“And going into where she was.” The angel went into the house where Mary was; so when we ask where Mary was when the angel Gabriel spoke with her, it was almost certainly in a house. The Greek text has the verb eiserchomai (#1525 εἰσέρχομαι), which means “to move into a space, enter”;^a “literally, in a local sense go or come into, enter,”^b It is often translated “enter.”

The Greek is more literally, “and going in to her” or “and entering in to her,” but that translation, though literal and clear to a native Greek reader, is confusing in English. The older English of the KJV is less confusing, “the angel came in unto her.” Part of the problem caused by a literal translation is the fact that often when a man “went into” a woman it meant he had sex with her (cp. Gen. 29:23; Judg. 16:1; 2 Sam. 12:24; etc.), but that is not the meaning here in Luke. The NASB tries to get around the problem by moving the phrase “to her” and saying, “And coming in, he said to her.” While that translation gets around the problem of the angel “coming into her” it is not the accurate translation of the Greek; the pronoun “her” goes with “going in” not “said.” Many other versions get around the problem by just saying something like “he came to her” (ESV), and while that is true, it is not the fullness of the Greek text; the angel entered the place where Mary was. The REV expands the translation for clarity, saying that the angel went into where Mary was.

The logical place where Mary was would have been in the house where she lived. This would have been a perfect spot for a conversation. Towns in the ancient Near East were very compact and built close together for support and safety, and a meeting outside between Mary and an angel would have surely been seen. In the house, the angel and Mary could have had a private conversation. The Bible does not say where the other women of the house were at the time because that is not important to the story. The Bible only gives us the salient points and summary of the conversation. The actual conversation would have been quite a bit longer. What the angel was telling Mary was both important and startling.

“Greetings.” The Greek is chairō (#5463 χαίρω) and in this context was a standard greeting of the Greeks just as we today say “Hi!” “Hail” persists in some versions, but is outdated, not being used as a greeting today, so “Greetings” as we have makes the meaning clear.

“The Lord is with you.” This means much more than just that God was with Mary as He is with all of us, helping and blessing us behind the scenes. It means that God will be with Mary, supporting and defending her. An angel had said the same thing to Gideon before he began to stand against idolatry in Israel and to fight the Midianite invaders (Judg. 6:12). No doubt in the months to come Mary would draw strength from this statement because although Yahweh would be supporting Mary, she still had to stand in the tension of the event and walk out her calling before God.

The KJV adds to this verse, “blessed art thou among women.” However, this phrase was not in the original text.^c