Luke 1:72

To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
perform	ποιῆσαι poiēsai	G4160	to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — aorist active infinitive
mercy	ἔλεος eleos	G1656	compassion (human or divine · noun — accusative singular neuter
to	μετὰ meta	G3326	properly · preposition
our	ἡμῶν hēmōn	G2257	of (or from) us
fathers	πατέρων paterōn	G3962	a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — genitive plural masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
remember	μνάομαι mnáomai	G3415	to bear in mind
his	αὐτοῦ, autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
holy	ἁγίας hagias	G40	sacred (physically · adjective — genitive singular feminine
covenant	διαθήκης diathēkēs	G1242	properly · noun — genitive singular feminine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Leviticus 26:42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will…
Hebrews 6:13-18 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Psalms 106:45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
Micah 7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the…
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the sout…
Ezekiel 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
Luke 1:54-55 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:67–end

We have here the song wherewith Zacharias praised God when his mouth was opened; in it he is said to prophesy (Luk 1:67), and so he did in the strictest sense of prophesying; for he foretold things to come concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, to which all the prophets bear witness. Observe, I. How he was qualified for this: He was filled with the Holy Ghost, was endued with more than ordinary measures and degrees of it, for this purpose; he was divinely inspired. God not only forgave him his unbelief and distrust (which was signified by discharging him from the punishment of it), but, as a specimen of the abounding of grace towards believers, he filled him with the Holy Ghost, and put this…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:72

the mercy promised . . . his holy covenant . . .

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:72

His holy covenant - See the note on Luk 1:54.

John Gill on Luke 1:72

To perform the mercy promised to our fathers,.... By "mercy" is meant salvation by Christ, which springs from the mercy of God; the promise of which was an instance of mercy to the Jewish fathers under the Old Testament, and also the performance of it; for they were saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus, even as we: his blood was shed for the remission of sins that were past, and for the redemption of transgressions under the first Testament: and to remember his holy covenant; which was made between him, and his Son from all eternity; and was, at various times, dispensed and manifested to the patriarchs, and eminent saints, as Adam, Noah, Abraham, &c. This is called an "holy" one; not only b…

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John Calvin on Luke 1:67-75

Luke 1:67-75 Luke 1:67-75 67. And Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying: 68. Blessed be the Lord God of israel, because he hath visited, and hath brought redemption to his people: 69. And he hath raised up the horn [68] of salvation to us in the house of his servant David, (70. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been from every age,) [69] 71. Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hated us: 72. To perform the mercy to our fathers, and to have remembrance of his holy covenant, 73. According to the oath, [70] which he sware to Abraham our father, to give to us, 74. That, being delivered out of the hand of our enemie…

The Church Fathers

Christ is mercy and justice. We have obtained mercy through him and been justified, having washed away the stains of wickedness through faith that is in him.
— Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE

Let us not suppose that this refers to our bodily enemies, but our ghostly. For the Lord Jesus came mighty in battle (Ps. 24:8) to destroy all our enemies, that He might deliver us from their snares and temptation.
— Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Having announced that the Lord, according to the declaration of the Prophet, would be born of the house of David, he now says, that the same Lord to fulfil the covenant He made with Abraham will deliver us, because chiefly to these patriarchs of Abraham's seed was promised the gathering of the Gentiles, or the incarnation of Christ. But David is put first, because to Abraham was promised the holy assembly of the Church; whereas to David it was told that from him Christ was to be born. And therefore after what was said of David, he adds concerning Abraham the words, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, &c.
— Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
John the Baptist — The “forerunner of our Lord.” We have but fragmentary and imperfect accounts of him in the Gospels. He was of priestly descent. His father, Zacharias, was a priest of the course of Abia (1 Chr.…
Micah, Book of — The sixth in order of the so-called minor prophets. The superscription to this book states that the prophet exercised his office in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. If we reckon from the…
Micah, The Book Of — Three sections of this work represent three natural divisions of the prophecy—1, 2; 3-5; 6,7—each commencing with rebukes and threatening and closing with a promise. The first section opens with a…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
Poetry · .Of Zacharias — .Of Zacharias
Promises Of God, The · Are: Fulfilled in Christ — Are: Fulfilled in Christ
Psalms · Zacharias — Zacharias

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:67–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:72

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:72

John Gill on Luke 1:72

John Calvin on Luke 1:67-75

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:67–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:72

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:72

John Gill on Luke 1:72

John Calvin on Luke 1:67-75

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Luke 1:71