Luke 1
1
Chapter 1
Luke explains about his report
1Many people have written about the things that have happened in our country. 2Some people were present when these things started to happen. They saw everything that happened and they told us about it. They are the people who wrote down the good news for us. 3I have checked the facts about what really happened. So now, I know about all the things that happened from the beginning. I am writing to make the facts clear to you, my great friend Theophilus. 4People have already taught you about these things. Now you can be sure that they are true.
An angel speaks about the birth of John the Baptist
5There was a man whose name was Zechariah. He lived when Herod was king of Judea. #1:5 This king of Judea was called Herod the Great. Zechariah was a priest and he belonged to a group of priests from the family of Abijah. He had a wife called Elizabeth. She also was a descendant of Aaron. #1:5 A priest was a special servant of God who worked at the temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel. The temple of God was in Jerusalem. There were 24 groups of priests. One group at a time worked in the temple. Zechariah was in the group of Abijah.
6Zechariah and Elizabeth obeyed all God's commands and rules. God saw that they did what was right. They did not do wrong things. 7But they had no children. Elizabeth could not give birth and they were both getting old.
8One day, Zechariah's group of priests was working at the temple. He had a special job to do there. 9The priests used lots to choose one of their group to go into the holy place in the temple. This time they chose Zechariah. His job was to burn incense there. 10While Zechariah was burning the incense, many people were outside in the yard. They were praying to God.
11Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah. The angel was standing at the right side of the incense altar.
12When Zechariah saw the angel, he was very surprised and very afraid. 13The angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid. God has heard what you prayed. He will give you what you asked for. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a baby boy. You will give him the name “John”. 14John will make you very happy. Many other people will also be very happy when he is born. 15John will be a very important person who serves the Lord God. He must never drink anything with alcohol in it. From the time when he is born, the Holy Spirit will live in him.
16John will teach people in Israel to turn back to the Lord their God and obey him.#1:16 Israel was the land that God gave to his people, the Israelites, to live in. Jacob was the ancestor of the Israelites and God gave him a new name, Israel. See Genesis 32:27-28; 35:9-10. 17He will prepare the people for the Lord to come to them. The Holy Spirit will lead John as he led Elijah. #1:17 Elijah was a prophet who spoke God's messages. See 1 Kings 17. John will do powerful things as Elijah did. He will help fathers to love their children. He will teach people who do not obey God. Then they will know what things are right. And they will do them. They will be ready when the Lord comes.’
18Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure about this? You know that I am an old man. My wife is also old.’
19The angel answered, ‘I am called Gabriel. My place is to stand in front of God. I am always ready to work for God. He has sent me to speak to you. He told me that I should tell you this good news. 20Now listen to me. Because you did not believe my message, you will not be able to speak. You will not speak again until the time when your son is born. My message will become true at the right time.’
21While this was happening, the people outside were waiting for Zechariah. They were thinking, ‘Why has Zechariah stayed for such a long time in the holy place? Why has he not come out yet?’ 22When Zechariah did come out, he tried to talk to them. But he could not speak. So they knew that God had showed him something special in the holy place. Zechariah was moving his head and his hands about, to tell them what had happened. But still he could not speak.
23When Zechariah had finished his work in the temple, he returned home. 24Soon, a baby was growing inside his wife Elizabeth. She stayed in her house for five months. 25She said, ‘The Lord God has now given me a baby. He has been kind to me. Because of this, other people cannot cause me to be ashamed.’
An angel speaks about the birth of Jesus
26When Elizabeth's baby had grown inside her for nearly six months, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. Nazareth was a town in Galilee. 27Gabriel went there to visit a young woman. Her name was Mary. She had never had sex with anyone. She had promised to marry a man called Joseph. He belonged to the family of King David. #1:27 David was a great king of Israel. See 1 Samuel 16.
28Gabriel went to Mary and said, ‘Hello Mary. The Lord God loves you very much. He is very near to you.’
29Mary had a lot of trouble in her mind about Gabriel's message. She did not understand what he meant. 30Then Gabriel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary. God has been kind to you. 31Listen! A baby boy will grow inside you. When he is born, you will call him Jesus. 32He will be great. People will call him the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him rule as king, as his ancestor King David ruled. 33He will rule over the descendants of Jacob for all time. His kingdom will continue for ever.’
34Mary asked, ‘How can this happen? I have never had sex with anyone.’
35Gabriel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you like a shadow. So your child will be special to God. He will be called God's Son. 36And listen! Your cousin, Elizabeth, is very old. People said that she could not have a baby. But she also will have a son. The baby has grown inside her now for nearly six months. 37There is nothing that God cannot do.’
38Mary answered, ‘I am the servant of the Lord. I have heard what you have said. I want it to happen to me just like that.’ Then the angel left her.
Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth
39After that, Mary prepared herself to travel. She hurried to a town in the hills of Judea. 40When she arrived at the home of Zechariah, she said ‘hello’ to Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, she felt her baby move quickly inside her. The Holy Spirit filled her. 42She spoke to Mary in a loud voice, ‘God has made you very happy. He has been good and kind to you more than to other women. He has also been good and kind to your baby. 43You are the mother of my Lord and I am not an important person. So it is very good that you have visited me. 44Listen! When I heard you say, “Hello” to me, my baby moved quickly inside me. He was very happy. 45The Lord God has told you what will happen and you believed what he told you. Because of that, God has made you a happy person.’
Mary sings to praise God
46Then Mary said,
‘All of me wants to praise God and say,
“Lord, you are very good and great!”
47I thank God because he is the one who saves me.
48I know that I am not an important person.
God knows this, and he has been kind to me.
Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.
49Yes, God has done great things for me.
He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.
50God is kind to people who respect and obey him.
He will always be kind to people like that.
51He has shown how strong he is to do great things.
Some people think that they are very important.
But he has chased them away in different directions.
52Some people were ruling as kings.
But he has taken their power away from them.
He has given power to people who do not feel important.
53He has fed hungry people with good things to eat.
But he has sent rich people away with nothing.
54God promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel.
Now he has come to help them.
55He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors. #1:55 Abraham was the first ancestor of the Israelite nation, and of other nations. He was the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob.
Now he has done what he promised.’
56Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. Then Mary returned to her home.
John the Baptist is born
57The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58Her family and the people who lived near her heard about her baby. They knew that the Lord God had been very kind to her. They saw that she was happy. So they were happy too. 59When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him. #1:59 They circumcised all baby boys in Israel on the eighth day. It showed that they belonged to God's special people. See Genesis 17:9-14. They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.
60Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’
61They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’ 62So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be. #1:62 Because Zechariah was deaf, they had to make signs to ask him.
63Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote. 64Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to praise God.
65The people who lived near Zechariah and Elizabeth were all very surprised. They saw how great God was. Many people who lived in the hills of Judea also talked about all these things. 66Everyone who heard about these things thought carefully about them. They asked each other, ‘When this child becomes a man, what will he be?’ They could see that the Lord God really was with him.
Zechariah's sings to praise God
67The Holy Spirit filled John's father, Zechariah, so that he spoke God's message:
68‘Praise the Lord God of Israel!
He has come to save his people.
He has come to make them free.
69He has sent a very strong person to save us,
a descendant of God's servant, King David.
70Long ago, God promised that he would do this.
He gave his own prophets this message to speak.
71God promised to rescue us from our enemies.
He will save us from everyone who hates us.
72He promised to be kind to our ancestors.
He will do the things that he promised in his holy covenant.
73Yes, he will remember the strong promises that he spoke to Abraham.
74God said, “I will keep you safe from your enemies.
Then you can serve me and not be afraid.
75You can live in a way that is good and right.
You can do this all your lives.” ’
76Zechariah then spoke to his son, John:
‘You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God.
You will go in front of the Lord to prepare a way for him.
77You will tell God's people how God will save them.
God will forgive them for the wrong things that they have done.
78Our God will do this because he is very kind.
He will send someone to us from heaven,
to be like the sunrise for us.
79He will bring light to people who do not know God.
They are like people who are living in the dark.
They are afraid to die.
But the light will shine on them.
God will show us how to live so that we have peace.’
80Zechariah's child grew. God made him strong in his mind. He went into the wilderness and he lived there for many years. Later, God sent him to Israel's people, to teach them.
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Luke 1: EASY
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