Messianic Messages - Advent

13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.

13:2 Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’

13:3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.

13:4 “Yet I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.

13:5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

13:6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

13:7 Therefore I am like a lion to them. Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path.

13:8 I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them.

13:9 You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.

13:10 Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes?’

13:11 I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

13:12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up.

13:13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.

13:14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

13:15 Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.

13:16 Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”

14:1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.

14:2 Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.

14:3 Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”

14:4 “I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.

14:6 His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

14:7 Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.

14:8 Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green cypress tree; from me your fruit is found.”

14:9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.

1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2 by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

21 For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27 For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28 When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29 Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32 If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33 Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34 Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36 You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37 That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38 But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53 For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers,…

32 It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.

2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

1 Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

2 In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

3 in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful.

4 Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

5 The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

6 The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went out toward the south country.”

7 The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth.

8 Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

9 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

10 “Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.

11 Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;

12 and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;

13 even he shall build Yahweh’s temple; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

14 The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in Yahweh’s temple.

15 Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s temple; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God’s voice.”’”

1 A revelation. Yahweh’s word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh;

2 and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

3 Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets.

4 Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.

5 Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

6 Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

8 I will encamp around my house against the army, that no one pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.

9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11 As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

12 Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

13 For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

14 Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go flash like lightning; and the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

15 Yahweh of Armies will defend them; and they will destroy and overcome with sling stones; and they will drink, and roar as through wine; and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.

16 Yahweh their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.

17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

1 A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.

3 It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.

4 In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

5 The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.’

6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.

8 In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like Yahweh’s angel before them.

9 It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

11 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

14 all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.

2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;

3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

6 “For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.

9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.

11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies.

12 “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies.

13 “Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’

14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?

15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.

17 They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.

4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’

7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.

11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

13 Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.

15 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!

16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.

18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.

20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”

1 Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

2 even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

3 it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;

4 that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.

8 Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

14 You will have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God.

17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.

20 Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple.

22 When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.

23 When the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house.

24 After these days Elizabeth, his wife, conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying,

25 “Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”

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

27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’

32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,

33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”

34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

36 Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37 For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”

38 Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” The angel departed from her.

39 Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

40 and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43 Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy!

45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”

46 Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.

47 My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

49 For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

50 His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.

51 He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”

56 Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

57 Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”

62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” They all marveled.

64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.

67 His father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;

69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

70 (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

71 salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;

72 to show mercy towards our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,

73 the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father,

74 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us,

79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

3 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.