Luke 1

₁I am writing this letter to you, dear Theophilus. Many people have tried to tell the story about the things that Jesus did while He lived on earth. ₂Some people have listened to the disciples who were with Jesus and who saw everything that He did from the time that He started to tell the people about God. They also listened to people who told the Good_News about Jesus. ₃I have talked to people who were with Jesus and I have asked them to tell me more about what He did while He was on earth. I thought about it for a long time and now I want to tell you everything as it happened. I will tell you everything that I know. ₄Some people have taught you things about Jesus. Now you will know that they are true.

₅Herod was king of Judea at that time and there was a priest named Zechariah. He was one of the priests in the family of Abijah. They worked at the temple when it was their time to work there. Zechariah was married to Elizabeth. She came from the family of Aaron.

₆Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people. They lived like God wanted them to live and they obeyed all the laws of God. ₇But they had no children because Elizabeth could not have a baby and Zechariah and Elizabeth became very old. ₈One day Abijah's group of priests had to work in the temple. ₉When the priests wanted to know which of them had to go into the temple of the Lord to bring the incense-offering, they drew_lots. On that day the Lord said that Zechariah had to go into the holy room of the temple of the Lord. ₁₀When Zechariah went in to bring the incense-offering, all the people stayed outside and prayed. ₁₁An angel of the Lord came to Zechariah and appeared to him. The angel was standing on the right hand side of the incense-altar. ₁₂Zechariah became afraid when he saw the angel. ₁₃But the angel said to him: ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid. God has listened to your prayers. Your wife Elizabeth will become pregnant and she will have a son. You must give him the name John. ₁₄When he is born, you and a lot of people will be very happy. ₁₅Your son will be important to the Lord. He may not drink wine or beer. The Holy_Spirit will be in him from the time that his mother becomes pregnant. ₁₆He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. ₁₇John will be a prophet of God. He will be brave and strong, like Elijah. He will bring peace to fathers and their children. He will change the hearts of people who do not listen to God. They will then listen to God and do what God wants.’

₁₈Zechariah said to the angel: ‘How can this happen? How will I know that this is true? I am an old man and my wife is also very old.’

₁₉The angel said to him: ‘I am the angel Gabriel. I work for God. God sent me to talk to you and to bring this good news to you. ₂₀The message that I bring to you is true. It will happen. But you do not believe me, and that is why you will be mute. You will not be able to speak until the day when this happens.’

₂₁The people outside were waiting for Zechariah. They did not know why he was in the temple for so long. ₂₂When Zechariah came out of the temple, he could not talk and the people knew that God had shown him something in the temple, in a vision. He tried to speak with his hands and show them that something had happened to him. He could not speak. ₂₃When the priests of Abijah's family finished working at the temple, Zechariah went back to his house. ₂₄Not long after that, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and she did not go out of her house for 5 months. She said: ₂₅‘The Lord has helped me. He saw how sad I was. He heard when people mocked me because I did not have any children. Now the Lord has changed everything. No one will mock me again.’

₂₆When Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant, God sent an angel to the town of Nazareth in the province of Galilee. ₂₇God sent the angel to a girl who was engaged to Joseph. Joseph was from the family and descendants of King David. The name of the girl was Mary. She was a virgin. ₂₈The angel went to Mary and he said: ‘I greet you. God is very good to you. Yes, the Lord is with you.’

₂₉Mary was surprised when she heard what the angel said to her and she did not know what his words meant. ₃₀The angel said to her: ‘Mary, you must not be afraid, because God is good to you. ₃₁You will become pregnant and you will have a Son. You must give Him the name Jesus. ₃₂He will be very important. The Most High God will say He is his Son. The Lord God will make Him King, like King David, his forefather. ₃₃Jesus will always rule over the Israelites. He will always be King.’

₃₄Mary said to the angel: ‘How can I have a child? I have never slept with a man.’

₃₅The angel said to her: ‘The Holy_Spirit will come into you and the power of the Most High God will be on you. That is why God said your Child will be holy. He will be the Son of God. ₃₆Mary, there is a woman in your family whose name is Elizabeth. She is old and she could never have children, but she will also have a son. She is now 6 months pregnant. ₃₇God can do anything. There is nothing that God can not do.’

₃₈Mary said: ‘I will do what God wants. The Lord can do to me what you said.’ Then the angel went away from her.

₃₉Not long after that, Mary walked very fast to a town in Judea that was on the mountains. ₄₀She went into Zechariah's house and she greeted Elizabeth. ₄₁When Elizabeth heard Mary greeting her, the baby inside her womb moved. The Holy_Spirit came into Elizabeth. ₄₂She was amazed and she said: ‘Mary, God has blessed you more than all the other women. He also blesses the Child in you. ₄₃It is wonderful that you came to me. You are the mother of my Lord. ₄₄When you greeted me and I heard your voice, the child in me was so happy that he moved. ₄₅God will bless you because you have believed that the Lord will do what He had promised you.’

₄₆Then Mary said:

₅₆Mary visited Elizabeth and she stayed with her for 3 months, then she went home.

₅₇When Elizabeth's baby was born, it was a boy. ₅₈They told her friends and family that the Lord had been good to her, and they were very pleased together with her. ₅₉On the 8th day the people came to circumcise the child. They wanted to give him the same name as his father and name him Zechariah. ₆₀But his mother said: ‘No, his name must be John.’

₆₁The people said to her: ‘There is no one in your family that has the name of John.’ ₆₂They talked with their hands to Zechariah and asked him what the name of the boy must be. ₆₃Zechariah asked them to bring him something to write on. He wrote: ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was amazed. ₆₄Immediately Zechariah could speak again and he praised God.

₆₅All the people who lived near them were afraid. They also told it to the people who came from the mountains in the province of Judea. They all talked about what had happened. ₆₆They said: ‘We wonder what this boy will do when he grows up?’ Everyone could see that the Lord was with John.

₆₇The Holy_Spirit came into Zechariah, John's father, and he started to prophesy and he said:

₈₀John grew up. His body and his spirit became strong. He lived in the desert until he started to preach to the Israelites.