LUKE 1:52 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:46–56: Mary praised God

In this section Mary spoke a poem or song of praise to God.Many of the lines in this song of praise are echoes of other songs of praise in the Old Testament. In fact, one scholar points out that of the ten verses of Mary’s song, eight are very similar to Old Testament verses. For example, in 1:47 Mary said that “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Compare this with Habakkuk 3:18, “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Mary may have had these thoughts stored in her mind because she had heard people read the Scriptures many times in synagogue services. However, in her song, Mary combined the thoughts of Old Testament songs in her own original way. In 1:46–49 she praised God for blessing her personally. In 1:50 she praised God because he is merciful to all people who fear him. In 1:51–53 she spoke of the way God had rejected the proud, the powerful, and the rich. She spoke of the way he had instead chosen to bless those who are poor and lowly. In 1:54–55 she praised God for helping the people of Israel.

When Mary talked about what God had done, she was not just talking about the past. She was talking about what God was doing at that time and about what he would continue to do through the Messiah. By choosing Mary to be the mother of the Messiah, God had shown mercy to her as a poor and lowly person. He had also shown mercy to the people of Israel, because the Messiah would save them. This was similar to the way he had worked in the past, showing mercy to his people and helping them against their enemies.

It may be good to write this song (1:46–55) as poetry in your translation, using separate lines at appropriate places. For examples, see 1:46–55 in the RSV, NIV, and GNT. There may be special phrases in your language that are appropriate to use in poetry that you do not use in ordinary conversation. Because this song is poetry, you may be able to use those phrases here.

Some other possible headings for this section are:The name of Mary’s song in Latin, the Magnificat, is well-known in some areas of the world. If this is true in your area, you may be able to use this name as your heading or as part of the heading. For example, the NLT has “The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise.”

Mary’s song of praise to God

Mary praised God for the kindness he was showing to Israel and to her

1:52a

He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

He has taken/pulled down rulers from their thrones,
He has taken away the power of kings,
He has removed powerful leaders from their place of authority,

He has brought down rulers from their thrones: The clause He has brought down rulers from their thrones is a figure of speech. It indicates that the Lord has removed rulers from their positions of authority. In this verse, the word thrones represents the authority that kings have. Therefore, this expression means that God has caused people who were kings to be kings no longer.

In some languages, people may not understand this figure of speech. If that is true in your language, here are other ways to translate it:

Use the figure of speech and also make the meaning explicit. For example:
He has pulled kings from their thrones and taken their kingship from them
Use a similar figure of speech in your language. For example:
He has taken the kings’ staffs of office from them
Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:
He has removed kings from their positions of authority
He has taken away the power of kings

1:52b

but has exalted the humble.

but he has raised up humble people.
and he has made lowly people important.
and he has exalted/honored insignificant people.

but: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as but is often translated as “and.” It connects two ways in which God showed his power: He has brought down rulers from their thrones (1:52a), and he has lifted up humble people (1:52b). These two actions contrast with each other, so but is natural in English. Connect these parts of the verse in a natural way in your language. In some languages a conjunction may not be needed.

has exalted the humble: The verb that the BSB translates as exalted here has the figurative meaning of “to give a high position to.” It has the opposite meaning of the verb “brought down” in 1:52a. The phrase the humble refers to people who were poor and also humble in spirit.

Mary and Elizabeth were examples of humble people whom God exalted. God exalted Mary by giving her the honor of becoming the mother of the Messiah. He exalted Elizabeth by making her the mother of John, who prepared people for the Messiah.

Some other ways to translate exalted the humble are:

exalted the lowly (NLT96)

honored humble people (GW)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπό θρόνων καί ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς)

A “throne” is a chair that a ruler sits on, and it is a symbol associated with authority. If rulers are brought down from their thrones, that means they no longer have the authority to reign. Alternate translation: [He has deposed rulers]

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

καὶ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπό θρόνων καί ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς)

The word and indicates a contrast between what this phrase describes and what the previous phrase described. Try to make the contrast between these opposite actions clear in your translation. Alternate translation: [but]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς

exalted ˓the˒_humble

In this word picture, people who are more important are depicted as higher up than people who are less important. Alternate translation: [he has given important roles to humble people]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

ταπεινούς

˓the˒_humble

Mary is using this adjective as a noun in order to indicate a group of people. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with a noun phrase. Alternate translation: [humble people]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear LUKE 1:52

SR Greek word order

Section 1:46–56: Mary praised God

1:52a

1:52b

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)