Luke 1:39–80

³⁹And Mary having arisen in those days, went to the hill-country, with haste, to a city of Judea, ⁴⁰and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. ⁴¹And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe did leap in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴²and spake out with a loud voice, and said, ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb; ⁴³and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord might come unto me? ⁴⁴for, lo, when the voice of thy salutation came to my ears, leap in gladness did the babe in my womb; ⁴⁵and happy is she who did believe, for there shall be a completion to the things spoken to her from the Lord.’ ⁴⁶And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, ⁴⁷And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour, ⁴⁸Because He looked on the lowliness of His maid-servant, For, lo, henceforth call me happy shall all the generations, ⁴⁹For He who is mighty did to me great things, And holy is His name, ⁵⁰And His kindness is to generations of generations, To those fearing Him, ⁵¹He did powerfully with His arm, He scattered abroad the proud in the thought of their heart, ⁵²He brought down the mighty from thrones, And He exalted the lowly, ⁵³The hungry He did fill with good, And the rich He sent away empty, ⁵⁴He received again Israel His servant, To remember kindness, ⁵⁵As He spake unto our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed—to the age.’ ⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months, and turned back to her house.

⁵⁷And to Elisabeth was the time fulfilled for her bringing forth, and she bare a son, ⁵⁸and the neighbours and her kindred heard that the Lord was making His kindness great with her, and they were rejoicing with her. ⁵⁹And it came to pass, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias, ⁶⁰and his mother answering said, ‘No, but he shall be called John.’ ⁶¹And they said unto her—‘There is none among thy kindred who is called by this name,’ ⁶²and they were making signs to his father, what he would wish him to be called, ⁶³and having asked for a tablet, he wrote, saying, ‘John is his name;’ and they did all wonder; ⁶⁴and his mouth was opened presently, and his tongue, and he was speaking, praising God. ⁶⁵And fear came upon all those dwelling around them, and in all the hill-country of Judea were all these sayings spoken of, ⁶⁶and all who heard did lay them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then shall this child be?’ and the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷And Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and did prophesy, saying, ⁶⁸‘Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, Because He did look upon, And wrought redemption for His people, ⁶⁹And did raise an horn of salvation to us, In the house of David His servant, ⁷⁰As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, Which have been from the age; ⁷¹Salvation from our enemies, And out of the hand of all hating us, ⁷²To do kindness with our fathers, And to be mindful of His holy covenant, ⁷³An oath that He sware to Abraham our father, ⁷⁴To give to us, without fear, Out of the hand of our enemies having been delivered, ⁷⁵To serve Him, in holiness and righteousness Before Him, all the days of our life. ⁷⁶And thou, child, Prophet of the Highest Shalt thou be called; For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, To prepare His ways. ⁷⁷To give knowledge of salvation to His people In remission of their sins, ⁷⁸Through the tender mercies of our God, In which the rising from on high did look upon us, ⁷⁹To give light to those sitting in darkness and death-shade, To guide our feet to a way of peace.’ ⁸⁰And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit, and he was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Chapter 2