Luke 1

¹Inasmuch as many took in hand to draw up a narration concerning the things having been fully carried out among us,

²just as they delivered them to us—those from the beginning having been eyewitnesses and servants of the word—

³it seemed good also to me, having followed closely from the first all things carefully, to write in consecutive order to you, most excellent Theophilus,

⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things that you were instructed.

⁵There was in the days of Herod king of Judea a certain priest, by name Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth.

⁶And they were both righteous before God, going on in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord, blameless.

⁷And unto them was no child, as Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in their days.

⁸Now it came to pass in his serving as priest in the order of his division before God,

⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, that it fell to him by lot to burn incense, having entered into the temple of the Lord.

¹⁰And all the multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense.

¹¹And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of the incense.

¹²And Zechariah was troubled having seen, and fear fell upon him.

¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your petition was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear to you a son, and you will call his name John.

¹⁴And he will be joy and exultation to you, and many will rejoice at his birth,

¹⁵for he will be great before the Lord. And he shall never drink wine and strong drink, and he will be full of the Holy Spirit even from the womb of his mother.

¹⁶And many of the sons of Israel he will turn to the Lord their God.

¹⁷And he will go on before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, “By what will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days.”

¹⁹And answering, the angel said to him, “I am Gabriel, the one standing before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring these good tidings to you.

²⁰And behold, you will be silent and not able to speak until that day these things shall take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their season.”

²¹And the people were expecting Zechariah, and they were marveling at his delaying in the temple.

²²But having come out, he was not able to speak to them, and they recognized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was making signs to them and remained mute.

²³And it came to pass, when the days of his service were fulfilled, that he went away to his house.

²⁴And after these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying,

²⁵“Thus the Lord has done to me, in the days in which He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.”

²⁶Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee whose name was Nazareth,

²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary.

²⁸And having come in to her, he said, “Greetings, O favored one! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹And she was troubled at the word and was reasoning what kind this greeting might be.

³⁰And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

³¹And behold, you will conceive in womb and will give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus.

³²He will be great, and He will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob to the ages. And of His kingdom there will be no end!”

³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I do not know a man?”

³⁵And answering, the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the Holy One being born will be called Son of God.

³⁶And behold, Elizabeth your relative, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her who was called barren.

³⁷For not any word will be impossible with God.”

³⁸And Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s maidservant. May it happen to me according to your word.” And the angel went away from her.

³⁹Now Mary, having risen up in these days, went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah,

⁴⁰and she entered into the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹And it came to pass, as Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the baby in her womb leaped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴²And she cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴³And from where is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴For behold, as the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby in my womb leaped in exultation.

⁴⁵And blessed is the one having believed that there will be a completion to the things spoken to her from the Lord.”

⁴⁶And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit exulted in God my Savior!

⁴⁸For He looked upon the humiliation of His maidservant. For behold, from now on all the generations will call me blessed.

⁴⁹For the Mighty One did great things to me, and holy is His name.

⁵⁰And His mercy is to generations and generations, to those fearing Him.

⁵¹He showed strength with His arm; He scattered the proud in the thought of their heart.

⁵²He brought down rulers from thrones and exalted the humble.

⁵³Those hungering He filled with good things, and those being rich He sent away empty.

⁵⁴He took hold of Israel His servant, remembering mercy,

⁵⁵as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed to the age.”

⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months, and she returned to her house.

⁵⁷Now to Elizabeth the time was fulfilled for her to give birth, and she bore a son.

⁵⁸And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord magnified His mercy with her, and they were rejoicing with her.

⁵⁹And it came to pass on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child, and they were calling him after the name of his father Zechariah.

⁶⁰And answering, his mother said, “No, but he will be called John.”

⁶¹And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”

⁶²And they were making signs to his father—what he might want him to be called.

⁶³And having asked for a writing tablet, he wrote, saying, “John is his name.” And they all marveled.

⁶⁴And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue; and he was speaking, blessing God.

⁶⁵And fear came upon all those dwelling around them. And in all the hill country of Judea, all these words were being talked about.

⁶⁶And all those having heard laid them in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” For also the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He visited and performed redemption for His people,

⁶⁹and He raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,

⁷⁰as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from the age,

⁷¹salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all those hating us,

⁷²to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that He swore to Abraham our father, to give us,

⁷⁴having been saved from the hand of our enemies, to serve Him without fear

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to His people in forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸through the affections of mercy of our God, in which the Sunrise will visit us from on high,

⁷⁹to shine upon those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit; and he was in the wilderness until the day of his appearance to Israel.