²⁴ Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months.

²⁵ “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”

³⁶ What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month.

³⁷ For the word of God will never fail.^[a]”

⁵⁸ And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.