Luke 1:34 (ASV)

Passage

And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Nearby Context

Luke 1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

Luke 1:33 and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:34 And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:36 And behold, Elisabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mary", "said", "angel", "shall", and "seeing". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mary" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 33's "and he shall reign over the house..." into verse 35's "And the angel answered and said unto...", so "mary" and "said" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mary" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.