Philistines Oppress Again

13 Now the sons of Israel ^(A)again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a man of ^(B)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. ^3 (C)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ And now, be careful ^(D)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[a]unclean thing. ^5 (E)For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(F)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(G)A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[b]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

John the Baptist’s Birth Foretold

^5 (A)In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the ^(B)division of ^[a]Abijah; and he had a wife ^[b]from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They were both ^(C)righteous in the sight of God, walking ^(D)blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. ⁷ And yet they had no child, because Elizabeth was infertile, and they were both advanced in ^[c]years.

⁸ Now it happened that while ^(E)he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, ⁹ according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot ^(F)to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer ^(G)outside at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹ Now ^(H)an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and ^(I)fear ^[d]gripped him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “^(J)Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^(K)you shall ^[e]name him John. ¹⁴ You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will ^(L)drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit ^[f]while still in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will ^(M)turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And it is he who will ^(N)go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of ^(O)Elijah, ^(P)to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to ^(Q)make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For ^(R)I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her ^[g]years.” ¹⁹ The angel answered and said to him, “I am ^(S)Gabriel, who ^[h](T)stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

²¹ And meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²² But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he repeatedly ^(U)[i]made signs to them, and remained speechless. ²³ When the days of his priestly service were concluded, he went back home.

²⁴ Now after these days his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and she kept herself ^[j]in seclusion for five months, saying, ²⁵ “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to ^(V)take away my disgrace among people.”