Elder Elizabeth honours younger Mary; 'my Lord' is a Davidic — and perhaps divine — title

Elizabeth is Mary's older kinswoman, and 'it would have been unheard of for an older relative to honor a younger cousin in this way — unless of course the younger person was royalty.' Her words, 'the mother of my Lord,' echo the court's address to the Davidic king as 'my lord' (2 Samuel 24:21; Psalm 110:1). Pitre then cites the Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine, who takes kyrios here as a divine title: 'Mary is not just the mother of the messianic king; she is also the mother of the divine Lord.' The Theotokos section later in the chapter rests on this.

• Luke 1:36 — Elizabeth, the elder kinswoman.
• Luke 1:43 — 'the mother of my Lord.'
• Psalm 110:1 — 'The LORD said unto my Lord.'

Elizabeth's greeting does double duty in the book: it echoes David before the Ark (chapter 3), and it confers the queen mother's title — with a hint, noticed even by a Jewish reader, that the Lord in question is God.

• Modern scholars Pitre cites — Amy-Jill Levine (p 77)