He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Parallel Translations
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He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
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He sheweth strength with his arme he scattereth them that are proude in the ymaginacion of their hertes.
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Hee hath shewed strength with his arme: hee hath scattered the proude in the imagination of their hearts.
Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to Luke 1:51 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 98:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
- Isaiah 52:10 Yahweh has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
- 1 Samuel 2:3-4 “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. “The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
- Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
- Romans 1:21 Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
- Exodus 15:6-7 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces. In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
- Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Exodus 18:11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.”
- 1 Samuel 2:9-10 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength. Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
- Job 40:9-12 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty. Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low. Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.
- Psalms 2:1-6 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying, “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath: “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
- Psalms 89:10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
- Psalms 89:13 You have a mighty arm. Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
- Psalms 118:15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. “The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.
- Isaiah 10:12-19 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.” Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
- Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
- Isaiah 63:12 Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
- Jeremiah 48:29-30 “We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart. I know his wrath,” says Yahweh, “that it is nothing; his boastings have done nothing.
- Genesis 6:5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
- Genesis 8:21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.
- Exodus 15:9-13 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’ You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. “You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.
- Deuteronomy 29:19-20 and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry. Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
- Psalms 52:9 I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it. I will hope in your name, for it is good, in the presence of your saints.
- Psalms 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
- 2 Corinthians 10:5 throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
- 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Revelation 18:8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
- Psalms 33:10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
- Daniel 5:25-31 “This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end. TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain. Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, an heaping up of words more than…
That is, an heaping up of words more than needed, which the Hebrews use very much, and the arm is taken for strength.
Even as the wind doth the chaff.
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He hath scattered them, and the imagination of their hearts; or by and through the imagination of their own hearts: so that their wicked counsel turned to their own destruction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he…
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Ver. 51. He hath showed strength, &c.] It appears by the whole frame of this holy song, that the blessed Virgin was well versed in the Scripture, which she here makes so much use of in sundry passages. She was eruditionis pietatis et modestiae delicium, as one speaketh of the Lady Jane Grey. She had by much reading made her bosom Bibliothecam Christi, Christ’s library, as a Father saith; and may seem to have been exercised in the good word of God from her infancy, as 2Ti 3:15, and as that sweet young gentlewoman, Mrs Elizabeth Wheatenhall, daughter of Mr Anthony Wheatenhall, of Tenterden, in Kent, deceased, who not yet being ten years old when she died, yea, before she was nine years old (not much above eight), could say all the New Testament by heart, and being asked where any words were, she would presently name book, chapter, and verse. One Mr Stoughton, a minister, writeth this upon his own knowledge and examination of her.
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He hath scattered the proud] He by his strong arm hath so splitted them, that they shiver into pieces, διεσκορπισε; or hath made them as darts, which, being among the enemies, are lost; or hath hurled them hither and thither, as the wind doth the dust of the mountains.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In these verses the virgin celebrates both the power…
In these verses the virgin celebrates both the power and justice of God, as she before had done his holiness, and his mercy and goodness. The strength of a man is much seen in the effects of his arm; hence God, who hath no such parts as we have, is yet spoken of as if he had an arm, by which no more is signified than a mighty power, by which he bringeth things to pass; Exo 15:16; Psa 89:13; 98:1; Isa 40:10; so in many other texts.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Jethro, Exo 18:11, knew that the Lord was above all gods, because in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.
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The proud in Scripture often signifies wicked men, as the humble signifies good and holy men; but proud, in a strict sense, signifieth men that have a high opinion of themselves: now there is nothing that a proud man dealeth more proudly in, than in following the imaginations of his own heart. There (saith Mary) God scattereth them, turning their counsels into folly, and confounding them in their own imaginations.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats: thus he did by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c.: he pulls down some, and sets up others. Promotion is not from the east, nor from the west.
And exalted them of low degree: this is God’s way; thus he exalted Moses, Joseph, Jacob, David. God thus showeth his mighty power and superintendency upon men’s affairs. He doth what he pleaseth with men, yet what he doth is infinitely wise, just, and good.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He hath showed strength with his arm,.... Of almighty…
He hath showed strength with his arm,.... Of almighty power, in the business of the incarnation, and in working out salvation for his people; which is done by his own arm, he being mighty to save, and travelling in the greatness of his strength; see Isa 63:1.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; whom he always resists, and both in providence and grace, takes such methods, as tend to humble and confound them: here particularly, it may regard the proud and haughty Jews; who imagined nothing less, than that the Messiah would be born of one of the rich and noble families in Judea; that he would appear as a temporal prince, and set up a temporal kingdom in great state and splendour, and make them a free and flourishing people: when instead of this, he was to be born of a poor virgin, of whom they disdainfully say, is not his mother called Mary? who was of Nazareth in Galilee, of which it is said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? or any good thing out of Nazareth? A virgin betrothed to a carpenter, and her son of that business also, with which both were flouted; and because of this meanness, the Messiah was rejected by them; and thus were they scattered and confounded in their imaginations.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He hath wrought strength with his arm - That…
He hath wrought strength with his arm - That is, he hath shown the exceeding greatness of his power. She speaks prophetically of those things as already done, which God was about to do by the Messiah. He hath scattered the proud - Visible and invisible.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 51. He hath showed strength] Or, He hath…
Verse 51. He hath showed strength] Or, He hath gained the victory, εποιησε κρατος. The word κρατος is used for victory, by Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, and others.
With his arm] Grotius has well observed, that God's efficacy is represented by his finger, his great power by his hand, and his omnipotence by his arm. The plague of lice was the finger of God, Ex 7:18. The plagues in general were wrought by his hand, Ex 3:20, And the destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, which was effected by the omnipotence of God, is called the act of his arm, Ex 15:16.
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He hath scattered] διεσκορπισεν, hath scattered abroad; as a whirlwind scatters dust and chaff.
The proud] Or haughty, υπερηφανους; from υπερ above, and φαινω I show - the haughty men, who wish to be noticed in preference to all others, and feel sovereign contempt for all but themselves. These God scatters abroad-instead of being in his sight, as in their own, the most excellent of the earth, he treats them as straw, stubble, chaff, and dust.
In the imagination of their hearts.] While they are forming their insolent, proud, and oppressive projects - laying their plans, and imagining that accomplishment and success are waiting at their right hand, the whirlwind of God's displeasure blows, and they and their machinations are dissipated together.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hath showed strength with his arm - The “arm”…
Hath showed strength with his arm - The “arm” is the symbol of strength. The expression in this and the subsequent verses has no particular reference to his mercy to Mary. From a contemplation of His goodness to her, she enlarges her views to a contemplation of His goodness and power in general, and to a celebration of the praises of God for all that he has done to all people. This is the nature of true piety. It does not terminate in thinking of God’s mercy toward ourselves. It thinks of others, and praises God that others also are made partakers of His mercy, and that His goodness is manifested to all His works.
He scattereth the proud - He hath often done it in time of battle and war. When the proud Assyrian, Egyptian, or Babylonian had come against the people of God, He had often scattered them and driven away their armies.
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In the imagination of their hearts - Those who were lifted up or exalted in their own view. Those who “thought themselves” to be superior to other men.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and…
The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and Scribes, were powerful; but these the Almighty cast down, and exalted those, who humbled themselves under his powerful hand. (1 Peter v.) The Jews were proud in their strength, but their incredulity brought on them their humiliation; whilst the low and mean among the Gentiles, have by faith ascended to the summit of perfection. (St. Cyril of Alexandria in St. Thomas Aquinas’ catena aurea.) (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 51. with his arm] “Thou hast a mighty arm,”…
51. with his arm] “Thou hast a mighty arm,” Psa_89:13. The nearest parallel to the remainder of the verse is Job_5:12.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (51) He hath shewed strength.—Literally, He wrought strength. Here…
(51) He hath shewed strength.—Literally, He wrought strength. Here the parallelism with 1Sa_2:3 becomes very close. Of whom the speaker thought as among the “proud,” we cannot know. They may have been the potentates of the world in which she lived, Herod and the Emperor of Rome. They may have been the men of Jerusalem, who despised Galilee; or those of the other towns and villages of Galilee, who despised Nazareth; or, though less probably, those of Nazareth itself, who despised the carpenter and his betrothed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 51-53. He hath showed strength with his arm;…
Vers. 51-53. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath soattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. From adoration, Mary"s hymn proceeds to celebrate the mighty results effected by the Divine pity. As so often in thee prophetic strains, the speaker or writer speaks or writes as though the future had become the past; so Mary here describes the Messianic reversal of man"s conception of what is great and little, as though the unborn Babe had already lived and done his strange mighty work in the world. The "glorious arm" which, in old days, had wrought such mighty things for Israel, she recognized as belonging to the coming Deliverer (verse 51). His chosen instruments would be those of whom the world thought little, like herself. The proud and mighty would be put down; the men of low degree, and poor and humble, would be exalted. The hungry would be filled; and they who were rich only in this world"s goods would have no share in the new kingdom they would be sent empty away. How strangely had the virgin of Nazareth caught the thought, almost the very words, of the famous sermon her Divine Son, some thirty years later, preached on the mountainside near Gennesaret!
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:51 His mighty arm personifies God’s mighty power (see…
1:51 His mighty arm personifies God’s mighty power (see Ps 98:1; Isa 40:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.