Bible Strands
Luke 1:7
But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Zechariah and Elizabeth’s condition immediately before Zechariah’s priestly division begins its service in Luke 1:8. The narrative establishes their personal reality right before the divine interruption.
The words — The phrase οὐκ ἦν αὐτοῖς τέκνον (ouk ēn autois teknon) literally renders "there was not to them a child." The conjunction καθότι (kathoti) introduces the causal explanation that Elizabeth was barren.
The thread — The pattern of barrenness in advanced age appears in Genesis 18:11 and is explicitly cited in Hebrews 11:11. Isaac’s prayer for his barren wife in Genesis 25:21 also establishes the scriptural sequence of human impossibility followed by divine response.
Why it lands — The text states a biological and chronological impossibility before any promise is given. It requires the reader to acknowledge that the coming event depends on divine action rather than natural capacity or human preparation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.
- Genesis 18:11 And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
- Genesis 25:21 Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
- 1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
- Genesis 17:17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
- Judges 13:2 Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
- 2 Kings 4:14 So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.”
- Genesis 16:1 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- Genesis 30:1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.
- Romans 4:19 Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.