Book of Common Prayer

⁵ This proves that God will judge right. And he will say that you are good enough for the kingdom of God because you suffer for it.

⁶ God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those who are troubling you.

⁷ And he will give rest to you who are having troubles, and to us also. He will give this rest when our Lord Jesus comes back from heaven. The Lord Jesus will come with his strong angels in flaming fire.

⁸ He will punish those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.

⁹ They will be destroyed for ever. That will be their punishment. They will be for ever separated from the Lord and from his great and wonderful power.

¹⁰ This will happen on the day he comes. On that day his people will show how great and wonderful he is. And all those who have believed in him will be surprised at how great he is. That means you also, because you believed what we told you.

¹¹ That is why we always talk to God about you. We want our God to make you fit for the good work to which he called you. We ask him to finish his good work of faith which trusts in his power.

¹² In that way you will make the name of our Lord Jesus Christ great. And he will make you great. This will be because of the kindness of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁷ The time had now come for Elizabeth's child to be born. She had a son.

⁵⁸ When her neighbours and family heard that the Lord had been so kind to her, they were glad, too.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day people came to circumcise [make a special mark on] the child. They were going to name him Zechariah like his father.

⁶⁰ But his mother said, `No, his name is to be John.'

⁶¹ They said to her, `But no one in your family has that name.'

⁶² They made signs to the father to find out what name he wanted the child to have.

⁶³ He asked for something to write on. He wrote, `His name is John.' They were all surprised.

⁶⁴ Right then he opened his mouth and his tongue was free. He began to speak and to praise God.

⁶⁵ Everyone who lived around there began to wonder at these things. And everywhere in the hill country of Judea, all these things were talked about.

⁶⁶ All those who heard them thought much about them. They said, `What will this child be some day?' They said this because the power of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷ Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke words from God.

⁶⁸ He said, `Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has remembered his people, and set them free.