Mary and Elisabeth

The words

1. Elisabeth

   When Elisabeth hears Mary’s greeting, Luke says she is filled with the Holy Ghost and speaks out, blessing Mary and the child she carries.

   Luke 1:41–42 (opens a new tab)

2. Exalted

   Mary’s song sets two actions side by side: God has put down the mighty from their seats and lifted up those of low degree.

   Luke 1:52 (opens a new tab)

3. Haste

   Luke says Mary goes into the hill country “with haste,” then enters Zacharias’s house and greets Elisabeth; the visit begins with this greeting.

   Luke 1:39–41 (opens a new tab)

4. Holpen

   Mary sings of God helping his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, then recalls his words to Abraham and his descendants.

   Did you know?

   Isaiah addresses Israel as God’s servant and follows with “I will help thee.” Mary’s song likewise joins Israel, help and remembered mercy.

   Luke 1:54–55 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 1:51-56 (opens a new tab) · Isaiah 41:8–10 (opens a new tab)

5. Hungry

   Mary’s song contrasts the hungry, filled with good things, with the rich, whom God has sent away empty.

   Did you know?

   Psalm 107 also links hunger with divine generosity: it calls for praise of the Lord’s goodness, then says he fills “the hungry soul with goodness.”

   Luke 1:53 (opens a new tab) · Psalm 107:8–9 (opens a new tab)

6. Imagination

   In Mary’s song, God scatters the proud “in the imagination of their hearts”; the next line turns to the mighty and the lowly.

   Luke 1:51–52 (opens a new tab)

7. Juda

   Judea, in the NIV’s rendering of this place name.

   Mary travels into the hill country, to “a city of Juda,” then enters Zacharias’s house; Luke does not name the city.

   Luke 1:39–40 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 1:39-45 (opens a new tab) · NIV: Luke 1:39 (opens a new tab)

8. Leaped

   Luke says the child leaps when Elisabeth hears Mary’s greeting; Elisabeth then tells Mary that the baby leaped in her womb “for joy.”

   Luke 1:41; Luke 1:44 (opens a new tab)

9. Low Estate

   Mary says God has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, then says that all generations will call her blessed.

   Luke 1:48 (opens a new tab)

10. Magnify

    To lift up the Lord in praise, in the NET’s wording.

    Mary begins, “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” then speaks of her spirit rejoicing in God her Savior and of the great things done for her.

    Did you know?

    Psalm 34 turns praise into an invitation: after saying the Lord’s praise will be continually in his mouth, the speaker asks others to magnify the Lord together.

    Luke 1:46–49 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 1:46-50 (opens a new tab) · Psalm 34:1–3 (opens a new tab)

11. Mary

    Mary enters Zacharias’s house and greets Elisabeth; after Elisabeth’s blessing, Luke introduces Mary’s words of praise with “And Mary said.”

    Luke 1:40; Luke 1:42 (opens a new tab) · Luke 1:46 (opens a new tab)

12. Mighty

    Here, rulers, in the NET’s alternative rendering.

    Mary says God has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted the lowly, pairing the fall of the powerful with others being lifted up.

    Luke 1:52 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 1:51-56 (opens a new tab)

13. Proud

    Mary names the proud among those affected by God’s strength: he scatters them in their hearts’ imagination, before the song turns to rulers and the lowly.

    Luke 1:51–52 (opens a new tab)

14. Strength

    Mary sings that God has shown strength with his arm, then describes the proud scattered, the mighty brought down and the hungry filled.

    Luke 1:51–53 (opens a new tab)

15. Three Months

    Luke closes the visit by saying Mary stayed with Elisabeth for about three months and then returned to her own house.

    Luke 1:56 (opens a new tab)