Luke 1:16-40

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.