The Greek in Luke 1:43 that is translated as “why has this happened to me” in English is translated in Elhomwe as “who am I” to express the feeling of being unworthy. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Visitation
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:
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.
Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:
From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.
The following is a stained glass window depicting Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth. It was created by Ateliers Maréchal de Metz between 1848 and 1860 for the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Luxembourg.
Photo by Marcin Szala, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth (icon)
Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth by Kateryna Shadrina.
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 )
For purchasing artworks by Kateryna Shadrina go to IconArt Gallery .
complete verse (Luke 1:43)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:43:
- Noongar: “Why does this great thing happen to me, now my Lord’s mother comes to see me?” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “Who am I, that you (sing.) the mother of my Lord comes here to visit me!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Why is it that I am honored by the mother of my Lord coming to visit me?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Why is it that I am so favored by God because why are you, the mother of the chosen king, visiting me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “What I-wonder (RQ marker) is my status (lit. personhood) that you (sing.) have come to visit-me, you (sing.) who are moreover the mother of my Lord?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “I don’t know just who I am, that the mother of my Lord/Chief has come here to me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Sung version of Luke 1
Translation commentary on Luke 1:43
Exegesis:
kai pothen moi touto hina… ‘and whence (comes) this to me that…’ pothen ‘whence,’ sometimes used to indicate surprise at the cause or reason of something: ‘how is it possible that…,’ cf. Mk. 12.37. moi is best taken as an ethical dative with little or no emphasis. touto refers to the subsequent clause introduced by hina. hina originally an indication of purpose, often denotes content in the New Testament, cf. Moule 145f.
elthē ‘comes’ or ‘has come’; the subjunctive, obligatory after hina has lost its modal function since hina has ceased to indicate purpose.
hē mētēr tou kuriou mou ‘the mother of my Lord’ i.e. the mother of the Messiah, cf. on v. 6 sub (3).
pros eme ‘to me,’ emphatic.
Translation:
Why is this granted me, or, ‘how is it that it should be done to me’ (Ekari), “Who am I” (An American Translation, New English Bible), “why should this great thing happen to me” (Good News Translation), ‘whence (or, who gave me) this good fortune’ (Javanese, Sranan Tongo), ‘whence is this honour to me?’ (Marathi, where the clause has to be in final position). Elsewhere the rhetorical question may have to become a statement, introduced by some phrase like, ‘it is astonishing that,’ ‘I can’t believe that.’
Lord, see on v. 6, sub (b).
Should come to me, or, making explicit the speaker’s humble mood, ‘is so kind to come to me’ (Apache, Balinese), cf. also, ‘would fain visit one such as this one here that I am’ (Tboli, the circumlocutionary rendering of the object bringing out the emphatic force of the pronoun). For the verb cf. also v. 28.
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 1:43
1:43a
And: This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is most often translated as “and,” as in the Berean Standard Bible. Some other English versions, such as the New International Version, translate it as “but” to reflect a contrast between Elizabeth’s awareness of the way that God has honored Mary and her sense of her own humble position. Still other English translations do not translate this conjunction. Connect 1:43 to 1:42 in a natural way in your language. In some languages a conjunction may not be needed.
why am I so honored: This is a rhetorical question. The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as why am I so honored is literally “From where this to me?” It expresses amazement. Elizabeth was amazed that the mother of the Messiah had come to visit her, because she felt unworthy of this honor.
Some ways to translate this to express amazement and Elizabeth’s sense of being unworthy are:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
How is it possible…?
-or-
But why am I so favored…? (New International Version)
-or-
Who am I…? (Revised English Bible)
• As a statement. For example:
I do not deserve this honor…!
-or-
I feel blessed…. (God’s Word)
Express this amazement in a natural way in your language.
1:43b
the mother of my Lord: The Holy Spirit showed Elizabeth that the baby in Mary’s womb was the Lord. He was the Christ/Messiah, the one God had promised to send to save his people.
Elizabeth was speaking directly to Mary here. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear by using a form such as “you.” For example:
⌊you who are⌋ the mother of my Lord
Lord: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Lord means “master, one who has authority over others.” The word Lord was one of the terms that the Jews used to refer to God. Here the word Lord refers specifically to the Messiah.
Some other ways to translate Lord are:
Master
-or-
Chief
come: In this context, the word come refers to “coming for a visit.” So you can translate the word come as:
come and visit (NET Bible)
-or-
visit (Revised English Bible)
-or-
come and see
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