1:27a

virgin: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as virgin usually refers to a young girl or woman who has not yet married and has never had sexual intercourse with a man. The young woman was usually at the age that people consider a good time for girls to marry. All of this was true of Mary.

Some ways to translate virgin are:

• Use a specific term that refers to a young unmarried woman who has not had sexual intercourse. It should not imply that men do not want to marry her because she is ugly or has some other problem. For example:

a virgin
-or-
a pure young woman
-or-
a young woman who has not had sexual relations

• Use a general term that refers to a “young woman” or “young unmarried woman.” Allow the context (especially 1:34) to show that Mary had never had sexual intercourse.

Be careful to choose a translation that will be appropriate for public reading. In some languages, you will have a euphemism or idiom for this. For example:

a woman who has not slept with a man
-or-
an untouched woman

pledged in marriage: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pledged in marriage refers to a legal agreement or promise that a woman/girl would marry a man. Among the Jews, the girl’s father often made this promise to the man on her behalf.

Some English versions translate this word as “engaged.” However, the marriage agreement among the Jews was more strict than the word “engaged” implies in many cultures. It legally joined a man and woman, and it was as binding as marriage. If either the man or woman ended the agreement, people considered them to be divorced. However, they were not allowed to have sexual relations until they actually married.

Some other ways to express pledged in marriage are:

promised in marriage (Good News Translation)
-or-
had a ⌊legal⌋ contract to be married

You may want to include a footnote to explain more about this Jewish custom. For example:

The type of marriage promise in this verse was legally binding in Jewish culture. After the promise, the man and woman usually waited about one year before they married. During that time, they did not live together or have sexual relations.

1:27b

of the house of David: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a of the house of David means that King David was one of Joseph’s ancestors. David was king over Israel about one thousand years before Joseph’s time.

1:27c

And the virgin’s name was Mary: The name of the virgin to whom the angel was sent was Mary. Some English versions give her name earlier in this verse.

General Comment on 1:27a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to mention the information about Mary’s name near the beginning of this verse. If that is true in your language, you may want to change the order of the parts of this verse. For example:

⌊He went⌋ to 27ca virgin called Mary. Mary 27awas engaged to a man named Joseph, 27bwho was descended from ⌊King⌋ David.

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