Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
- KJV And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
- BSB “How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”
- NKJV And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
- NASB Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her years.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Zacharias asks for proof, citing his and Elizabeth's old age. He responds with doubt rather than faith.
Overview
Zacharias requests a sign because the promise seems impossible given their age. His question echoes Abraham's situation but reflects unbelief rather than trust. His doubt invites the discipline that follows and contrasts with Mary's later faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 18:12Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
- Gen 17:17Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”
- Isa 38:22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”
- Luke 1:7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
- Luke 1:34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
- 2 Kgs 7:2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
- Rom 4:19Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
- Judg 6:36–40Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken,
- Gen 15:8He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
- Num 11:21–23Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 1:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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