Luke 1:16-25

¹⁶Many of the people of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God.

¹⁷He will go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is very old.”

¹⁹The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, to bring you this good news.

²⁰Behold! You will be silent, unable to speak, until the day these things take place. This is because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at the right time.”

²¹Now the people were waiting for Zechariah. They were surprised that he was spending so much time in the temple.

²²But when he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized that he had seen a vision while he was in the temple. He kept on making signs to them and remained silent.

²³It came about that when the days of his service were over, he went to his house.

²⁴After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept herself hidden. She said,

²⁵“This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked at me with favor in order to take away my shame before people.”