Luke 1:5-56

5 During the time when Herod was king of Judea, ^[a] there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife's name was Elizabeth; she also belonged to a priestly family. ¹

6 They both lived good lives in God's sight and obeyed fully all the Lord's laws and commands.

7 They had no children because Elizabeth could not have any, and she and Zechariah were both very old.

8 One day Zechariah was doing his work as a priest in the Temple, taking his turn in the daily service.

9 According to the custom followed by the priests, he was chosen by lot to burn incense on the altar. So he went into the Temple of the Lord,

10 while the crowd of people outside prayed during the hour when the incense was burned.

11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar where the incense was burned.

12 When Zechariah saw him, he was alarmed and felt afraid.

13 But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John.

14 How glad and happy you will be, and how happy many others will be when he is born!

15 John will be great in the Lord's sight. He must not drink any wine or strong drink. From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, ²

16 and he will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

17 He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him." ³

18 Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know if this is so? I am an old man, and my wife is old also."

19 "I am Gabriel," the angel answered. "I stand in the presence of God, who sent me to speak to you and tell you this good news. ⁴

20 But you have not believed my message, which will come true at the right time. Because you have not believed, you will be unable to speak; you will remain silent until the day my promise to you comes true."

21 In the meantime the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he was spending such a long time in the Temple.

22 When he came out, he could not speak to them, and so they knew that he had seen a vision in the Temple. Unable to say a word, he made signs to them with his hands.

23 When his period of service in the Temple was over, Zechariah went back home.

24 Some time later his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and did not leave the house for five months.

25 "Now at last the Lord has helped me," she said. "He has taken away my public disgrace!"

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth.

27 He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. Her name was Mary. ⁵

28 The angel came to her and said, "Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!"

29 Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message, and she wondered what his words meant.

30 The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you.

31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ⁶

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, ⁷

33 and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!"

34 Mary said to the angel, "I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?"

35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God.

36 Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old.

37 For there is nothing that God cannot do." ⁸

38 "I am the Lord's servant," said Mary; "may it happen to me as you have said." And the angel left her.

39 Soon afterward Mary got ready and hurried off to a town in the hill country of Judea.

40 She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby moved within her. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

42 and said in a loud voice, "You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁹

43 Why should this great thing happen to me, that my Lord's mother comes to visit me?

44 For as soon as I heard your greeting, the baby within me jumped with gladness.

45 How happy you are to believe that the Lord's message to you will come true!"

46 Mary said, "My heart praises the Lord;

47 my soul is glad because of God my Savior,

48 for he has remembered me, his lowly servant! ¹⁰ From now on all people will call me happy,

49 because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me. His name is holy;

50 from one generation to another he shows mercy to those who honor him.

51 He has stretched out his mighty arm and scattered the proud with all their plans.

52 He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones, ¹¹ and lifted up the lowly.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away with empty hands.

54 He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors, and has come to the help of his servant Israel.

55 He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham ¹² and to all his descendants forever!"

56 Mary stayed about three months with Elizabeth and then went back home.

Luke 1:5-56 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. 1.51 Chronicles 24.10.
• 2. 1.15Numbers 6.3.
• 3. 1.17Malachi 4.5, 6+2Ben Sira 48.10, 11.
• 4. 1.19Daniel 8.16; 9.21+2Tobit 12.15.
• 5. 1.27Matthew 1.18.
• 6. 1.31Matthew 1.21.
• 7. 1.32, 33 2 S 7.12, 13, 16;Isaiah 9.7.
• 8. 1.37Genesis 18.14.
• 9. +21.42Jude 13.18.
• 10. 1.48 1 Samuel 1.11.
• 11. 1.52Job 5.11; 12.19+2Ben Sira 10.14.
• 12. 1.55Genesis 17.7.+O+N1.46-55 1 S 2.1-10.

Footnotes

• [a]. judea: [The term here refers to the whole land of Palestine.]