20. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.’
21. Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
22. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realised he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23. When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
24. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.
25. ‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said. ‘In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.’
26. In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27. to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.