Luke 1:35-80 In answer the angel said to her: “Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will hover over you; precisely for this reason the holy One who is to be born will be called ‘Son of God’!

WPNT⁽ⁱ⁾ ³⁵ In answer the angel said to her: “Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will hover over you; precisely for this reason the holy One who is to be born will be called ‘Son of God’! ³⁶ Furthermore, your relative Elizabeth, she has actually conceived a son in her old age and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren; ³⁷ because any word spoken by God will be possible.” ³⁸ So Mary said: “Yes, I am the Lord’s slave! Let it happen to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. ³⁹ Then Mary quickly got ready and went into the hill country in those days, to a town of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ Well it happened that as Elizabeth heard Mary’s salutation the babe bounced up and down in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit. ⁴² And she cried out with a great 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 Yes indeed, because as the sound of your salutation came into my ears the babe bounced up and down in my womb for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, because there will be a fulfillment of the things that have been spoken to her from the Lord.” ⁴⁶ So Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷ and my spirit has exulted over God my Savior, ⁴⁸ in that He paid attention to the humble station of His slave (f). Yes indeed, because from now on all generations will declare me to be highly favored, ⁴⁹ in that the Mighty One did sublime things for me, and Holy is His name. ⁵⁰ His mercy is for generations of generations to those fearing Him. ⁵¹ He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has dispersed the arrogant in the reasoning of their hearts. ⁵² He has dethroned rulers and exalted the lowly. ⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴ He has taken the part of His servant Israel, in remembrance of mercy, ⁵⁵ just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed while there is an age.” ⁵⁶ So Mary stayed with her about three months, and returned to her house. ⁵⁷ Now the time for Elizabeth to give birth was completed and she bore a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had used His great mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹ So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child, and they started calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias. ⁶⁰ His mother reacted and said, “Absolutely not; he shall be called John!” ⁶¹ So they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name”. ⁶² So they started motioning to his father, as to what he would have him called. ⁶³ Asking for a writing tablet he wrote this: “His name is John!” They all marveled. ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed and he started to speak, blessing God. ⁶⁵ (Well a fear came on all who lived around them; and all these sayings kept being talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ All who heard kept them in their hearts saying, “What then will this child be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.) ⁶⁷ Now his father Zacharias was filled with Holy Spirit and prophesied saying: ⁶⁸ “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, because He has visited and provided redemption for His people; ⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of His servant David ⁷⁰ — just as He spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from antiquity— ⁷¹ deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us; ⁷² to use mercy with our fathers, even to remember His Holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath that He swore to our father Abraham; ⁷⁴ to grant to us (having been rescued from the hand of our enemies) to serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. ⁷⁶ “And you, child, will be called Prophet of the Most High, because you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, ⁷⁷ to give a knowledge of salvation to His people by the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ through the merciful compassions of our God, with which the divine Dawn has contemplated us, ⁷⁹ to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” ⁸⁰ So the child kept growing and being strengthened in spirit, and he stayed in uninhabited areas until the day of his manifestation to Israel.