[1 Forsooth for many men endeavoured to ordain the telling of things, which be filled in us,

² as they that saw at the beginning, and were ministers of the word, betaken,

³ it is seen also to me, having from the beginning all things diligently by order, to write to thee, thou best Theophilus,

⁴ that thou know the truth of those words, of which thou art learned.]^[a]

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a priest [there was some priest], Zacharias by name, of the sort of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

⁶ And [they] both were just before God, going in all the commandments and justifyings of the Lord, without plaint.

⁷ And they had no child, for [that] Elisabeth was barren, and both were of great age in their days [and both had gone far in their days].

⁸ And it befell [Soothly it was done], that when Zacharias should do the office of priesthood, in the order of his course before God,

⁹ after the custom of the priesthood, he went forth by lot [by sort he went forth], and entered into the temple [of the Lord], to incense.

¹⁰ And all the multitude of the people was withoutforth, and prayed in the hour of incensing [praying in the hour of incense].

¹¹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, and stood on the right half of the altar of incense [standing on the right half of the altar of incense].

¹² And Zacharias seeing was afraid [And Zacharias seeing was distroubled], and dread fell upon him.

¹³ And the angel said to him, Zacharias, dread thou not; for thy prayer is heard, and Elisabeth, thy wife, shall bear to thee a son, and his name shall be called John.

¹⁴ And joy and gladding shall be to thee; and many shall have joy in his nativity, or birth.

¹⁵ For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall not drink wine nor cider, and he shall be full-filled with the Holy Ghost [and he shall be filled of the Holy Ghost] yet from his mother's womb.

¹⁶ And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to their Lord God; [And he shall convert many of the sons of Israel to the Lord God of them;]

¹⁷ and he shall go before him in the spirit and virtue of Elias; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers into the sons [and shall turn the hearts of the fathers into the sons], and men out of belief to the prudence of just men, to make ready a perfect people to the Lord.

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, Whereof shall I know this? for I am old, and my wife hath gone far in her days.

¹⁹ And the angel answered, and said to him [And the angel answering said to him], For I am Gabriel, that stand nigh before God; and I am sent to thee to speak, and to evangelize to thee these things [and to evangelize, or tell, to thee these things].

²⁰ And lo! thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not be able to speak till into the day, in which these things shall be done; for thou hast not believed to my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.

²¹ And the people was abiding Zacharias, and they wondered, that he tarried in the temple.

²² And he went out, and might not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he beckoned to them, and dwelled still dumb.

²³ And it was done, when the days of his office were fulfilled, he went into his house.

²⁴ And after these days Elisabeth, his wife, conceived, and hid her(self) five months, and said [saying],

²⁵ For so the Lord did to me in the days, in which he beheld, to take away my reproof among men.

²⁶ But in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, whose name was Nazareth [to which the name Nazareth],

²⁷ to a maiden [to a virgin], wedded to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the maiden was Mary.

²⁸ And the angel entered to her, and said, Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed be thou among women.

²⁹ And when she had heard, she was troubled in his word, and thought what manner salutation this was.

³⁰ And the angel said to her, Dread thou not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

³¹ Lo! thou shalt conceive in [the] womb, and shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

³² This shall be great [He shall be great], and he shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give to him the seat of David, his father,

³³ and he shall reign in the house of Jacob without end [and he shall reign in the house of Jacob into without end], and of his realm shall be none end.

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, On what manner shall this thing be done, for I know not man?

³⁵ And the angel answered, and said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come from above into thee, and the virtue of the Highest shall overshadow thee; and therefore that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.

³⁶ And lo! Elisabeth, thy cousin, and she also hath conceived a son in her old (age), and this month is the sixth to her that is called barren;

³⁷ for every word shall not be impossible with God.

³⁸ And Mary said, Lo! the handmaid of the Lord^[b]; be it done to me after thy word. And the angel departed from her.

³⁹ And Mary rose up in those days, and went with haste into the mountains, into a city of Judaea. [Soothly Mary rising up in those days, went with haste into the hilly places, into a city of Judaea.]

⁴⁰ And she entered into the house of Zacharias, and greeted Elisabeth.

⁴¹ And it was done, as Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the young child in her womb gladded. And Elisabeth was full-filled with the Holy Ghost [And Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost],

⁴² and cried with a great voice, and said, Blessed be thou among women, and blessed be the fruit of thy womb.

⁴³ And whereof is this thing to me, that the mother of my Lord come to me?

⁴⁴ For lo! as the voice of thy salutation was made in mine ears, the young child gladded in joy in my womb [the young child gladded with joy in my womb].

⁴⁵ And blessed be thou, that hast believed, for those things that be said of the Lord to thee [for those things that be said to thee from the Lord], shall be perfectly done.

⁴⁶ And Mary said, My soul magnifieth the Lord,

⁴⁷ and my spirit hath gladded in God, mine health [mine health-giver].

⁴⁸ For he hath beheld the meekness of his handmaiden. For lo! of this all generations shall say that I am blessed.^[c]

⁴⁹ For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and his name is holy.

⁵⁰ And his mercy is from kindred into kindreds [from kindreds into kindreds], to men that dread him.

⁵¹ He made might in his arm, he scattered proud men with the thought of his heart.

⁵² He put down mighty men from their seats, and enhanced meek men.

⁵³ He hath full-filled hungry men with goods [He hath filled hungry men with good things], and he hath left rich men void.

⁵⁴ He, having mind of his mercy, took Israel, his child;

⁵⁵ as he hath spoken to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed, into worlds.

⁵⁶ And Mary dwelled with her, as it were three months [Forsooth Mary dwelled with her as three months], and turned again into her house.

⁵⁷ But the time of bearing child was fulfilled to Elisabeth, and she bare a son.

⁵⁸ And the neighbours and the cousins of her heard, that the Lord had magnified his mercy with her; and they thanked him [and they together joyed to her].

⁵⁹ And it was done in the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, by the name of his father.

⁶⁰ And his mother answered, and said, Nay, but he shall be called John.

⁶¹ And they said to her, For no man is in thy kindred, that is called [by] this name.

⁶² And they beckoned to his father, what he would that he were called. [Soothly they made a sign to his father, whom he would him to be called.]

⁶³ And he asking a stylus [a pointel], wrote, saying, John is his name. And all men wondered.

⁶⁴ And at once his mouth was opened [Forsooth his mouth was opened anon], and his tongue, and he spake, and blessed God.

⁶⁵ And dread was made on all their neighbours, and all these words were published on all the mountains of Judaea [on all the hilly places of Judaea].

⁶⁶ And all men that heard putted in their heart, and said, What manner child shall this be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. [And all men that heard put in their heart, saying, Who guessest thou, this child shall be? And soothly the hand of the Lord was with him.]

⁶⁷ And Zacharias, his father, was full-filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, and said, [And Zacharias, his father, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,]

⁶⁸ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited, and made redemption of his people.

⁶⁹ And he hath raised to us an horn of health in the house of David, his child.

⁷⁰ As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, that were from the world.

⁷¹ Health from our enemies, and from the hand of all men that hated us [and from the hand of all that hated us].

⁷² To do mercy with our fathers, and to have mind of his holy testament.

⁷³ The great oath [The oath] that he swore to Abraham, our father,

⁷⁴ to give himself to us. That we without dread delivered from the hand of our enemies, serve to him [That we delivered from the hand of our enemies, serve to him without dread],

⁷⁵ in holiness and rightwiseness before him in all our days.

⁷⁶ And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways.

⁷⁷ To give science of health to his people, into remission of their sins;

⁷⁸ by the inwardness of the mercy of our God, in the which [in which] he springing up from on high hath visited us.

⁷⁹ To give light to them that sit in darknesses and in the shadow of death; to direct [to dress] our feet into the way of peace.

⁸⁰ And the child waxed, and was comforted in spirit, and was in desert places unto the day [and was in desert till the day] of his showing to Israel.