John the Baptist Is Born

⁵⁷ Now the time was fulfilled for Elizabeth to ^[a]give birth, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ And her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had ^(A)magnified His great mercy toward her, and they were rejoicing with her.

⁵⁹ And it happened that on ^(B)the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zechariah, after the name of his father. ⁶⁰ But his mother answered and said, “No, but ^(C)he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” ⁶² And they ^(D)were making signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. ⁶³ And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “^(E)His name is John.” And they all marveled. ^64 (F)And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak, blessing God. ⁶⁵ And fear came on all those living around them, and all these matters were being talked about in all ^(G)the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ And all who heard these things put them in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” For ^(H)the hand of the ^[b]Lord was indeed with him.