Luke 1:10-32

¹⁰While he was burning the incense, many people were outside in the courtyard, praying.

¹¹Then an angel whom God had sent appeared to him. The angel was standing at the right side of the place where the priests burned incense.

¹²When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and became very afraid.

¹³But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, do not be afraid! When you (sg) prayed asking God for a son (OR, that God would send the Messiah), God heard what you prayed. So your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son. You must name him John.

¹⁴He will cause you to be very happy, and many other people will also be happy because he is born.

¹⁵God will consider him to be very important. He must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, in order that he will be completely dedicated to God. He will be controlled by the Holy Spirit {The Holy Spirit will control him} from before he is born.

¹⁶He will persuade many people in Israel to turn away from their sins and please the Lord their God.

¹⁷As God's Spirit enables him to preach powerfully as the prophet Elijah did, he will precede the Messiah. He will cause parents SYN to act peacefully toward their children again. He will cause many people who do not obey God to hear and obey the wise things that righteous people tell them. He will do this in order to help many people to be ready when the Lord comes.”

¹⁸Then Zechariah said to the angel, “I am very old, and my wife is also so old that she cannot bear a child. So ◄I cannot believe that what you (sg) said will happen!/how can I believe that what you (sg) said will happen?► RHQ”

¹⁹Then the angel said to him, “I am God's chief angel, Gabriel! I do what God tells me, because I constantly am in God's presence! I was sent { He sent me} to tell you (sg) something good that is going to happen to you.

²⁰What I have told you will certainly happen at the time God decides, but you did not believe what I told you. So now God will make you will be unable to talk until the day your son is born”!

²¹While Zechariah and the angel were talking, the people in the courtyard were waiting for Zechariah to come out. They wondered, “Why is he staying in the Temple for such a long time?”

²²When Zechariah came out, he was not able to speak to the people. Because he could not talk, he made motions with his hands to try to convey what had happened. Then they realized that he had seen ◄a vision from God/something that God showed him► while he was in the Temple.

²³When Zechariah's time to work as a priest in the Temple was finished, he left Jerusalem and returned to his home.

²⁴Some time later his wife Elizabeth became pregnant EUP. She did not leave their house for five months, because she knew that people would laugh at her if she told them that she was pregnant.

²⁵But she thought, “God has enabled me to become pregnant. He has pitied me and I will no longer be ashamed because I have no children!”

²⁶When Elizabeth had been pregnant EUP for almost six months, the angel Gabriel was sent by God {God sent the angel Gabriel} again.

²⁷This time he went to Nazareth town in Galilee district, to a virgin whose name was Mary. It had been { Her parents had} promised that she would marry a man named Joseph, who was descended from King David.

²⁸The angel greeted her and said,“ ◄The Lord/God► is with you (sg) and you will be greatly blessed { has decided to greatly bless you}!”

²⁹But Mary was very confused when she heard that. She wondered what the angel meant by these words.

³⁰Then the angel said to her, “Mary, God is very pleased with you (sg), so do not be afraid.

³¹You will become pregnant and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.

³²He will become great. He will be called { People will call him} ◄the Son of God/the man who is also God►. God, the Lord, will make him a king MTY as his ancestor King David was.