that thou mayest know the certainty of the things wherein thou wast instructed.

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.

They both did what was right in God's sight [by] living blamelessly according to all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

And {they did not have} a child, because Elizabeth was barren. And they were both advanced {in years}.

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

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

and the whole multitude of the people were without, in their prayers, while the incense was a burning.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to him as he was standing on the right of the altar of incense.

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

But the agent said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy plea was heard, and thy wife Elizabeth will bear a son for thee. And thou shall call his name John.

And the angel answered [and] said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.

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

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.

And it fortuned, as soon as the time of his office was out, he departed home into his own house. And after those days,

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

it is the Lord, said she, who has thus favour'd me, at the time when he took care to remove the reproach I was under among men.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee, named Nazareth,

To a virgin who was to be married to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary.

But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words?

Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.

About that time Mary made a hurried trip to a Judean town in the hill country. [Note: This was be the same province in which Jerusalem was located].

And when the voice of Mary came to the ears of Elisabeth, the baby made a sudden move inside her; then Elisabeth was full of the Holy Spirit,

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke with a loud voice, and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

For, behold, when the voice of thy greeting was in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

And blessed [is] she who believed that [there] will be a fulfillment to what was spoken to her from the Lord!"

And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour,

And Mary was with her for about three months and then went back to her house.

Now it was time for Elisabeth to give birth, and she had a son.

and the neighbours and her kindred heard that the Lord was making His kindness great with her, and they were rejoicing with her.

And it happened on the eighth day [i.e., since the baby was born] that they came to circumcise the child [i.e., to perform the Jewish rite of identity, signifying the responsibility to observe the law of Moses]. And they [i.e., probably the neighbors and/or relatives of Elizabeth and Zacharias] suggested that they name him Zacharias, after his father.

And they made signs to his father, to say what name was to be given to him.

Asking for a writing-tablet, he wrote the words--'His name is John.' Every one was surprised;

And straight away his mouth was open and his tongue was free and he gave praise to God.

And fear came on all those who were living round about them: and there was much talk about all these things in all the hill-country of Judaea.

And all who had word of them kept them in their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

And his father, Zacharias, was full of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice of a prophet said these words:

[This Agreement was] the oath by which He swore to Abraham, our forefather,

And the child became tall, and strong in spirit; and he was living in the waste land till the day when he came before the eyes of Israel.

Now it came about in those days that an order went out from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a numbering of all the world.

This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

So everyone was going to his own town to register.

And Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judaea, to Beth-lehem, the town of David, because he was of the house and family of David,

To be put on the list with Mary, his future wife, who was about to become a mother.

And it fortuned while they were there, her time was come that she should be delivered.

And she had her first son; and folding him in linen, she put him to rest in the place where the cattle had their food, because there was no room for them in the house.

And an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining round about them: and fear came on them.

that today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.

And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying,

And it was when the messenger departed from them into heaven, and the men, the shepherds, said to one another, Let us pass through now to Bethlehem, and see this word done,which the Lord made known to us.

And they went hurrying and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

And when they had seen it, they published abroad the saying, which was told them of that child.

And all who heard it were astounded at what was told them by the shepherds,

and Mary was preserving all these things, pondering in her heart;

And the shepherds returned, praising and lauding God for all that they had heard and seen, even as it was told unto them.

And when, after eight days, the time came for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given to him before his birth.

And when the time of their purification, after the law of Moses, was come they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord:

as it was written in the law of the Lord; That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;

and to offer a sacrifice according to what was stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

And there was then in Jerusalem a man whose name was Simeon; and he was an upright man, fearing God and waiting for the comfort of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was on him.

And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ.

And full of the Spirit he came into the Temple; and when the father and mother came in with the child Jesus, to do with him what was ordered by the law,

A Light for revelation to the Gentiles [to disclose what was previously unknown],
And [to bring] the praise and honor and glory of Your people Israel.”

And his father and mother were astonished at what was said about him.

And there was one, Anna, a woman prophet, the daughter of Phanuel, of the family of Asher (she was very old, and after seven years of married life

She had been a widow for eighty-four years); she was in the Temple at all times, worshipping with prayers and going without food, night and day.

and she, at that hour, having come in, was confessing, likewise, to the Lord, and was speaking concerning him, to all those looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

Now when they had completed everything that was in accordance with the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child became tall and strong and full of wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Now Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem every year to attend the Passover Festival. [Note: This was the annual Jewish festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership].

And when he was twelve years old, they went up, as their way was, to the feast;

And when the days of the feast came to an end and they were going back, the boy Jesus was still in Jerusalem, but they had no knowledge of it:

And in the belief that he was with some of their number, they went a day's journey; and after looking for him among their relations and friends,

And seeing that he was not there, they went back to Jerusalem, to make search for him.

It was not till the third day that they found him in the Temple Courts, sitting among the Teachers, now listening to them, now asking them questions.

Now everyone who was listening to Him was showing astonishment at His intelligence and at His answers.

when Joseph and his mother saw him, great was their surprize: and his mother said to him, son, why did you leave us thus? your father and I have been looking for you with great concern.

And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? was it not clear to you that my right place was in my Father's house?

But they did not understand what He had said to them.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and did as he was ordered: and his mother kept all these words in her heart.

And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, [when] Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

[During this time], while Annas and Caiaphas [Note: This man was Annas' son-in-law. See John 18:13] were head priests, God's message came to John [the Immerser], son of Zacharias, [when he was] in the desert [of Judea].

This was according to what is written in the book containing the words of Isaiah, the prophet [Isa. 40:3ff], "The voice of a man who speaks out in the desert [urging people] to make the road for the Lord ready [for Him to travel]; to make a straight pathway for Him [to walk on].

Therefore he was saying to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

The soldiers also once and again inquired of him, "And we, what are we to do?" His answer was, "Neither intimidate any one nor lay false charges; and be content with your pay."

And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not,

And, therefore, indeed with many other things, exhorting, he was proclaiming good news to the people,

Then Herod the Tetrarch; when he was rebuked of him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done;

Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open,

and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily form, like a dove, upon him, and a voice came from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I delight.

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

which was the son of Matthat: which was the son of Levi: which was the son of Melchi: which was the son of Jannai: which was the son of Joseph:

which was the son of Mattathias: which was the son of Amos: which was the son of Nahum: which was the son of Esli: which was the son of Naggai:

which was the son of Maath: which was the son of Mattathias: which was the son of Semein: which was the son of Joseph: which was the son of Judah:

which was the son of Joanan: which was the son of Rhesa: which was the son of Zerubbabel: which was the son of Shealtiel: which was the son of Neri:

which was the son of Melchi: which was the son of Addi: which was the son of Cosam:

which was the son of Elmadam: which was the son of Er: which was the son of Joshua: which was the son of Eliezer: which was the son of Joram: which was the son of Matthat: which was the son of Levi:

which was the son of Simeon: which was the son of Judah: which was the son of Joseph: which was the son of Jonam: which was the son of Eliakim:

which was the son of Melea: which was the son of Menna: which was the son of Mattatha: which was the son of Nathan: which was the son of David:

which was the son of Jesse: which was the son of Obed: which was the son of Boaz: which was the son of Salmon: which was the son of