Luke 1:38-80

³⁸Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

³⁹Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

⁴⁰and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴²She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴³Why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy!

⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfilment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”

⁴⁶Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.

⁴⁷My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour,

⁴⁸for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

⁴⁹For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him.

⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

⁵²He has put down princes from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”

⁵⁶Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

⁵⁷Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.

⁵⁸Her neighbours and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

⁶⁰His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

⁶¹They said to her, “There is no one amongst your relatives who is called by this name.”

⁶²They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” They all marvelled.

⁶⁴His mouth was opened immediately and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

⁶⁵Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

⁶⁶All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;

⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

⁷⁰(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

⁷¹salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to show mercy towards our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,

⁷⁴to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us,

⁷⁹to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰The child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.