15. John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer, and even from birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
16. He will help many people of Israel return to the Lord their God.
17. He will go before the Lord in spirit and power like Elijah. He will make peace between parents and their children and will bring those who are not obeying God back to the right way of thinking, to make a people ready for the coming of the Lord.”
18. Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is old, too.”
19. The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand before God, who sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news.
20. Now, listen! You will not be able to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe what I told you. But they will really happen.”
21. Outside, the people were still waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he was staying so long in the Temple.
22. When Zechariah came outside, he could not speak to them, and they knew he had seen a vision in the Temple. He could only make signs to them and remained unable to speak.
23. When his time of service at the Temple was finished, he went home.
24. Later, Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and did not go out of her house for five months. Elizabeth said,
25. “Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed of me, but now the Lord has taken away that shame.”
26. During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27. to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary.
28. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.”
29. But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean.