What Does Luke 1:58 Mean?
And her neighbors and her kin heard how the LORD had made great his faithful love toward her, and they rejoiced with her.
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
And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.THE KEY
Mercy becomes great in one woman’s life, then her neighbors make its joy shared by rejoicing with her.
THE MEANING
The Lord’s mercy becomes visible in her life, and the people around her recognize it. Their joy joins hers, so what comes to one person becomes gladness others can share.
THE ROOT
συνέχαιρον
synechairon
GROWS FROM
χαίρω (chairō), joined with σύν (syn-, together)
To rejoice or be glad, joined with the sense of togetherness.
“kin” in this verse is synechairon. The Greek word carries both joy and togetherness: they do not just hear about her gladness; they join it. Its imperfect form pictures their shared rejoicing as unfolding around her.
ALSO GROWS
chairō: Rejoice, be glad
χαίρω
The base verb shows the joy at the heart of the shared response.
chara: Joy
χαρά
This related noun names the gladness that becomes communal in the verse.
ἐμεγάλυνεν
emegalynen
GROWS FROM
μεγαλ- (megal-), related to μέγας (megas)
Great; to make great or magnify.
“made great” in this verse is emegalynen. The Greek verb carries the image of magnifying: the Lord makes his mercy large and visible in her life. The people’s shared rejoicing shows how that mercy reaches beyond her own experience.
ALSO GROWS
megas: Great, large
μέγας
This adjective gives the basic sense behind making something great.
megalōsynē: Greatness, majesty
μεγαλωσύνη
This related noun carries the same family’s sense of greatness made evident.
THE PATTERN
When goodness arrives for one person, shared joy lets the people around them enter that gladness.
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and leap with her, all who love her. Exult with her in gladness, all who mourn for her.The LORD has grown great in doing with us, and we were glad.Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.THE THREAD
If one limb aches, all the limbs ache with it, and if one is clothed in weight, all of them rejoice with it.The Greek for “rejoice with” is from the same verb συγχαίρω (synchairō) used in Luke. Both verses reveal joy as participation in another’s good: when one person is honored or shown mercy, others share in the gladness.
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