Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵mIn the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,1 nof othe division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶And they were both prighteous before God, walking qblamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷But they had no child, because rElizabeth was barren, and sboth were advanced in years.

⁸Now twhile he was serving as priest before God when uhis division was on duty, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot vto enter wthe temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people xwere praying youtside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of zthe altar of incense. ¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and afear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for byour prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and cyou shall call his name John. ¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will drejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be egreat before the Lord. And fhe must not drink wine or strong gdrink, and ghe will be hfilled with the Holy Spirit, ieven from his mother's womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and jhe will go before him kin the spirit and power of Elijah, lto turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and mthe disobedient to the wisdom of the just, nto make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, o“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹And the angel answered him, “I am pGabriel. qI stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰And behold, ryou will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” ²¹And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in sthe temple. ²²And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in sthe temple. And the kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³And uwhen his time of vservice was ended, he went to his home.

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