The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
- KJV And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
- BSB The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
- NKJV And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
- NASB The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.
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
The Holy Spirit will overshadow Mary, so her child will be holy, the Son of God. The conception is a divine miracle.
Overview
Gabriel explains that the Spirit's power, not human means, will bring about the conception, so the child will be holy and rightly called the Son of God. This affirms both Jesus' true humanity and his divine origin. The virgin birth lies at the foundation of who Christ is.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Matt 1:18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
- John 1:49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
- Matt 1:20But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
- John 1:34I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
- Luke 1:31–32Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’
- Rom 1:4who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
- Heb 4:15For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
- Matt 26:63–64But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
- Acts 8:36As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
- Mark 1:24saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”
- Matt 27:54Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
- Luke 1:27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary.
- Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
- Job 25:4How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
- John 20:31but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
- Mark 1:1The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- Ps 2:7I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.
- Heb 7:26–28For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
- Matt 14:33Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
- Matt 4:3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
- Eph 2:3among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
- Job 15:16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
- Ps 51:5Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.
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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.
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Original language
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