31. Thou shalt conceive. See on ver. 24. Jesus. See on Matt. i. 21.
35. Shall overshadow. “Denoting the mildest and most gentle operation of divine power, that the divine fire should not consume Mary, but make her fruitful ” (Bengel). Compare Exod. xxxiii. 22; Mark ix. 7. Compare the classical legend of Semele, who, being beloved of Jove, besought him to appear to her:as he appeared in heaven, in all the terrors of the thun- derer, and was consumed by his lightning. The metaphor in the word is taken from a cloud, in which God had appeared (Exod. xl. 8435 1 Kings viii. 10).
36. Cousin (cvyyerys). The nature of the relationship, however, is unknown. The word is a general term, meaning of the same family. The best texts substitute for it a feminine form, cvyyevis, which is condemned by the grammarians as un- classical, but rightly rendered by Rev., Ainswoman. Wyce., COSYNESS, 1.€., COUSINESS.
37. With God nothing shall be impossible (ov« adur- atnoe Tapa Tod Ocod Trav phua). ‘Pha, word, as distinguished from Aéyos, word, in classical Greek, signifies a constituent part of a speech or writing, as distinguished from the contents as a whole. Thus it may be either a@ word or @ saying. Some- times @ phrase, as opposed to dvowa, a single word. The dis-
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tinction in the New Testament is not sharp throughout. It is maintained that pjwa in the New Testament, like the Hebrew gabar, stands sometimes for the subject-matter of the word; the ¢hing, as in this passage. But there are only two other passages in the New Testament where this meaning is at all ad- nissible, though the word occurs seventy times. These are Luke ii. 15; Acts v.32. ‘“ Kept all these things” (Luke ii. 19), should clearly be sayings, as the A. V. itself has rendered it in the almost identical passage, ver.51. In Acts v. 32, Rev. gives sayings in margin. In Luke ii. 15, though A. V. and Rev. render thing, the sense is evidently saying, as appears both from the connection with the angelic message and from the following words, which has come to pass: the saying which has become a fact. The Rev. rendering of this passage is, therefore, right, though a little stilted: Wo word of God shall be void of power; for the A. V. errs in joining ov« and rap, not every, and translating nothing. The two do not belong together. The statement is, Hvery (xav) word of God shall not (ovr) be power- less. The A. V. also follows the reading, rapa 76 Oc@, with God; but all the later texts read rapa rob Ocod, from Cod, which fixes the meaning beyond question.
40. Entered into the house. “This detail,” says Godet, “serves to put the reader in sympathy with the emotion of Mary at the moment of her arrival. With her first glance at Elizabeth she recognized the truth of the sign that had been given her by the angel, and at this sight the promise she had herself received acquired a startling reality.”
41. The babe (70 Apédos). See on 1 Pet. ii. 2.
42. She spake out with aloud voice (avepavnce povh pe- yarn). For devi, voice, read kpavyn, cry : inarticulate, though dovr may also be used of inarticulate utterance. Rev., rightly, She lifted up her voice with a loud ery ; thus rendering in the verb the force of ava, wp, besides picturing the fact more natur- ally. Elizabeth’s sudden and violent emotion at the appearance of Mary, and the movement of the child, prompted an exclama-
262 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. L
tion which was followed by words (eizrev, said). The verb ava- dovéw occurs only here in the New Testament. It was a med- ical term for a certain exercise of the voice.
44, For joy (év ayadNacer). Lit., in joy. See on ver. 14.