Luke 1:12-52

¹²And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear came on him.

¹³But the angel said, Have no fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and his name will be John.

¹⁴And you will be glad and have great delight; and numbers of people will have joy at his birth.

¹⁵For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord; he will not take wine or strong drink; and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth.

¹⁶And through him great numbers of the children of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God.

¹⁷And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.

¹⁸And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years.

¹⁹And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.

²⁰Now, see, you will be without voice or language till the day when these things come about, because you had not faith in my words, which will have effect at the right time.

²¹And the people were waiting for Zacharias and were surprised because he was in the Temple for such a long time.

²²And when he came out he was not able to say anything, and they saw that he had seen a vision in the Temple; and he was making signs to them without words.

²³And when the days of his work in the Temple were ended, he went back to his house.

²⁴After that time, Elisabeth, being certain that she was to become a mother, kept herself from men's eyes for five months, saying,

²⁵The Lord has done this to me, for his eyes were on me, to take away my shame in the eyes of men.

²⁶Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee, named Nazareth,

²⁷To a virgin who was to be married to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary.

²⁸And the angel came in to her and said, Peace be with you, to whom special grace has been given; the Lord is with you.

²⁹But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words?

³⁰And the angel said to her, Have no fear, Mary, for you have God's approval.

³¹And see, you will give birth to a son, and his name will be Jesus.

³²He will be great, and will be named the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his father:

³³He will have rule over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

³⁴And Mary said to the angel, How may this be, because I have had no knowledge of a man?

³⁵And the angel in answer said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, and so that which will come to birth will be named holy, Son of God.

³⁶Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.

³⁷For there is nothing which God is not able to do.

³⁸And Mary said: I am the servant of the Lord; may it be to me as you say. And the angel went away.

³⁹Then Mary got up and went quickly into the high lands, to a town of Judah;

⁴⁰And went into the house of Zacharias and took Elisabeth in her arms.

⁴¹And when the voice of Mary came to the ears of Elisabeth, the baby made a sudden move inside her; then Elisabeth was full of the Holy Spirit,

⁴²And she said with a loud voice: May blessing be on you among women, and a blessing on the child of your body.

⁴³How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?

⁴⁴For, truly, when the sound of your voice came to my ears, the baby in my body made a sudden move for joy.

⁴⁵Happy will she be who had faith that the things which the Lord has said to her will be done.

⁴⁶And Mary said: My soul gives glory to God;

⁴⁷My spirit is glad in God my Saviour.

⁴⁸For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me.

⁴⁹For he who is strong has done great things for me; and holy is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for all generations in whom is the fear of him.

⁵¹With his arm he has done acts of power; he has put to flight those who have pride in their hearts.

⁵²He has put down kings from their seats, lifting up on high the men of low degree.