What Does Luke 1:44 Mean?
For look, as soon as the sound of your greeting came into my ears, the babe leaped in my womb, in a leap of joy.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.THE KEY
A greeting reaches the ear, and joy appears first as a leap within the body.
THE MEANING
Mary’s greeting reaches Elizabeth’s ears, and the child within her leaps with exultation. You see joy here as a bodily response that arrives before anyone can explain it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the belief that joy must wait for conscious understanding: the child leaps before anyone explains the response.
THE ROOT
ἐσκίρτησεν
eskirtesen
GROWS FROM
σκίρτ-
skirt-
leap, spring
“leaped” in this verse is eskirtesen. The Greek verb describes a sudden springing movement; the same verb family appears in Luke 6:23 as the bodily leap paired with rejoicing. Here, joy first takes shape as movement inside the womb.
ALSO GROWS
skirtaō: to leap, spring
σκιρτάω
This is the verb’s dictionary form, naming the springing movement carried by the child’s leap.
skirtēsate: leap (plural command)
σκιρτήσατε
Luke uses this form in ‘leap for joy’ in 6:23, where the same root joins bodily movement with rejoicing.
ἀγαλλιάσει
agalliasei
GROWS FROM
ἀγαλλ-
agall-
exult, rejoice greatly
“in a leap of joy” in this verse is agalliasei. The verse names the child’s response as exultation, with the force of rejoicing that rises outward. Paired with σκίρτησεν, joy is disclosed as a leap.
ALSO GROWS
agalliaō: to rejoice greatly, exult
ἀγαλλιάω
This verb expresses the rejoicing named by the noun in the verse.
agalliasis: exultation, rejoicing
ἀγαλλίασις
This is the noun’s basic form; the verse uses it to name the joy accompanying the child’s leap.
THE PATTERN
Joy takes bodily and audible form: Scripture pictures it in leaps, laughter, singing, and even clapping trees.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with a ringing cry. Then they said among the nations, The LORD has grown great in doing with these.For you shall go out in joy, and be carried forth in wholeness. The mountains and the hills shall burst into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their palms.Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers did to the prophets.THE THREAD
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers did to the prophets.Luke 6:23 uses the same Greek verb, σκιρτάω (skirtaō), for the leap paired with rejoicing. The shared root makes the child’s movement a bodily expression of joy.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us