Luke

Luke

¹Many have set out to tell and to teach about the events that have been fulfilled among us, ²just as those who were before us, who saw it and served the word, taught us. ³So it seemed right to me as well, having followed it from its beginning and studied it all carefully, to write it out for you in order, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know with certainty the full force of the teaching you have been taught. ⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. His wife was also of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶Both of them were righteous before God. They walked in all the commandments, law, and judgments of God, and they were blameless. ⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both of them were old and well along in years. ⁸Now while he was serving as priest before God in the turn of his division, ⁹as the priests used to do, his time came to burn incense, and he went into the temple of God. ¹⁰The whole crowd of people was outside praying at the hour of incense. ¹¹Then an angel of God appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him he was shaken, and fear and trembling fell on him. ¹³But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard before God. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵For he will be great before God. He will not drink wine or strong drink, nothing that intoxicates and nothing that does not. And the Holy Spirit will fill him from his mother's womb. ¹⁶He will turn many of the children of Israel back to God their Lord. ¹⁷He will go before him in the Holy Spirit and in the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers toward their children, and the minds of the unfaithful toward the understanding of the righteous, to establish a law and a people made ready for God." ¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel of God, "How will I know that all this will happen? I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years." ¹⁹The angel answered him, "I am Gabriel, who stands before God. I was sent to you to speak to you and bring you this good news. ²⁰Now you will be mute and unable to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true and be fulfilled in their time." ²¹Meanwhile the people were praying and waiting for Zechariah, and they were amazed that he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out to them, he could not speak to them, and they realized that something had appeared to him in the temple. He stayed that way, mute, making signs to them with his hand. ²³When the days of his service were completed, he went back to his home. ²⁴After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she kept her pregnancy hidden for five months, saying, ²⁵"This is what God has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my disgrace among people." ²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel came in to her and said, "Rejoice, you who are joyful, full of grace! God is with you. You are blessed among women." ²⁹When she saw him she was troubled by his words, and she wondered and said, "What kind of greeting is this?" ³⁰The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. ³¹Now you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end." ³⁴Mary said to the angel, "How can this happen to me, since I have not known a man?" ³⁵The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit of God will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the one who will be born of you is holy, and he will be called the Son of God Most High. ³⁶And look, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived and is carrying a son in her old age. This is the sixth month for the woman they called barren. ³⁷For nothing is impossible for God." ³⁸Mary said to the angel, "Here I am, the servant of God. Let it be done to me as you have said." Then the angel left her and went away. ³⁹In those days Mary got up and went quickly to the hill country of Ein Karem, and came to a town of David in Judah. ⁴⁰She went into the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary's voice greeting her, the baby leaped in her womb. ⁴²The Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth, and she cried out in a loud voice, "You are blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³Who am I, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴Look, when I heard your voice as you greeted me, the baby leaped in my womb with joy and delight. ⁴⁵Blessed are you who believed that the word spoken to you from God would come to pass." ⁴⁶And Mary said, "My soul magnifies God, ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in my God and my Savior, ⁴⁸for he has looked on the lowliness of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. ⁴⁹For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. ⁵⁰His mercy is on those who fear him, from generation to generation. ⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵²He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the humble. ⁵³He has filled the hungry with his blessing and sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴He has taken up Israel his servant and remembered his mercy, ⁵⁵as he promised our fathers, Abraham and his descendants forever." ⁵⁶Mary stayed with her about three months, and afterward she returned home. ⁵⁷The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸When her relatives and neighbors heard that God had shown her great mercy, they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were naming him after his father, Zechariah. ⁶⁰But his mother answered, "No, he will be called John." ⁶¹They said to her, "None of your relatives has that name." ⁶²So they made signs to his father, asking, "What do you want him named?" ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And they were all amazed. ⁶⁴At once his mouth was opened and his tongue spoke, and he blessed God. ⁶⁵Fear came over all the people of that region and over all the hill country of Judea, and people talked about these things throughout the land of Judea. ⁶⁶All who heard kept them in their hearts and said, "What will this child become?" For the hand of God was on him. ⁶⁷His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he prophesied: ⁶⁸"Blessed be God, the God of Israel, who has shown us mercy and brought salvation to his own people. ⁶⁹He has raised up for us a horn of our salvation from the house of David his servant, ⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets of old, ⁷¹to save us from the hand of our enemy and from the hands of all who hate us, ⁷²to show his mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³the oath he swore to Abraham our father, ⁷⁴to grant us to be free from fear of the hand of our enemy, ⁷⁵and to save us so that we may worship him in righteousness and justice before him all our days. ⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before God to prepare his way, ⁷⁷to give the nations knowledge of their salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸through the compassion and mercy of our God, who has visited us from on high and has risen to show them his light, ⁷⁹to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." ⁸⁰The child grew and became strong in the power of the Holy Spirit. He lived in the wilderness until the day he was shown to Israel.