Luke 1:1–17

Dedication to Theophilus

1Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that ^ahave been accomplished among us, ^2bjust as those who ^cfrom the beginning were ^deyewitnesses and ^eministers of ^fthe word ^ghave delivered them to us, ³it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write ^han orderly account for you, ⁱmost excellent ^jTheophilus, ⁴that you may have ^kcertainty concerning the things ^lyou have been taught.

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

^5mIn the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,^{1 n}of ^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.”