Luke 1:28-69

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.

⁵³Those who had no food he made full of good things; the men of wealth he sent away with nothing in their hands;

⁵⁴His help he has given to Israel, his servant, so that he might keep in mind his mercy to Abraham and his seed for ever,

⁵⁵As he gave his word to our fathers.

⁵⁶And Mary was with her for about three months and then went back to her house.

⁵⁷Now it was time for Elisabeth to give birth, and she had a son.

⁵⁸And it came to the ears of her neighbours and relations that the Lord had been very good to her, and they took part in her joy.

⁵⁹And on the eighth day they came to see to the circumcision of the child, and they would have given him the name of Zacharias, his father's name;

⁶⁰But his mother made answer and said, No, his name is John.

⁶¹And they said, Not one of your relations has that name.

⁶²And they made signs to his father, to say what name was to be given to him.

⁶³And he sent for writing materials and put down: His name is John; and they were all surprised.

⁶⁴And straight away his mouth was open and his tongue was free and he gave praise to God.

⁶⁵And fear came on all those who were living round about them: and there was much talk about all these things in all the hill-country of Judaea.

⁶⁶And all who had word of them kept them in their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷And his father, Zacharias, was full of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice of a prophet said these words:

⁶⁸Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and made them free,

⁶⁹Lifting up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,