Paragraph 1:29–34

1:29a

Mary was greatly troubled at his words: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as greatly troubled means “to be troubled, upset, and confused.” It is an emphatic form of the same verb that the Berean Standard Bible translated as “was startled” in 1:12. Mary was disturbed, frightened, and confused by the angel’s message. She did not know what it meant.

1:29b

wondered what kind of greeting this might be: The phrase wondered what kind of greeting this might be indicates that Mary thought about what the angel’s words implied. She did not know the reason why the angel greeted her as a person highly favored by the Lord.

Other ways to say this are:

asked herself what this greeting could mean (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
wondered why the angel said these ⌊kind⌋ words to her

In some languages it may be necessary to translate this as direct speech. For example:

⌊Mary⌋ asked herself, “What could this greeting mean?”
-or-

⌊Mary⌋ wondered, “What causes him to greet me in this way?”

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