Luke 1:20 (DBY)

Passage

and behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, till the day in which these things shall take place, because thou hast not believed my words, the which shall be fulfilled in their time.

Nearby Context

Luke 1:18 And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this, for *I* am an old man, and my wife advanced in years?

Luke 1:19 And the angel answering, said to him, *I* am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to thee, and to bring these glad tidings to thee;

Luke 1:20 and behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, till the day in which these things shall take place, because thou hast not believed my words, the which shall be fulfilled in their time.

Luke 1:21 And the people were awaiting Zacharias, and they wondered at his delaying in the temple.

Luke 1:22 But when he came out he could not speak to them, and they recognised that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was making signs to them, and continued dumb.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "thou", "shalt", "silent", "able", "speak", "till", and "things". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "thou", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "And the angel answering said to him..." into verse 21's "And the people were awaiting Zacharias and...", so "behold" and "thou" 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 "behold" and "thou" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.