⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord ^(A)sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. ⁸ Nevertheless ^(B)my brethren who went up with me made the ^[a]heart of the people melt, but I wholly ^(C)followed the Lord my God. ⁹ So Moses swore on that day, saying, ^(D)‘Surely the land ^(E)where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ ¹⁰ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me ^(F)alive, ^(G)as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel ^[b]wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. ^11 (H)As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both ^(I)for going out and for coming in. ¹² Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how ^(J)the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. ^(K)It may be that the Lord will be with me, and ^(L)I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^(A)you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and ^(B)many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be ^(C)great in the sight of the Lord, and ^(D)shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, ^(E)even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ^17 (F)He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, ^(G)“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”