Translation of Luke 1:28 Greetings, favored one!

hermeneutics.stackexchange.com /questions/11627/translation-of-luke-128-greetings-favored-one

Can someone tell me about the translation of the word as it appears in the context of Luke 1:28
(where Gabriel greets Mary)? Specifically, is it a special word perhaps reserved to denote a very high status?
Or a more common word? As a loose example, in English we might commonly say "yes, sir" to show respect to
a customer or police officer but we would reserve "yes, your honor" for a judge. In the two English translations I
have it says "favored one" and "favored woman" respectively. It seems a little weak considering the message
that was about to be delivered. (In English 'favored' does not necessarily denote unusually high status. My
favored beverages are coffee and Newcastle.)

4 Answers

up vote 1 Greek word:

down
vote (source)
accepted
Transliteration:

Kecharitomene

Translation:

Literally, You, who have been graced (You that are highly favored, KJV)

English:

You (Second Person Singular)

Have (present tense)

Been (past participle of to be)

Graced (past participle of to grace).

Greek:

KE perfect tense (prior event/occurrence/happening that is still existing/occurring or happening now)

CHARITO a gift, something that is free or unmerited

MENE a female receiver not giver.

The Latin translation gratia plena (full of grace, as found in Dhouay-Rheims) is not a literal translation
from the Greek.

English translation of the Latin phrase gratia plena (Latin Vulgate):

Full of grace (noun)

Literal English translation of the Greek word kecharitomene:

You who have been graced (verb)

The Old Latin MSS (A.D. 150-200) had a literal translation of the Greek word kecharitomene:

Grafitificata (noun) (source)

1/7
 English translation of the Latin phrase grafitificata (Vetus Latina):

You who have been graced (verb)

The Greek word in reference to Mary denotes her status as someone who "found favor
or grace with God" (Luke 1:30).

The translation "full of grace" (from the Latin Vulgate's "gratia plena")is valid:

"It is permissible, on Greek grammatical and linguistic grounds, to paraphrase

kecharitomene as completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace." (Blass and
DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament)

'Highly favoured' (kecharitomene). Perfect passive participle of charitoo and means

endowed with grace (charis), enriched with grace as in Ephesians 1:6 . . . The Vulgate
gratiae plena [full of grace] "is right, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast received';
wrong, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast to bestow' " (A.T. Robertson, Word
Pictures in the New Testament, p. 14)

In Catholic Bibles (containing the Deuterocanonicals),there is kecharitomene (a girl who is full of grace
~ Luke 1:28) and kecharitomeno (a boy who is full of grace ~ Sirach 18:17 LXX).

up In order to explain how Gabriel addressed Mary, it seems a few words along with need to
vote be considered. Seriously, regarding this being very high status, more common word, etc.; its hard to
0 believe two people could give you the same answer to that specific question.
down
vote Christians of various beliefs and Bibles have considerably different interpretations. For example, the
following shows Jesus mother addressed mostly with Favored, often with highly favored, but also with
"full of grace". http://biblehub.com/m/luke/1-28.htm

Catholics and Orthodox Christians, for example, show traditional prayer in their explanations, then Hail,
Mary, full of grace and Rejoice, Mary full of grace, respectively.
http://traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Holy_Mary/Immaculate_Conception,_Scripture_and_Tradition.html
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Hail_Mary

Next, some web sites might show Gabriels statement as Hail, thou that art highly favoured at one point
yet Be joyful (with) full of Grace at another. That's because more than one person is answering the
question. http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/new-testament/luke/1.asp

http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/koinonia/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=113

Likewise, another web site shows both Hail, full of grace and Greetings, you who are highly favored!
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Hail_Mary

Partial Explanation: One reason for some of the differences is the Latin Vulgate. Another includes what
the word kecharitomene is comprised of, along with the tense. http://themichigancatholic.com/2014/05/is-
mary-full-of-grace-or-just-highly-favored/

Vulgate: At the end of the fourth century, Pope St. Damasus commissioned St. Jerome to
make a fresh Latin translation of the Bible. When St. Jerome came upon Luke 1:28, he
translated the angels title for Mary, the Greek word kecharitomene, into the Latin gratia
plena (full of grace). Centuries later, Jeromes became the official translation of the
Catholic Church, and English translations, such the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Knox,
rendered it as full of grace.

2/7
 3 parts of the word: "The word is comprised of three parts: a root, a suffix, and a prefix.
Each tells us something important.

The root of kecharitomene is charitoo, which is commonly translated grace, a

supernatural endowment gratuitously given by God (CCC 1997-1998). Scripture
sometimes emphasizes what God gives a supernatural gift (Luke 2:40, Acts 6:8) and
sometimes why God gives it His favor or kindness (Acts 13:43, Gal. 1:15). Both are
always present, because Gods gift of divine help comes from his beneficence and Gods
beneficence is manifested by his divine help which accounts for the different translations
of grace or favor.

The suffix -mene indicates a passive participle, meaning Mary (the subject) is being acted
upon. This is important because it shows Mary did not bring herself into this graced state,
but rather it was the action of God it describes Mary as she who has been graced [by
God].

The prefix ke- indicates the perfect tense meaning the action (Marys being graced) has
been completed in the past with its results continuing in full effect. cripture sometimes
emphasizes what God gives a supernatural gift (Luke 2:40, Acts 6:8) and sometimes
why God gives it His favor or kindness (Acts 13:43, Gal. 1:15). Both are always present,
because Gods gift of divine help comes from his beneficence and Gods beneficence is
manifested by his divine help which accounts for the different translations of grace or
favor. >The suffix -mene indicates a passive participle, meaning Mary (the subject) is
being acted upon. This is important because it shows Mary did not bring herself into this
graced state, but rather it was the action of God it describes Mary as she who has been
graced [by God]. > The prefix ke- indicates the perfect tense meaning the action
(Marys being graced) has been completed in the past with its results continuing in full
effect.

Greek perfect tense (additional): Another article focuses on the use of the Greek tense and shows notes
of specialists from different Christian beliefs. http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/a116.htm

For example

" 'Highly favoured' (kecharitomene). Perfect passive participle of charitoo and means
endowed with grace (charis), enriched with grace as in Ephesians 1:6 . . . The Vulgate
gratiae plena [full of grace] "is right, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast received';
wrong, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast to bestow' " (A.T. Robertson, Word
Pictures in the New Testament, p. 14)

"It is permissible, on Greek grammatical and linguistic grounds, to paraphrase

kecharitomene as completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace." (Blass and
DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament).

up
vote The context: the greeting itself
0
down God sends an angel, the angel Gabriel to a young virgn, Mary, with a message, a proto-Gosepl, (for He
vote shall save His people from their sins) to announce that she will become (Theotokos)God-
bearer, or Mother of God (Luke 1:42-43):

Luke 1:26-29
3/7
 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee, the name of which
was Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. And having come in unto her, he said: Hail,
full of grace!* The Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women. And at this saying
she was troubled, and wondering of sort the salutation was. And the angel said to her, Fear
not, Mary, for thou has found favor* with God. And behold, you will concieve in your womb
and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called
the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.

* grace or favor

The bolded prortion we will treat of below.

Aspects of the greeting

(translated 'Hail')

The Greek word (chaire) is synonymous with our archaic English word hail. It incidentally carries
with it a certain 'royal' connotation we associate with the word hail in English, as seen by its only other
usage in the rest of the New Testament, in reference to Christs being a king (even though it is used
tauntingly, rather than a sincere salutation):

John 19:3

And they came up to him and said, Hail [ ], King of the Jews! And they struck him with
their hands.

cf. Mk 15:18; Mt 27:29 [Mt 26:49]

(translated 'full of grace;' 'highly favored' etc.)

The Greek word (kecharitmen) is the word of contention here as regards translation
differences. And it is has much to do with the theology of the translator, but only to a degreeno
translations of it have been strictly wrong or right since only dynamic translations (full of.., highly.. etc.)
are really possibible with such a grammatically rich word. That is, it is difficult to render a single Greek
word so rich in meaning (grammatically) into an equivalent word in English: in fact, that is arguably
impossible (without being a very ugly translation).

To make matters worse, is titular, meaning it is actually used as a title, or 'name' for Mary:
Gabriel doesn't say, 'Hail, Mary! You are highly favored/full of grace,' He gives Mary a title of sorts: Hail,
!

Grammatical aspects of

This word is a perfect past participle (a participle is a word formed using a verb which has the properties of
an adjective, such as 'painted', 'broken'), and is composed of three grammatical features of note to us:

PREFIX

4/7
Means the verb is a perfect passive participle tense verb: "having been" root-verb'd; "having had" root-
verb happen/done to [you]; being [now a result of being] root-verb'd

e.g.

verb slay > past participle slain (soldier).

verb burn > past participle burnt (wood).

(different from an adjective which is usually identical, but which does not imply the perfected sense that a
past participle doesslain, and remains deadno resurrection yet; burnt, and there is no restoring it
and it remains in that burnt state to the present )

ROOT

From the root noun charisgrace or loosely favormore specifically the verb form of this,
charitoI (divinely or not) (en-)grace/bestow grace/show favor)

(dictionary form of Greek words are in the present tense first person singular)

The only other use of this verb in the New Testament is in Ephesians 1:6:

Ephesians 1:5-7

5 He predestined us for our being divinely adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, according
to the good pleasure of His will, 6 unto the praise of His glorious grace with which *He
graced [ echaritsen]* us in [His] Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption
through His blood: the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

SUFFIX

This means the object (Mary) of the action (being engraced) being done by the subject (God) is the
passive recipient of the result (being endued/filled with grace) of the action, not actively responsible
for it.

e.g. object the wood verb was burnt by the subject flame.

This is the feminine form of this ending. The masculine being .

In other words, rendered slavishly literally means Having-been-graced (Old Latin

rendered it in the Latin equivalent grafitificata). Thus, it means roughly (Fully-)Graced one.

But I argue that Full of grace (Latin Vulgate grtia plna) is a defensible translation. Perhaps the most
suitable to date. The sense of 'fullness' is not explicit, but implicit. It comes from the tense of the verb,
rather than the term 'full' being found anywhere in itfrom the sense of completion of the being graced by
God, rather than anything else.

I argue that it is valid and even a good translation for the following reasons:

1) Grace vs. Favor interpretation.

You do not 'complete' someone with or in your favor (an attitude or inclination or affection toward them).
You can, however, endue/fill them with your grace (God can).

I do not believe Luke 1:30's have found favor with God is referring to the same thing as Luke 1:28. I
believe Mary found favor with God in that she was chosen to bear His Only-Begotten Son. And that she is,
5/7
 in addition to thaton account of that perogative, as the Ark of the Covenantalso full of God's grace.

2) Sense of fullness vs. High level of favor interpretation.

'Highly favored' means greatly favored. However, there is not implicit a sense of the intensity of the filling
with grace, or favor shown.

Where as a sense of 'being now full and complete' is very much implicit: e.g. 'a burnt stick' implies the job
of burning it is done and its effects remain to the present, and bears the result of that burning action.

Ephesians 1:6, John 1:14; Acts 6:8 imply nothing of the time of occurence of their being graced or
filled with grace, or its lastingness, whereas is very rich in this regard: Mary was
already 'graced' in a completed sense by the time he came to greet her!

The additional confirmation of a 'fullness' or 'completedness' is the ridiculousness of the contrary: 'you who
were at one time in the past given grace by God.' That happens to every one. That can't be used as *a
new title for Mary.*It is as ridiculous as saying to aformer millionaire now begger, 'Hail, you who at one time
had millions.'

It's borderline offensive, or at best, a too mundane a thing for the angel of the Lord (Matthew 1:20; Luke
1:26) to say to the Mother of [the] Lord (Luke 1:43).

3) It retains the sense which other translations disgard. Namely, the above-mentioned fact of Mary's
having been filled with grace, in a completed, hence, full sense.

Specifically, is it a special word perhaps reserved to denote a very high

status? Or a more common word?

There is no higher status or dignity than the mother of God to begin with, but besides that fact, this is not
so much a unique word as its usage or circumstance of usage is.

The same word (except with the masculine ending: instead of the feminine used in Luke 1:28
specifically, the dative form, ) is used in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 18:17:

Behold, is not a word superior to a gift? yet both are with the man.

St. Jerome in the 4th century actually translates this "justified man" (hmine justificto), probably
because 'the man in a graced state' he equates with a justified state).

This could be argued for on the basis of Ephesians 1:5-7, for example.

It should be understood that the word doesn't mean justified or imply it. But it can be interpreted as
meaning that the 'gracedness' is due to being in a state of grace, or, justification. This is what the word
meant to St. Jerome here. 'Full of grace' seems to be the normative meaning for him, though.

up The root of this word is the word , "grace or favor." The Lithuanian word for this is malon. By adding
vote the ending to , we have a verb meaning "to make gracen or favored," . In Lithuanian we
-1 have (pa-)maloninti by adding the inti suffix (pa- is a prefix of perfective action) to make gracen,
down sweeter(coloq.). Its perfective past passive participle of the feminine singular is pamaloninta,
vote "engracenment" or (coloq.) "sweetie" as in "Sweetie, how much do I love thee?"

6/7
7/7