Luke 1:57–79

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord ^shad shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹And ^ton the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰but his mother answered, “No; ^uhe shall be called John.” ⁶¹And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” ⁶²And ^vthey made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. ⁶³And he asked for ^wa writing tablet and wrote, ^u“His name is John.” And they all wondered. ^64xAnd immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue ^yloosed, and he spoke, ^zblessing God. ⁶⁵And ^afear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all ^bthe hill country of Judea, ⁶⁶and all who heard them ^claid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For ^dthe hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah ^ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and ^fprophesied, saying,

^68g“Blessed be the Lord ^hGod of Israel,

for he has ⁱvisited and ^jredeemed his people

⁶⁹and ^khas raised up ^la horn of salvation for us

^min the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰ⁿas ^ohe spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

^71pthat we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

^72qto show the mercy promised to our fathers

and ^rto remember his holy ^scovenant,

^73tthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him ^uwithout fear,

^75vin holiness and righteousness before him ^wall our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called ^xthe prophet of ^ythe Most High;

for ^zyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people

^ain the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the ^btender mercy of our God,

whereby ^cthe sunrise shall ^dvisit us^{8 e}from on high

⁷⁹to ^fgive light to ^gthose who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into ^hthe way of ⁱpeace.”