Who
A daughter of Aaron and the wife of the priest Zechariah, “righteous before God” but barren into old age (Luke 1:5–7). God gave her a son, John the Baptist, and Gabriel offered her conception to Mary as a sign: “Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age” (Luke 1:36). When Mary came to her, the child leapt in her womb and she, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” and called Mary “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:42–43). Her greeting forms the second line of the Hail Mary, and she is the first to confess the mystery the Church names Theotokos.
Key verses
- Luke 1:5
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
- Luke 1:6
They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
- Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
- Luke 1:36
Behold, Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
- Luke 1:42
She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
- Luke 1:43
Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Where the Bible names her
Family
- Husband
- Children
Notes
Elizabeth, Mary’s kinswoman
Gabriel calls Elizabeth Mary’s “relative” (Luke 1:36), yet Luke makes her one of “the daughters of Aaron” (1:5), of the priestly tribe, while Mary is of David’s house. Scripture does not say how they were related. The Fathers saw the point of it: the royal and the priestly lines were joined by marriage, as when Aaron took Elisheba of Judah (Exodus 6:23), so that Christ, who is King and Priest, descends from both (Gregory of Nazianzus in the Catena Aurea). A tradition first written down in the eighth century (Hippolytus of Thebes, and after him the Greek Menologion) makes Elizabeth’s mother, Sobe, a sister of Saint Anne, so that Elizabeth was Mary’s first cousin; the Catholic Encyclopedia records it and says that whether it is correct “cannot be ascertained”. The line draws only the kinship Scripture states.
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name her (8 of 110).
- John Chrysostom on Luke 1:5–7Catena Aurea on Luke
St. Luke commences the history of his Gospel with Zacharias and the birth of John; relating one marvellous event before another, the less before the greater. For since a virgin was about to become a mother, it had…
- Bede on Luke 1:5–7Catena Aurea on Luke
Now the time of Herod, i. e. of a foreign king, bears witness to our Lord’s coming, for it had been foretold, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. (Gen.…
- Ambrose of Milan on Luke 1:5–7Catena Aurea on Luke
Divine Scripture teaches us with respect to those whom we commemorate, that not only the characters of the men themselves, but of their parents also, ought to be praised, that they might be distinguished by an…
- Bede on Luke 1:5–7 (2)Catena Aurea on Luke
For John was allotted a Priestly tribe, that he might with the more authority herald forth a change of priesthood.
- Ambrose of Milan on Luke 1:5–7 (2)Catena Aurea on Luke
His birth is implied in the mention made of his ancestors. Of the course of Abia, i. e. of high rank among the noblest families.
- Bede on Luke 1:5–7 (3)Catena Aurea on Luke
There were Princes of the Sanctuary or High Priests, both of the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Thamar, whose courses according to their respective services when they entered into the House of God David divided into…
- Theophylact of Ohrid on Luke 1:5–7Catena Aurea on Luke
Wishing to shew also that John was legally of Priestly descent, Luke adds, And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth, for it was not permitted to the Jews to take a wife from any other…
- Bede on Luke 1:5–7 (4)Catena Aurea on Luke
John was born of just parents, that so he might the more boldly give precepts of justice to the people, which he had not learnt as novelties, but had received by right of inheritance from his ancestors. Hence it…