consider, wonder (in her mind)

The Greek in Luke 1:29 that is translated as “she wondered” or “she considered (in her mind)” is translated as “her heart said” in Batak Toba or as “she puzzled forth and puzzled back” in Sranan Tongo.

In Mairasi, the translation is “she asked in her thought-place (=in her private thoughts)” (source: Enggavorter 2004).

Annunciation

Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here . For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

Following is a contemporary tempera / gouache on leather painting by an unknown Ethiopian artist:

Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .

Following is a painting (“Annunciation”) by He Qi:

He Qi © 2021 All Rights Reserved.

Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com . For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

(Note that supernatural beings are always portrayed with this type of upraised scarf and white circle.)

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here . For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

Annunciation to Mary (icon)

Following is a Serbian Orthodox icon of the Annunciation to Mary from the 14th century (found in the Church of Theotokos the Perivleptos, Ohrid, today in the National Museum of Serbia).

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

Tibbs (2025, p. 51ff.) writes about the annunciation icon: “The archangel is seen entering from the left, moving toward the right, which is the typical direction of narrative action in icons. One reason for this is that the icon is read similarly to the Greek text in the New Testament, from left to right.

“The are no walls in the icon to suggest that Gabriel had entered an indoor space, as would have been presser in naturalistic art. The absence of enclosing walls in iconography is also intentional since the icon has no dimension or physical boundaries. There is no light source, and therefore, there are no shadows. The absence of both walls and light sources serves to convey that the event itself expands beyond its natural earthbound limits. Evdokimov writes that the icon is ‘never a window on nature,’ not even on a specific place, ‘but rather an opening onto the beyond.’

“It is the red drape that sets the scriptural event within its actual indoor historical setting, with the color red representing the earthly setting of this event. The red drape affirms that this event took place at a specific moment in history, in a specific indoor space in Nazareth, between a specific angel, Gabriel, and a specific young woman, Mary, in the ‘sixth month’ after Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:26-27, 36). Yet the icon goes beyond the historical setting to encompass the cosmic significance of this event: the eternal God enters human history.”

complete verse (Luke 1:29)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:29:

  • Noongar: “Mary was frightened, hearing the angel, and she questioned everything in her head.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Maria was surprised to hear the words of that angel, and she thought [about] what was the meaning of his greeting.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When Mariyam heard what the angel said, she was really troubled in her mind and she thought-and-thought about as to what the meaning was of what he said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Mary heard this, she was very much dumbfounded and she wondered what might be the interpretation of this word of the angel.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Maria was extremely perplexed at what the angel said and she kept-searching as to what perhaps it signified (lit. wanted to say).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When Maria heard, she couldn’t respond, and she was really amazed as to what that which had been said meant.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 1:29

Exegesis:

hē ‘she.’ The article is used here as a personal pronoun (cf. Moule 123).

epi tō logō ‘because of the saying.’ The preposition indicates here that Mary’s bewilderment is due to the angel’s word; hence, Revised Standard Version, cf. à ces mots (Bible de Jérusalem) and “at what he said” (An American Translation).

logos ‘the saying,’ i.e. the words spoken by the angel.

dietarachthē ‘she was (greatly) perplexed,’ probably stronger than etarachthē ‘was perplexed’ (v. 12), cf. L-Sc, s.v. diatarassō.

dielogizeto ‘she stood there wondering’; durative imperfect after the (punctiliar) aorist dietarachthē.

dialogizomai ‘to ponder,’ or ‘to argue,’ here the former.

potapos eiē ho aspasmos houtos, lit.: ‘of what kind (or ‘meaning’) this greeting might be,’ hence: “What this greeting might mean” (New English Bible).

potapos (also 7.39) ‘of what sort,’ always suggesting something extraordinary, either good (cf. 1 Jn. 3.1) or bad (cf. 7.39).

aspasmos ‘greeting,’ always of formal or solemn salutations.

Translation:

But she, or, preferably, ‘thereupon she (or Mary).’ In several languages a better translation is obtained by shifting the prepositional phrase to the head of the sentence, ‘at (or hearing) his word she…,’ or, ‘when Mary heard what the angel was saying, she….’

Some idioms for she was … troubled are, ‘her breath (was) anxious’ (Tboli), ‘her mind was upset’ (Marathi), ‘she had a crumpled heart’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC in 24.38), ‘her members shook’ (Navajo). In Sranan Tongo one has to use an active construction, ‘this word confused her.’

She considered in her mind, or, ‘she was thinking/asking-herself,’ ‘her heart said’ (Batak Toba), ‘she puzzled forth and puzzled back’ (Sranan Tongo). The aspect is inceptive-continuative, for Mary started wondering and continued in that state.

What sort of greeting this might be. Direct discourse is obligatory, or preferable in several cases, e.g. in Sediq, Ekari, Dravidian languages. The clause is in dubitative mood, to be expressed by modal verbal forms or particles, or by adverbial qualifications such as, “possible” (Phillips). Greeting. If no specific verb for ‘to greet (with words)’ exists, an expression can often be used that is built on the word formula of greeting, cf. on “hail” in v. 28; hence e.g., ‘this odi’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘this well-saying’ (Balinese). With some syntactic shifts this may lead to renderings such as, ‘Why does he say (or, What can it possibly mean that he says) “hail” to me?’ Where, however, the language does not possess a common formula of greeting, or the expression for ‘to greet’ refers to gestures, and not to words (cf. on v. 28), the verb may have to be rendered more generically, e.g. ‘to speak (kindly, or, graciously) to’; hence, ‘What in-the-world-is-he-saying-to-me’ (Navajo). To call attention to Gabriel’s unusual behaviour (cf. Exegesis, last entry on v. 28) it may be advisable to use here, ‘to deign to speak (kindly/graciously) to.’

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 1:29

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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