Luke 1:5-25

The Prediction of John the Baptist’s Birth

5 It happened that in the days of Herod, king of Judea, [there was] a certain priest, Zechariah by name, of the division of Abijah. And {he had a wife}^[a] from the daughters of Aaron, and her name [was] Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous in the sight of God, living blamelessly in all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.

7 And {they did not have}^[b] a child, because Elizabeth was barren. And they were both advanced {in years}.^[c]

8 And it happened that [while]^[d] he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood he was chosen by lot to enter into the temple of the Lord to burn incense.

10 And the whole crowd of the people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And Zechariah was terrified [when he]^[e] saw [the angel],^[f] and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.

14 And {you will experience joy and exultation},^[g] and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he must never drink wine or beer, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit [while he is]^[h] still in his mother's womb.

16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.

17 And he will go on before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready."

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, "By what will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced {in years}!"^[i]

19 And the angel answered [and]^[j] said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.

20 And behold, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day these [things] take place, {because}^[k] you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."

21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and began to wonder^[l] [when]^[m] he was delayed in the temple.

22 And [when he]^[n] came out he was not able to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them, and remained unable to speak.

23 And it happened that when the days of his service came to an end, he went away to his home.

24 Now after these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she kept herself in seclusion [for] five months, saying,

25 "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days in which he has concerned himself with [me],^[o] to take away my disgrace among people."

Luke 1:5-25 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "a wife to him"
• [b]. Literally "there was not to them"
• [c]. Literally "in their days"
• [d]. *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the temporal infinitive ("was serving as priest")
• [e]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("saw") which is understood as temporal
• [f]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [g]. Literally "joy and exultation will be to you"
• [h]. *Here the phrase "while he is," including the verb, is understood in Greek and is supplied in the translation
• [i]. Literally "in her days"
• [j]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
• [k]. Literally "in return for which"
• [l]. *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to wonder")
• [m]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal infinitive ("was delayed")
• [n]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("came out") which is understood as temporal
• [o]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation