02_Feník Lapko_498-524_498-524 10/12/15 10:15 Pagina 503 503 ANNUNCIATIONS TO MARY IN LUKE 1–2 503 gintal nuance of Hebrew dābār, ʻword, matter, thingʼ” 9, a suggestion with a good degree of probability can be advanced in view of the immediate literary context that this noun in Gabriel’s mouth is co- referential with his announcement to Zechariah in 1,13-17 and to Mary in 1,31-33.35. On this reading, the angel claims that no mes- sage (pa/n r`h/ma) originating from God — however surprising its contents may sound to its recipient — will be powerless. A message about the gift of a son has already been transmitted to the elderly priest wed to a barren wife. Elizabeth’s subsequent conception and giving birth provide sufficient proof of the efficacy of the angel’s words. Another message about the birth of a son has just been given to a virgin — and neither will this annunciation be ineffective. This understanding of the noun r`h/ma and the whole sentence in which it appears has the advantage of suggesting a convergence of mean- ing between its use in 1,37 and 1,38. Taken this way, the word r`hm/ a on Gabriel’s lips (1,37) and in Mary’s reply (1,38) refers to the di- vine announcement, and thus the two sentences, as Jung suggests, “form a pair” 10. In Mary’s reply the foregoing sentences (1,30b- 33.35-37) making up the message are unambiguously identified as the angel’s words (to. r`h/ma, sou), underscoring the act of speaking on the part of the angel. Mary’s words expressing her concurrence intimate that she has understood the content of his message. The qualification of the angel’s r`h/ma with the personal pronoun sou functioning as a possessive identifies the announcement as the angel’s own speech and so produces an echo to a similar assessment of the angel’s words in 1,5-25. In 1,38 Mary evaluates the angel’s message as to. r`h/ma, sou (definite noun + possessive pronoun); this creates a match with the angel’s own words to Zechariah in 1,20, where he chides him for not believing toi/j lo,goij mou (def- inite noun + possessive pronoun). The foregoing analysis would not be complete without glancing briefly at another text in which the aspect under discussion receives yet another explicit formulation. In 1,39-56 Luke reports Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, a pericope immediately following the annuncia- tion and crafted for the most part as a verbal exchange between the 9 FITZMYER, Luke, 352. 10 C.-WAM. JUNG, The Original Language of the Lukan Infancy Narrative (LNTS 267; New York 2004) 120.