Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
Parallel translations
- KJV Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
- BSB “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
- NKJV Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
- NASB But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
- NLT Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Judg 13:8–12Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”
- Acts 9:6But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 1:34 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.