Girls · Hebrew · New Testament · classic · New Testament
Mary
/MAIR-ee/
מִרְיָם (Hebrew) / Μαρία (Greek)
"Beloved; wished-for child; bitter sea; rebellion"
Luke 1:27
RoleMother of Jesus; disciple; witness of crucifixion and resurrection
Etymology
From the Hebrew Miriam (מִרְיָם), whose meaning is debated. Possibilities include 'beloved' (from the Egyptian 'mry'), 'bitter sea' (from 'mar' + 'yam'), 'rebellion' (from 'marah'), or 'wished-for child' (from an older root). The ambiguity suits a name that has been the most widely given female name in Western history.
Who they were
Mary was a young woman in Nazareth — probably a teenager — when the angel Gabriel appeared and told her she would bear God's son. Her response has defined Christian devotion for two thousand years: 'I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.' Her song of praise — the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) — is one of the most revolutionary poems ever composed: 'He has scattered those who are proud. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.' It is a song of radical reversal, sung by an unmarried pregnant girl in an occupied country. Mary bore Jesus in Bethlehem, fled with Joseph to Egypt, raised him in Nazareth, and watched him grow. She was present at his first miracle (the wedding at Cana, where she simply told the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you'). She stood at the cross — John's Gospel places her there, watching her son die, and Jesus entrusted her to John's care. She was with the disciples in the upper room after the ascension. Luke says she 'treasured all these things in her heart' — a phrase that suggests she held knowledge too large and too painful for words. She is the most venerated woman in Christianity, honoured across Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and many Protestant traditions. Her name, in its countless forms — Maria, Marie, Miriam, Maryam, Meri, Mairi — has been given to more women than any other name in history.
Family
- Spouse
- Joseph
Character qualities
- Radical availability to God
- Courage under impossible circumstances
- Quiet treasuring of mystery
- Maternal devotion through suffering
- Revolutionary faith expressed in poetry
Key verse
Luke 1:46-48
Where they appear
Themes
Variants & related forms
Maria · Marie · Miriam · Maryam · Molly · Polly · Mair · Mairi · Maren · Mariel
Read their story
Mary's story begins in Luke.
The full passage is at Luke 1:27. Any modern translation will do — the NLT and NIV are the most readable; the ESV and NKJV stay close to the wording the church has used for centuries.
Find a Bible to read it in →