Translation
Paraphrase
Then THE REBELLIOUS ONE said to the angel, “How is it possible for this to happen, since I have not had sexual relations with any man?”
Footnotes
1: “I know no man”
Somehow Mary knew with certainty that the angel was not referring to a child she would have in the future with Joseph, the man she was engaged to marry. It may have been because engagements were sometimes long and drawn-out; or it may have been something about the way the angel communicated his message. Regardless of how she came to that conclusion, she knew this was not about Joseph, so the natural thought was, “I need an explanation here.” From Gabriel’s response it appears he was expecting her to say something like that, which confirms what most of us think—that her question was not born of doubt but of lack of information.