalms 72:18; Psalms 106:48
• 12. Luke 1:71; Luke 2:38; Hebrews 9:12
• 13. 1 Samuel 2:1, 10; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 89:17; Psalms 132:17; Ezekiel 29:21
• 14. Matthew 1:1
• 15. Romans 1:2
• 16. Acts 3:21
• 17. Luke 1:68
• 18. Psalms 106:10
• 19. Micah 7:20
• 20. Ps 105:8f, 42; Psalms 106:45
• 21. Genesis 22:16f; Hebrews 6:13
• 22. Ephesians 4:24
• 23. Matthew 11:9
• 24. Luke 1:32
• 25. Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27
• 26. Luke 1:17
• 27. Jeremiah 31:34; Mark 1:4
• 28. Malachi 4:2; Ephesians 5:14; 2 Peter 1:19
• 29. Isaiah 9:2
• 30. Isaiah 59:8; Matthew 4:16
• 31. Luke 2:40

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "was fulfilled"
• [b]. Lit "magnified"
• [c]. Lit "after the name of"
• [d]. Or "Deliverance"
• [e]. Or "Consisting in"