1. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
2. Even as they delivered them to us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses, and ministers of the word;
3. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
4. That thou mayest know the certainty of those things in which thou hast been instructed.
5. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.