Moffatt(i)
35 The angel answered her, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence what is born will be called holy, Son of God.
36 Look, there is your kinswoman Elizabeth! Even she has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month;
37 for with God nothing is ever impossible."
38 Mary said, "I am here to serve the Lord. Let it be as you have said." Then the angel went away.
39 In those days Mary started with haste for the hill-country, for a town of Judah;
40 she entered the house of Zechariah and saluted Elizabeth,
41 and when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leapt in her womb. Then Elizabeth was filled with the holy Spirit;
42 she called out with a loud cry, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
43 What have I done to have the mother of my Lord come to me?
44 Why, as soon as the sound of your salutation reached my ears, the babe leapt for joy within my womb.
45 And blessed is she who believed that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled."
46 Then Mary said "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 My spirit has joy in God my Saviour:
48 for he has considered the humiliation of his servant. From this time forth all generations will call me blessed,
49 for He who is Mighty has done great things for me. His name is holy,
50 his mercy is on generation after generation, for those who reverence him.
51 He has done a deed of might with his arm, he has scattered the proud with their purposes,
52 princes he has dethroned and the poor he has uplifted,
53 he has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has succoured his servant Israel, mindful of his mercy
55 as he promised our fathers, to have mercy on Abraham and his offspring for ever."
56 Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned home.
57 Now the time for Elizabeth's delivery had elapsed, and she gave birth to a son.
58 When her neighbours and kinsfolk heard of the Lord's great mercy to her they rejoiced with her,
59 and on the eighth day came to circumcise the child. They were going to call it by the name of its father Zechariah,
60 but the mother told them, "No, the child is to be called John."
61 They said to her, "None of your family is called by that name."
62 Then they made signs to the father, to find out what he wanted the child to be called,
63 and he asked for a writing-tablet and wrote down, "His name is John," to the astonishment of all.
64 Instantly his mouth was opened, his tongue loosed, and he spoke out blessing God.
65 Then fear fell on all their neighbours, and all these events were talked of through the whole of the hill-country of Judaea.
66 All who heard of it bore it in mind; they said, "Whatever will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was indeed with him.
67 And Zechariah his father was filled with the holy Spirit; he prophesied in these words,
68 "Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, for he has cared for his people and wrought them redemption;
69 he has raised up a strong saviour for us in the house of his servant David
70 as he promised of old by the lips of his prophets
71 to save us from our foes and from the hand of all who hate us,
72 to deal mercifully with our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant,
73 of the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
74 that freed from fear and from the hand of our foes we should worship him
75 in holiness and uprightness all our days within his presence.
76 And you, my child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go in front of the Lord to make his ways ready,
77 to bring his people the knowledge of salvation through the remission of their sins
78 by the tender mercy of our God, who will make the Dawn visit us from on high,
79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our steps into the way of peace."
80 And the child grew, he became strong in the Spirit and remained in the desert till the day when he made his appearance before Israel.