Luke 1:18 (YLT)

Passage

And Zacharias said unto the messenger, `Whereby shall I know this? for I am aged, and my wife is advanced in her days?'

Nearby Context

Luke 1:16 and many of the sons of Israel he shall turn to the Lord their God,

Luke 1:17 and he shall go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers unto children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared.'

Luke 1:18 And Zacharias said unto the messenger, `Whereby shall I know this? for I am aged, and my wife is advanced in her days?'

Luke 1:19 And the messenger answering said to him, `I am Gabriel, who have been standing near before God, and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to proclaim these good news to thee,

Luke 1:20 and lo, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, till the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words, that shall be fulfilled in their season.'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "zacharias", "said", "messenger", "whereby", "shall", "aged", "wife", and "advanced". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "zacharias" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "and he shall go before Him in..." into verse 19's "And the messenger answering said to him...", so "zacharias" 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 "zacharias" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.