⁸ One day Zechariah's group of priests were on duty, and he was serving God as a priest. ⁹ According to the custom of the priests, he had been chosen to go into the Lord's temple that day and to burn incense,^{[a] 10} while the people stood outside praying.

¹¹ All at once an angel from the Lord appeared to Zechariah at the right side of the altar. ¹² Zechariah was confused and afraid when he saw the angel. ¹³ But the angel told him:

Don't be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayers. Your wife Elizabeth will have a son, and you must name him John.

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this is going to happen? My wife and I are both very old.”

^19 (A) The angel answered, “I am Gabriel, God's servant, and I was sent to tell you this good news. ²⁰ You have not believed what I have said. So you will not be able to say a thing until all this happens. But everything will take place when it is supposed to.”

²¹ The crowd was waiting for Zechariah and kept wondering why he was staying in the temple so long. ²² When he did come out, he could not speak, and they knew he had seen a vision. He motioned to them with his hands, but did not say a thing.

²³ When Zechariah's time of service in the temple was over, he went home. ²⁴ Soon after this, his wife was expecting a baby, and for five months she did not leave the house. She said to herself, ²⁵ “What the Lord has done for me will keep people from looking down on me.”^[a]