Zechariah's Prophecy

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.

And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”

For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”