New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Luke chapter 1

A number of people have already tried to of what’s happened among us,based on what was handed down to us by the people who and who .So I decided, since I’ve from the very start, to write it all out for you in an orderly way, most excellent ,so that you can be about everything you’ve been taught.Back when was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the . His wife Elizabeth was also from the .Both of them , carefully following all of ’s commands and instructions — .But they had no children because Elizabeth , and they were both getting on in years.One day, when Zechariah’s division was on duty, he was serving as priest before God.Following the custom among priests, he was to go into Yahweh’s and .Meanwhile, a during the time of the incense offering.Then a appeared to him, standing to the right of the .When Zechariah saw him, he was — .But the messenger said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. . Your wife Elizabeth will have a son, and you are to name him .He’ll bring you so much , and many people will celebrate his birth,because he’ll be . He must , and he’ll be filled with from before he’s even born.He’ll to Yahweh their God.He’ll go ahead of the Lord with — to , to turn the rebellious toward the wisdom of — to get a people ready for the Lord.Zechariah said to the messenger, “ I’m an old man, and my wife is well past her childbearing years.”The messenger answered, “I am . . I was sent to speak to you and bring you this .But listen — you’ll be , until the day this happens, because you didn’t believe my words, which will come true .”The people were for Zechariah and wondering why he was taking so long in the sanctuary.When he finally came out, he couldn’t speak to them. They realized he’d seen a in the sanctuary. He kept trying to communicate with gestures but remained unable to say a word.When his was finished, he went home.After this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months. She said,“Yahweh has done this for me. He and took away my among people.”In Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the messenger Gabriel to a town in called ,to a who was to a man named Joseph, from the . The young woman’s name was .The messenger came to her and said, “! The Lord is with you.”She was by his words and what this kind of greeting could mean.The messenger said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have .Listen — you’re going to become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him .He will be , and will be called the . The Lord God will give him the ,and he will reign over forever. .”Mary said to the messenger, “How will this happen? .”The messenger answered, “, and the power of the Most High will . That’s why the child will be . He’ll be called the Son of God.And here’s something else — your Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son, even in her old age. The woman everyone called unable to have children is now six months along.Because .”Mary responded, “. .” Then the messenger left her.Not long after that, Mary got up and to a town in the .She went to Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.The moment Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, , and Elizabeth was .She cried out with a loud voice, “You are , and the child you carry is favored too!Why am I so honored that the mother of would come to me?The second your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb ! that what the Lord told her would actually happen!”And Mary said: “,and my spirit because of God, .Because he — his . And from now on, every generation will call me ,because has done incredible things for me. .His extends to those who , generation after generation.He has — he’s scattered people who are .He has and .He has and .He has , remembering his mercy,just as he — to and his descendants forever.”Mary stayed with Elizabeth for and then returned home.When the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her , and they celebrated with her.On the , they came to the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father.But his mother spoke up and said, “No! His name is to be .”They said to her, “But nobody in your family has that name.”So they to his father, asking what he wanted to name the child.He asked for a and wrote, “.” Everyone was amazed.Instantly , and he began to speak, . came over everyone living in the area, and people throughout the hill country of Judea were talking about all of this.Everyone who heard about it , wondering, “What is this child going to become?” Because it was clear that .Then his father Zechariah was and spoke this :“ the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has .He has raised up a for us from the family of ,just as he announced long ago through , from our enemies and from the power of everyone who hates us,to show to our ancestors and to remember ,the he swore to our father Abraham:to rescue us from our enemies’ grip so we could ,living in his presence all our days.And you, child — you’ll be called a , because you will go ahead of the Lord to for him,to help his people — that it comes through the ,because of the of our God. Through that compassion, ,to shine on those , and to guide our feet onto .”The child . He lived in until the day he .