Luke 1:11-28

¹¹Now an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹²Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. ¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her years.” ¹⁹The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

²¹And meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²²But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he repeatedly made signs to them, and remained speechless. ²³When the days of his priestly service were concluded, he went back home.

²⁴Now after these days his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, ²⁵“This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among people.”

²⁶Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”