1A lot of great things have happened here, and the people that saw those things happen told everyone what they saw, and a lot of people wrote on paper the stories those people told.
3I have read those stories, and I have talked to those people, and I checked up on everything they said, right from the start. So now I am carefully writing this book for you.
4You already heard some of this, but I want you to know the true story, and I want you to be sure about it.
5At the time when Herod was big boss of Judea country there was a man there called Zechariah. He was a man that looked after the Jewish ceremonies. He belonged to a group that did the Jewish ceremonies called Abijah’s mob. His wife too belonged to a family of Jewish ceremony people. Her name was Elizabeth.
6Those 2, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were very good people. They did everything in God’s law, and God liked the way they lived.
7They lived that way for a long time, but they didn’t have any kids. Elizabeth just couldn’t have a baby. And they got very old.
8Zechariah belonged to that group that did the Jewish ceremonies, and the time came for them to do those ceremonies in God’s ceremony house in Jerusalem city.
9One day it was Zechariah’s turn to go into the special room in that house and burn some stuff to make a good smell.
10While he was doing that a big mob of people were outside, and they were praying.
11Then God sent one of his angel messengers to that room, and he stood beside the metal table where that stuff was burning.
12Zechariah saw the angel there and got a big shock. He was really frightened.
13But the angel told him, “Don’t be frightened, Zechariah. God has heard what you have been asking him, and he will give you what you want. Your wife, Elizabeth, will have a baby boy, and you will name him John.
14You will be really happy, and a lot of other people will be happy with you.
15God will say that this kid is important, so you have to make sure he never drinks any kind of wine or grog at all. You see, the Holy Spirit will come into this kid while he is still inside his mother, before he gets born.
16And after he grows up he will get lots of you Israel people to turn away from bad things and turn back to God.
17Do you remember the story about God’s man called Elijah, that lived a long time ago? He had God’s spirit in him and he did powerful things. Well, in the same way, John will have God’s spirit and his power. He will come to this world ahead of the special man that God will send. John will get men that are fathers to love their kids. You know, there are some people now that don’t want God, but John will get them to listen to the sensible words of good people. In that way he will get people ready for the special man that God will send.”
18Zechariah said to the angel, “Just a minute. Is this message true? I am an old man, and my wife is old too. We are too old to have a baby. How can I be sure that this message is true?”
19The angel said, “Look, I am Gabriel. I am always close to God, and I do special jobs for him. And he sent me to tell you this good message.
20And everything I said will happen at the right time. But you didn’t believe me, so now God will shut you up. You will not be able to talk until this kid gets born.”
21While they were talking in that room, the people outside were waiting for Zechariah. They were thinking, “Why is he staying a long time in that room?”
22Then Zechariah came out, and he tried to talk to them, but he couldn’t say anything. He had to make signs with his hands, and at last they understood that he saw something powerful in that room.
23After that Zechariah finished his days of work in God’s ceremony house, then he went home.
24Soon after that his wife, Elizabeth, found out she was going to have a baby. She stayed inside her house for 5 months.
25She said, “Wow. God is properly good to me. He will let me have a baby, and nobody will rubbish me any more.”
26That baby grew inside Elizabeth for about 6 months. Then God sent one of his angel messengers, called Gabriel, to Galilee country, to a town called Nazareth.
27He went there to a young girl that was not married, called Mary. Before that time, Mary didn’t ever sleep with any man, like a woman does with her husband. She was promised to a man called Joseph. He belonged to the family of David, the big boss of a long time ago.
28Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Hello, Mary. God loves you and is good to you. He is here with you now and he will do something good for you.”
29This worried Mary. She thought, “What’s he talking about?”
30So Gabriel said, “Don’t be frightened, Mary. God is real happy with you.
31Listen. You will soon have a baby son, and you will call him Jesus.
32God will make him the biggest boss of you Israel people, like David, his grand-father of a long time ago. He will be very important, and he will be the biggest boss for ever. He will never stop being the biggest boss. People will call him the Son of God.”
34Mary said, “But I’m not married. How will I get a baby?”
35Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and God’s power will come over you and give you a baby. Your baby will be real special, and people will say he is God’s son.
36And you know your cousin Elizabeth? Everyone reckoned she is too old to have a baby, but now she is carrying one inside her. She has been carrying it for the last 6 months, and soon she will have a baby.
37You see, God can do anything. Nothing is too hard for him.”
38Mary said, “All right then, I will do whatever God wants. I want everything to happen just like you have said.” Then Gabriel left her.
39A few days later Mary got up and quickly went south to a town in the hilly part of the country called Judea.
40Zechariah and Elizabeth lived in that town. Mary went to their house, and went in and said, “Hello cousin” to Elizabeth.
41As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary say those words, she felt her baby jump inside her. And the Holy Spirit came into her,
42and she talked really loud, she said, “God is really good to you, and he is making you happy. He is being more good to you than to any other woman. And he is being really good to your baby, too.
43I’m not important, but you are the mother of my leader, the one from God. It is really good of you to visit me.
44You see, as soon as I heard you say ‘hello,’ my baby inside me was so happy he jumped.
45Yes, you believed that God will do everything he told you, and that makes you very happy.”
46Mary said, “God is really good and really great. I feel that really deep inside myself, and I want to tell it to everybody.
47God is the one that saves me, so my spirit is really happy.
48God knew that I was not important, but he picked me, and now everyone will say that God has been good to me.
49Yes, he is the really strong one, and he did great things for me. God is properly good, better than anyone else.
50He is good to the people that respect him, and to their kids, and to their grand-kids, and to all their grand-kids to come.
51He did great things with his power, to show everyone that he is really strong. Those people that reckoned they were smart and strong, they all got frightened of him, and they ran away.
52He chucked out the big bosses and took their power away. But he got people that were not important, and he made them bosses.
53And he gave hungry people good food, and they ate till they were full. But he didn’t give anything to the rich people. They went away with nothing.
54He is sorry for his own people, us Israel mob, and he helps us,
55just like he promised to our grand-father Abraham, and to our other grand-fathers of long ago. He said he will look after us for ever.”
56Mary stayed with Elizabeth about 3 months, then she went back to her own home.
57Then the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she had a son.
58All her family, and the people that lived near her, they heard that she had a baby, and they knew that God had been very good to her. Elizabeth was happy, and they were all happy too.
59When the baby was 8 days old, all those people came to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s place. The baby boy had to have a young man’s operation on that day, and they used to give a baby his name at that time. The people wanted to call him Zechariah, the same name that his father had.
60But Elizabeth said, “No. His name is John.”
61They said, “What? Nobody in your family has that name.”
62So they made signs with their hands to his father, to ask him what name he wanted to give to the boy.
63Zechariah made signs to get them to give him something to write on, then he wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was shocked.
64Then, straight away, Zechariah started to talk again, and he told everyone that God is very great.
65Everybody there was really surprised, and they told other people about everything that happened, and soon a lot of people in the hilly part of Judea country were talking about it.
66Everyone that heard the news thought about it, and they said, “What will this kid be, after he grows up?” They knew God’s power was with that boy.
67At that time, when Zechariah started talking again, the Holy Spirit came into him, and he told everyone a message from God. He said,
68“The God of us Israel mob, he is a great God. He has come now to save us, his people.
69He has sent us a very strong person to save us. You know about David, the boss that worked for God a long time ago, well this person is in David’s family.
70God promised this to us a long time ago, and he got his men to tell us this message.
71God promised to save us from our enemies, and from everyone that hates us.
72He promised to be good to our grand-fathers of long ago, and he will remember to do everything that he promised.
73Yes, God will remember the things promised to Abraham, our grand-father of long ago.
74He promised to save us from our enemies, so we can work for him without being frightened.
75We can live God’s way and work for him in the right way, and we can do it all our lives.”
76Then Zechariah talked to his baby boy, he said, “This word is for you, my son. Everyone will know that you tell people messages from God. You will go ahead of the one that God is sending to be our leader, and you will get everything ready for him.
77You will teach his people how God can say they are not guilty for the bad things they did, and then God will save them.
78You see, our God is sorry for us, so he will do that for us. It will be like the sun coming up, bringing light from God.
79That light will shine for everybody. Some people are like they are in the dark. And some people are about to die. But that light will shine on everybody. It will show us how to live in a good and quiet way.”
80After that, the baby grew up to be a man, and God made John’s spirit strong. He went and lived in the bush for years, until he started to tell the Israel people God’s messages.
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