But the Angel said to him. "Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

But they did not understand this saying; it was hidden from them so that they perceived it not, and they were sore afraid to ask him about his saying.

"But I say to you who are my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

"'For I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take what you did not sow.'

At this the Scribes and the high priests were seeking to arrest him; only they were afraid of the people. For they perceived that he had referred to them in this parable.