Luke 1:1–17

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order ^aa declaration of those things which are ^bmost surely believed among us, ²even as ^cthey delivered them unto us, which ^dfrom the beginning were ^eeyewitnesses, and ^fministers of ^gthe word; ^3hit seemed good to me also, ⁱhaving had perfect understanding of all things ^kfrom the very first, to write unto thee ^lin order, ^mmost excellent ⁿTheophilus, ^4othat thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast ^pbeen instructed.

⁵There was ^qin the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, ^rof the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. ⁶And they were both ^srighteous before God, ^twalking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord ^ublameless. ⁷And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was ^xbarren, and ^ythey both were now ^zwell stricken in years. ⁸And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God ^ain the order of his course, ⁹according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was ^bto burn incense when he went into ^cthe temple of the Lord. ¹⁰And ^dthe whole multitude of the people were ^epraying ^dwithout at the time of incense. ¹¹And there appeared unto him ^eean angel of the Lord standing on the right side of ^fthe altar of incense. ¹²And when Zacharias saw him, ^ghe was troubled, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and ^hthou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall ⁱrejoice at his birth. ¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and ^jshall drink ^kneither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled ^kwith the Holy Ghost, even ^lfrom his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ^17mAnd he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to ⁿturn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; ^oto make ready a people ^pprepared for the Lord.