Luke 1:39-56
Blessed are you among women
1:39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,
1:40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
1:41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
1:42and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
1:43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?
1:44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
1:45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
1:46And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
1:47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
1:48for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
1:49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
1:50indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
1:51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
1:52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
1:53he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
1:54He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
1:55according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
[39]᾿Αναστᾶσα δὲ Μαριὰμ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν μετὰ σπουδῆς εἰς πόλιν ᾿Ιούδα,
[40]καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ζαχαρίου καὶ ἠσπάσατο τὴν ᾿Ελισάβετ.
[41]καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἤκουσεν ἡ ᾿Ελισάβετ τὸν ἀσπασμὸν τῆς Μαρίας, ἐσκίρτησε τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ αὐτῆς· καὶ ἐπλήσθη Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου ἡ ᾿Ελισάβετ
[42]καὶ ἀνεφώνησε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ εἶπεν· εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶ καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου.
[43]καὶ πόθεν μοι τοῦτο ἵνα ἔλθῃ ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ Κυρίου μου πρός με;
[44]ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὡς ἐγένετο ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ἀσπασμοῦ σου εἰς τὰ ὦτά μου, ἐσκίρτησε τὸ βρέφος ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ μου.
[45]καὶ μακαρία ἡ πιστεύσασα ὅτιἔσται τελείωσις τοῖς λελαλημένοις αὐτῇ παρὰ Κυρίου.
[46]Καὶ εἶπε Μαριάμ·
Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον
[47] καὶ ἠγαλλίασε τὸ πνεῦμά μου
ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου,
[48] ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν
τῆς δούλης αὐτοῦ.
ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσί με
πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί·
[49] ὅτι ἐποίησέ μοι μεγαλεῖα ὁ δυνατὸς
καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
[50] καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν
τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν.
[51] ᾿Εποίησε κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ,
διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·
[52] καθεῖλε δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων
καὶ ὕψωσε ταπεινούς,
[53] πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν
καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλε κενούς.
[54] ἀντελάβετο ᾿Ισραὴλ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ
μνησθῆναι ἐλέους,
[55] καθὼς ἐλάλησε πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν,
τῷ ᾿Αβραὰμ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
[56]῎Εμεινε δὲ Μαριὰμ σὺν αὐτῇ ὡσεὶ μῆνας τρεῖς καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς.
Comments
Mary flags her words as belonging to the genre of praise. From the narrative’s beginning to the Virgin’s Magnificat the verbs denote vivid actions (leaping like a frisky animal, shouting mightily, dispersing, summarily sending away).
[39] εἰς πόλιν ᾿Ιούδα: πόλιν without an article refers to an unspecified town or city
[40] ἠσπάσατο: ἀσπάζομαι c. acc. pers., ΄greet’; ‘kiss, embrace’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. 1A & 2); in LXX, as here, ‘I say words of greeting to someone’ (Muraoka s.v.). Cf. 41, τὸν ἀσπασμὸν, ‘greeting’.
[41] ἐσκίρτησε τὸ βρέφος: σκιρτάω, ‘I spring, leap, bound’, of young horses, goats, the Bacchae, etc. (from Homer onwards: LSJ s.v. 1); fig., in LXX, ‘to leap about’, of foetuses (Gen 25.22), as here (Muraoka s.v.). βρέφος, ‘foetus’ (Iliad 23. 266: LSJ s.v. I); also in LXX (Muraoka s.v.). Cf. 44, ἐσκίρτησε τὸ βρέφος, but now in direct speech.
[42] ἀνεφώνησε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ: ἀναφωνέω, ‘shout’ (post-cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. 1). φωνῇ μεγάλῃ repeats the component φων- of the vb and augments it with μεγάλῃ (‘great’). Elizabeth gives a very loud shout of joy and wonderment.
[45] τελείωσις: ‘fruition, completion, maturity’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. Ia); so also in LXX (Muraoka s.v.); here, ‘fulfilment of divine promises’ (EDNT s.v.).
[46] Μεγαλύνει: μεγαλύνω, ‘extol, magnify’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. II); freq. in LXX, ‘to declare or consider great’, with God as obj. (e.g. Ps. 33.4) or c. acc. pers. (Muraoka s.v. I.2). The very verb introduces the genre of praise in Mary’s long utterance. Cf. 49, μεγαλεῖα, ‘the grand (or mighty) works of God’.
[48] ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν: ὅτι = causal; ‘for he has looked upon…’
[49] ὅτι ἐποίησέ μοι μεγαλεῖα ὁ δυνατὸς
καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ: ὅτι = causal; ‘because the Mighty One has done…’ Causal ὅτι is understood in the next clause καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ‘and (because) His name is holy’.
[51] διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους: διασκορίζω, ‘scatter abroad, disperse’, c. acc. pers., in LXX (Muraoka s.v.), referring to the scattering of the vanquished. ὑπερήφανος, ‘overweening, arrogant’ (Hes. Theogony 149 & cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.1); also in LXX (Muraoka s.v. 1).
[52] δυνάστας: ‘chief man in a state’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.); similarly in LXX, ‘someone in power’, ‘powerful man’ (Muraoka s.v.).
[53] ἐξαπέστειλε: ἐξαποστέλλω, late Gk, ‘send away’, with a connotation of disdain and finality.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 