Luke 1:25

Neither A. V. nor Rev. render oti; taking it, as frequently, merely as recitative or equivalent to quotation marks. But it means because. Elizabeth assigns the reason for her peculiar seclusion. Her pregnancy was God's work, and she would leave it to him also to announce it and openly to take away her reproach. Hence the specification of five months, after which her condition would become apparent. Fully expressed, the sense would be : She his herself, saying (I have hid myself) because, etc. Looked upon (ejpeiden). Used by Luke only.