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1:1  Many people have written about the things that have happened in our country.
1:2  Some people were present when these things started to happen. They saw everything that happened and they told us about it. They are the people who wrote down the Good News for us.
1:3  I have checked the facts about what really happened. So now, I know about all the things that happened from the beginning. I am writing to make the facts clear to you, my important friend Theophilus.
1:4  People have already taught you about these things. Now you can be sure that they are true.
1:5  There was a man whose name was Zechariah. He lived when Herod was king of Judea. Zechariah was a priest and he belonged to a group of priests from the family of Abijah. He had a wife called Elizabeth. She also was from the family of the priest called Aaron.
1:6  Zechariah and Elizabeth obeyed God's commands and rules. God saw that they were righteous people. They did not do wrong things.
1:7  But they had no children. Elizabeth could not give birth and they were both getting old.
1:8  One day, Zechariah's group of priests was working at the temple. He had a special job to do there.
1:9  The priests chose one of their group to go into the holy place in the temple. This time they chose Zechariah. His job was to burn incense there.
1:10  While Zechariah was burning incense in the special room, many men were outside in the yard. They were praying to God.
1:11  The incense was burning on a special altar, when one of God's angels appeared to Zechariah. The angel was standing at the right hand side of the altar.
1:12  When Zechariah saw the angel, he was very surprised and very afraid.
1:13  The angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid. God has heard what you prayed. He will give you what you asked for. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a baby boy. You will give him the name “John”.
1:14  He will be very important to the Lord God. So he will make you very happy. Many other people will also be very happy because he has been born. He must never drink anything with alcohol in it. From the time that he is born, the Holy Spirit will live inside him.
1:15  He will be very important to the Lord God. So he will make you very happy. Many other people will also be very happy because he has been born. He must never drink anything with alcohol in it. From the time that he is born, the Holy Spirit will live inside him.
1:16  He will teach many people in Israel. Then they will turn their lives back to the Lord their God and they will obey God again.
1:17  John will prepare the people for the Lord to come to them. The Holy Spirit will lead John as he led Elijah. John will do powerful things as Elijah did. He will help fathers to love their children. He will teach people who do not obey God. Then they will know what things are right. And they will do them. Then they will be ready when the Lord comes.’
1:18  Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure about this? You know that I am an old man. My wife is also old.’
1:19  The angel answered, ‘I am called Gabriel. My place is to stand in front of God. I am always ready to work for God. He has sent me to speak to you. He told me that I should tell you this good news.
1:20  Now listen to me. Because you did not believe my message, you will not be able to speak. You will not speak again until the time that your son is born. My message will really become true at the right time.’
1:21  While this was happening, the people outside were waiting for Zechariah. They were thinking, ‘Why has Zechariah stayed for such a long time in the special room? Why has he not come out yet?’
1:22  When he did come out, he tried to talk to them. But he could not speak. So they knew that God had showed him something special in the room. He was moving his head and his hands about, to tell them what had happened. But still he could not speak.
1:23  When Zechariah had finished his work in the temple, he returned home.
1:24  Soon, a baby was growing inside his wife Elizabeth. She stayed in her house for five months.
1:25  ‘The Lord has now given me a baby,’ she said. ‘He has been kind to me. Because of this, other people cannot say bad things about me now.’
1:26  When Elizabeth's baby had grown inside her for nearly six months, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. Nazareth is a town in Galilee.
1:27  Gabriel went there to visit a young woman. Her name was Mary. She had never had sex with anyone. She had promised to marry a man called Joseph. He belonged to the family of King David.
1:28  Gabriel went to Mary and said, ‘Hello, Mary. The Lord God loves you very much. He is very near to you.’
1:29  Mary had a lot of problems in her mind about Gabriel's message. She did not understand what he meant.
1:30  Then Gabriel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary. God has been kind to you.
1:31  Listen! A baby boy will grow inside you. When he is born, you will call him Jesus.
1:32  He will be great. People will call him the Son of the powerful God who is over all. The Lord God will make him king. He will rule as his ancestor King David ruled.
1:33  He will rule over the family of Jacob for all time. He will be king for all time, without end.’
1:34  Mary asked, ‘How can this happen? I have never had sex with anyone.’
1:35  Gabriel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of God who is over all will cover you like a shadow. So your child will be special to God. He will be completely good. He will be called God's Son.
1:36  Another thing! Your cousin, Elizabeth, is very old. People said that she could not have a baby. Listen! She also will have a son. The baby has grown inside her now for nearly six months.
1:37  There is nothing that God cannot do.’
1:38  Mary answered, ‘I am the servant of the Lord. I have heard what you have said. I want it to happen to me just like that.’ Then the angel left her.
1:39  After that, Mary prepared herself to travel. She hurried to a town in the hills of Judea.
1:40  When she arrived at the home of Zechariah, she said ‘hello’ to Elizabeth.
1:41  When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, she felt her baby move quickly inside her. The Holy Spirit filled her.
1:42  She spoke to Mary in a loud voice, ‘God has made you very happy. He has been good and kind to you more than to other women. He has also been good and kind to your baby.
1:43  You are the mother of my Lord and I am not an important person. So it is very good that you have visited me.
1:44  Listen! When I heard you say, “Hello” to me, my baby moved quickly inside me. He was very happy.
1:45  The Lord has told you what will happen. And you believed what he told you. Because of that, God has made you a happy person.’
1:46  Then Mary said, ‘All of me wants to praise God and say, “Lord, how good and great you are!”
1:47  I thank God because he is the one who saves me.
1:48  I know that I am not an important person. God knows this, and he has been kind to me. Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.
1:49  Yes, God has done great things for me. He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.
1:50  He is kind to people who respect and obey him. He will always be kind to people like that.
1:51  He has shown how strong he is to do great things. Some people think that they are very important. But he has sent them away in different directions.
1:52  Some people were ruling countries. But he has taken their power away from them. He has given power to people who do not feel important.
1:53  He has fed hungry people with good things to eat. But he has sent rich people away with nothing.
1:54  He promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel. Now he has come and helped them.
1:55  He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors. Now he has done what he promised.’
1:56  Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. Then she returned to her home.
1:57  The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She had a son.
1:58  Her family and the people who lived near her heard about her baby. They knew that the Lord had been very kind to her. They saw that she was happy. So they were happy too.
1:59  When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him. They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.
1:60  Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’
1:61  They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’
1:62  So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be.
1:63  Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote.
1:64  Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to thank God aloud.
1:65  The people who lived near Zechariah and Elizabeth were very surprised. They saw how great God was. Many people who lived in the hills of Judea also talked about all these things.
1:66  Everyone who heard about these things thought about them. They asked each other, ‘When this child becomes a man, what will he be?’ They could see that God really was with him.
1:67  The Holy Spirit filled John's father, Zechariah, so that he spoke God's message:
1:68  ‘The Lord God of Israel is a great God. He has come to save his people. He has come to make them free.
1:69  He has sent a very strong person who will save us. This person comes from the family of his servant, King David.
1:70  Long ago, God promised that he would do this. He gave his own prophets this message to speak.
1:71  God will save us from our enemies. He will save us from everyone that hates us.
1:72  He has promised to be kind to our ancestors. He will do the things that he promised in his holy covenant.
1:73  Yes, he will remember the strong promises that he spoke to Abraham.
1:74  God said, “I will keep you safe from your enemies. Then you can serve me and not be afraid.
1:75  You can live in a way that is good and right. You can do this all your lives.” ’
1:76  Zechariah then spoke to John: ‘You, my child, will be called a prophet of the powerful God who is over all. You will go in front of the Lord to prepare a way for him.
1:77  You will tell God's people how God can save them. They have done wrong things but God will forgive them.
1:78  Our God will forgive us because he is very kind. He will send someone from the highest place. When this person comes, it will be like the sunrise for us.
1:79  He will bring light to people who are living without God. It is like those people are living in the dark. They are afraid to die. But he will shine on them. He will show us how to live so that we will not be afraid.’
1:80  Zechariah's child grew. God made him strong in his mind. He went into the wilderness and he lived there for many years. Later, God sent him to Israel's people, to teach them.