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In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the order of Abijah and he had a wife of the family of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

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They were upright in the eyes of God, keeping all the rules and orders of God, and doing no wrong.

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And they were without children, because Elisabeth had never given birth, and they were at that time very old.

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Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God,

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And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes.

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And all the people were offering prayers outside, at the time of the burning of perfumes.

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And he saw an angel of the Lord in his place on the right side of the altar.

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And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear came on him.

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But the angel said, Have no fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and his name will be John.

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And you will be glad and have great delight and numbers of people will have joy at his birth.

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For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord he will not take wine or strong drink and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth.

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And through him great numbers of the children of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God.

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And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.

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And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years.

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And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.

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Now, see, you will be without voice or language till the day when these things come about, because you had not faith in my words, which will have effect at the right time.

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And the people were waiting for Zacharias and were surprised because he was in the Temple for such a long time.

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And when he came out he was not able to say anything, and they saw that he had seen a vision in the Temple and he was making signs to them without words.

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And when the days of his work in the Temple were ended, he went back to his house.

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After that time, Elisabeth, being certain that she was to become a mother, kept herself from men's eyes for five months, saying,

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The Lord has done this to me, for his eyes were on me, to take away my shame in the eyes of men.