πληρωθήσονται. D πλησθήσονται, comp. Luke 5:15.

20. ἰδού. The word is used to call attention to something notable or surprising, and is specially frequent in St Matthew and St Luke (הִנֵּה, Isaiah 7:14). It is often a mere lively form of transition.

σιωπῶν καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος λαλῆσαι. ‘Thou shall be silent’ (not ‘dumb,’ which would be κωφός). The μὴ is used to indicate the thought of his friends that he was unable to speak. St Luke similarly puts a participle with μὴ after an adjective in Acts 13:14, ἔσῃ τυφλὸς μὴ βλέπων. See a somewhat different explanation in Winer, p. 610, and the note on Luke 4:42. This positive and negative way of expressing the same thing is common, especially in Hebrew literature, 2 Samuel 14:5; Exodus 21:11; Isaiah 38:1; Lamentations 3:2, &c.; but it is also found in classic writers. Zacharias receives the sign for which he had unfaithfully asked (Matthew 12:38), but it comes in the form of a punishment. Comp. Daniel 10:15.

οἵτινες. The pronoun is qualitative, and gives the reason for the punishment. ‘Thou didst not believe my words, which are of such a kind that,’ &c.

εἰς τὸν καιρὸν αὐτῶν. “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life,” Genesis 18:10, i.e. after the usual nine months. Εἰς τὸν καιρὸν is a classical idiom by constructio praegnans for. ἐν τῷ καιρῷ. It means that the angel’s words shall await the due time for their accomplishment. Comp. εἰς τὸ μέλλον in Luke 13:9.

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Old Testament