Luke 1:34 (DBY)

Passage

But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man?

Nearby Context

Luke 1:32 *He* shall be great, and shall be called Son of [the] Highest; and [the] Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father;

Luke 1:33 and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end.

Luke 1:34 But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man?

Luke 1:35 And the angel answering said to her, [The] Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of [the] Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God.

Luke 1:36 And behold, Elizabeth, thy kinswoman, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her that was called barren:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mary", "said", "angel", "shall", and "since". 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 answering said to her...", 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.