Luke 1:1–17

¹Seeing that many did take in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us, ²as they did deliver to us, who from the beginning became eye-witnesses, and officers of the Word,— ³it seemed good also to me, having followed from the first after all things exactly, to write to thee in order, most noble Theophilus, ⁴that thou mayest know the certainty of the things wherein thou wast instructed.

⁵There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the course of Abijah, and his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elisabeth; ⁶and they were both righteous before God, going on in all the commands and righteousnesses of the Lord blameless, ⁷and they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and both were advanced in their days. ⁸And it came to pass, in his acting as priest, in the order of his course before God, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot was to make perfume, having gone into the sanctuary of the Lord, ¹⁰and all the multitude of the people were praying without, at the hour of the perfume. ¹¹And there appeared to him a messenger of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of the perfume, ¹²and Zacharias, having seen, was troubled, and fear fell on him; ¹³and the messenger said unto him, ‘Fear not, Zacharias, for thy supplication was heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name John, ¹⁴and there shall be joy to thee, and gladness, and many at his birth shall joy, ¹⁵for he shall be great before the Lord, and wine and strong drink he may not drink, and of the Holy Spirit he shall be full, even from his mother’s womb; ¹⁶and many of the sons of Israel he shall turn to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and he shall go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers unto children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared.’