Translation
And all those who heard them were amazed and wondered
Go to footnote numberabout the things that were told to them by the shepherds.
Paraphrase
And all those who heard them were shocked by it and began to ponder the meaning of all the things they were told by the shepherds.
Footnotes
1: “wondered”
This Greek word carries the ideas of being in awe, as well as beginning to contemplate on the meaning of what has been heard. We can be sure that the people who heard the shepherds’ story were in awe not only about the possibility that this might be the long-awaited Messiah, but they pondered deeply the anomalies of the situation, e.g. that the child was born in such humble surroundings, that the parents had to suffer rejection by their relatives, and that it was announced first to shepherds, people of little respect in the community. Thus, I take it to mean that many people were shocked, or caught off guard by it, for certain aspects of the story seemed undeniable (such as the coming of the angels), yet the parts of the story mentioned above did not fit what they thought would be “right and proper” for the coming of the Messiah. They had trouble believing the story, yet they could not deny it either, so they kept pondering it over and over in their minds.