Luke1:31

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Translation

and Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and you will call his name JESUS.

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Paraphrase

Now brace yourself for what I have to say, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD SAVES.

Footnotes

1: “the name Jesus”

The mother was not always the one to name the child, but there are many Old Testament stories in which it was the mother who named the child. The names chosen often had to do with the birthing process or some event or circumstance surrounding the child’s birth. In this case the angel instructed Mary to stay away from the typical naming process and call him by the name that had been pre-assigned to Him by God, His real Father.

The name Jesus means YHVH SAVES or YHVH IS SALVATION. This is the same as the Old Testament name Joshua/Yoshua, which was a contraction of Yehoshua, which means YHVH SAVES. It did not mean Messiah per sé, but it was expected that the Messiah figure would save the people of Israel from all the ills that plagued them. Thus Mary got a sense from the angel’s words that this may be a reference to the long-awaited Messiah.