The Birth of John the Baptist is Foretold

⁵ During the reign^[a] of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ Both of them were righteous before God, having lived blamelessly according to all of the commandments and regulations of the Lord. ⁷ They had no children because Elizabeth was barren and because both of them were getting old.^[b]

⁸ When Zechariah^[c] was serving with his division of priests in God’s presence, ⁹ he was chosen by lot to go into the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense, according to the custom of the priests. ¹⁰ And the entire congregation of people was praying outside at the time when the incense was burned.

¹¹ An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the incense altar. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled, and fear overwhelmed him. ¹³ But the angel told him, “Stop being afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John. ¹⁴ You will have great joy,^[d] and many people will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ because he will be great in the Lord’s presence. He will never drink wine or any strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring many of Israel’s descendants back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He is the one who will go before the Lord^[e] with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, and to prepare the people to be ready for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Then Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this, since I am an old man, and my wife is getting older?”^[f]

¹⁹ The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. I have been sent to speak to you and to announce this good news to you. ²⁰ But because you did not believe my announcement, which will be fulfilled at its proper time,^[g] you will become silent and unable to speak until the day this happens.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people kept waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed in the sanctuary so long. ²² But when he did come out, he was unable to speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them but remained unable to speak. ²³ When the days of his service were over, he went home.

²⁴ After this,^[h] his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and remained in seclusion for five months. She said, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord did for me when he looked favorably on me and took away my public disgrace.”