1:7a

But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But is a common conjunction that is often translated as “and” in English. Some English versions translate it here as “But.” That is natural in English in this context. The conjunction contrasts the righteous life of Zechariah and Elizabeth (1:6) with the fact that they had no children. Connect 1:7 to 1:6 in a way that is natural in your language. In some languages, a conjunction may not be needed. For example:

They had no children (New Living Translation (2004))

children: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as children is literally “child” (as in the Revised Standard Version). In modern English, it is more natural to use the plural form children. You can use the form that is most natural in your language here.

barren: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as barren describes a woman who is not able to conceive or give birth to a child. Another way to translate this is:

not able to have children

1:7b

they were both well along in years: In this context the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as well along in years means that Zechariah and Elizabeth were old. They were past the age when they would normally be able to have children. Another way to translate this is:

she and Zechariah were both very old (Good News Translation)

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.