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for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
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He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
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Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
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The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
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and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
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Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.
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In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
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Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
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for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
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He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
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but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
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They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
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Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.
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He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
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Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
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“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
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because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
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And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
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The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
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Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
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Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
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“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
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When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
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(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”),
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and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
