Exegesis:

makaria ‘fortunate,’ ‘happy,’ usually with a religious connotation, ‘blessed’; often, as here, in a nominal clause with a participle or an adjective as its subject. The word also serves as a translation of the exclamatory Hebrew ashrey, ‘hail to him,’ or, ‘Oh, the happiness of…,’ less an exclamation than a statement. The difference between makaria and eulogēmenē (v. 42) is comparable to that between German ‘selig’ and ‘gesegnet.’

hē pisteusasa ‘she who believed’; the aorist tense indicates that the reference is to a specific act of faith of a specific person rather than to faith or to believing women in general. The word then refers here either to Elizabeth (The Four Gospels – a New Translation) or to Mary (most translators and commentators); the latter is preferable since v. 38 clearly implies Mary’s faith.

pisteuō ‘to believe,’ ‘to have faith,’ includes conviction, trust and obedience.

hoti admits grammatically of two explanations: ‘that’ or ‘for,’ preferably the latter.

estai teleiōsis tois lelalēmenois lit. ‘there will be fulfilment for what has been said,’ hence ‘what has been said will be fulfilled.’ teleiōsis.

para kuriou ‘from the Lord,’ i.e. ‘coming from the Lord’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, “the words that reached me from the Lord”), or, ‘on behalf of the Lord’ (cf. Nieuwe Vertaling, Brouwer, Willibrord, Bible de Jérusalem, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée).

Translation:

Blessed. The Greek term used here should be rendered by a receptor language word used for well wishing, as opposed to cursing, cf. 6.20ff; that term usually has the basic meaning ‘happy,’ ‘glad,’ ‘prosperous,’ ‘well,’ ‘safe.’ Care should be taken that the rendering chosen is not exclusively associated with material prosperity, or gambling, or recovery from illness. The terms for Gr. makarios (here) and eulogēmenos (v. 42) coincide in some languages, e.g. English. There is a difference, however, makarios referring to a situation of happiness and bliss as such, eulogēmenos more clearly envisaging such a situation as originating from God; therefore differentiation is preferable, if possible.

If she who … to her is taken as referring to Mary, a shift to pronouns of the second person often is preferable, e.g. in Kituba, Kannada, Sundanese; this may also serve to bring out the specifying force the aorist has here (see Exegesis). In Tboli it is possible to refer to the person addressed in the third person, but only if, in settling a case, one addresses him or her in the presence of others; since here only two seem to be present the pronoun of the second person had to be employed.

Believed that, or, ‘believed for.’ If Gr. hoti is taken to mean ‘that,’ the next clause functions as object of ‘believed’ (cf. Revised Standard Version), but if it is interpreted as ‘for’ (as preferred in Exegesis) an object may have to be added; hence e.g. ‘believed what was said to (or, promised) her,’ ‘considered-it-to-be-true’ (Toraja-Sa’dan). For to believe see on 1.20.

That there would be a fulfilment of what …, preferably, ‘for there will be a fulfilment of what…’; or, taking the “what”-clause as subject, ‘for what … will receive fulfilment, or, will be accomplished (Kannada), will become full (Tamil), will-be-caused-to-happen (Navajo), will come right (Sranan Tongo), will certainly take effect (Sundanese), is a certainty (Tboli), will lack nothing.’

What was spoken to her from the Lord, or, ‘the Lord’s word told to her’ (Ekari), ‘what the Lord had-ordered-to-speak’ (Batak Toba), intimating that the Lord was the initiator, not the agent of the speaking. In some languages the actual speaker can better be made explicit, e.g. ‘what the angel told you in the name of the Lord’ (Kituba), ‘what was spoken to her by the Lord’s holy messenger’ (Navajo). For Lord, here and in the further occurrences in this chapter, see v. 6, sub (c).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.