Luk 1:57-80 | ESV | STEP | Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth , and she bore a son .

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

Zechariah’s Prophecy

67 And his father Zechariah ⁿwas filled with the Holy Spirit and ^oprophesied, saying,

68 ^p“Blessed be the Lord ^qGod of Israel,
for he has ^rvisited and ^sredeemed his people
69 and ^thas raised up ^ua horn of salvation for us
^vin the house of his servant David,
70 ^was ^xhe spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 ^ythat we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 ^zto show the mercy promised to our fathers
and ^aato remember his holy ^abcovenant,
73 ^acthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him ^adwithout fear,
75 ^aein holiness and righteousness before him ^afall our days.
76 And you, child, will be called ^agthe prophet of ^ahthe Most High;
for ^aiyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
^ajin the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the ^aktender mercy of our God,
whereby ^althe sunrise shall ^amvisit us ^{▼▼Or when the sunrise shall dawn upon us; some manuscripts since the sunrise has visited us} ^aofrom on high
79 to ^apgive light to ^aqthose who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into ^arthe way of ^aspeace.”
80 ^atAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was ^auin the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.