LUKE 1:1-13

¹Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

²even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,

³it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus;

⁴that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.

⁵There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

⁷And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

⁸Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,

⁹according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense.

¹¹And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

¹²And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.