The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” ⁶¹And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” ⁶²And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. ⁶³And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. ⁶⁴And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. ⁶⁵And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, ⁶⁶and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah's Prophecy

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord 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,

⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

⁷¹that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us8 from on high

⁷⁹to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

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