Luke 1
1 Seeing that many took in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us,
I’m writing this for you, my good friend Thiofilus. A lot of great things happened here, and the people that saw those things happen told everyone what they saw, and a lot of people wrote down those stories that they heard. After that, I read those stories, and I talked to the people that saw those things, and I checked up on everything they said, right from the start. So now I am carefully sorting out those stories, and I am writing them in this book for you.
2 as they delivered to us, who from the beginning became eyewitnesses, and officers of the word,
3 it seemed good also to me, having followed from the first after all things exactly, to write to you in order, most noble Theophilus,
4 that you may know the certainty of the things wherein you were instructed.
You already heard some of this, but I want you to know the right story, and I want you to be sure about it.
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the division of Abijah, and his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth;
When Herod was the big boss over Judea country, there was a man there that was called Zekariah. He was one of the men that looked after the Jewish ceremonies. There were different groups that did the Jewish ceremonies for the people at different times. He was in the group called the Abijah mob. His wife belonged to a family of Jewish ceremony people too. Her name was Elizabeth.
6 and they were both righteous before God, going on in all the commands and righteousnesses of the LORD blameless,
Those 2 people, Zekariah and Elizabeth, they were very good people. They did everything in God’s law, and God liked the way they lived.
7 and they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in their days.
They got very old, but they didn’t have any kids. You see, Elizabeth just couldn’t have a baby.
8 And it came to pass, in his acting as priest, in the order of his division before God,
The time came for Zekariah’s mob to do the ceremonies in God’s ceremony house, in Jerusalem city.
9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot was to make incense, having gone into the temple of the LORD,
One day, it was Zekariah’s turn to go into the special room in that house and burn some special perfume to make a good smell.
10 and all the multitude of the people were praying outside, at the hour of the incense.
While he was doing that, a big mob of people were outside, and they were praying.
11 And there appeared to him a messenger of the LORD standing on the right side of the altar of the incense,
Then God sent one of his angel messengers to that room, and he stood on the right-hand side of the metal table where that special perfume was burning.
12 and Zacharias, having seen, was troubled, and fear fell on him;
Zekariah saw the angel there and got a big shock. He was really frightened.
13 and the messenger said to him, “Do not fear, Zacharias, for your supplication was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you will call his name John,
But the angel told him, “Don’t be frightened, Zekariah. God has heard what you have been asking him, and he will give you what you want. Your wife, Elizabeth, will have a baby boy, and you will name him John.
14 and there will be joy to you, and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
You will be really happy, and a lot of other people will be happy with you.
15 for he will be great before the LORD, and wine and strong drink he may not drink, and he will be full of the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb;
God will say that this kid is important, so you have to make sure he never drinks any sort of wine or grog at all. You see, the Holy Spirit will come into this kid before he gets born, while he is still inside his mother.
16 and he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the LORD their God,
And then, after he grows up, he will get lots of you Israel people to turn away from bad things and turn back to God.
17 and he will go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the LORD, a people prepared.”
Remember Elijah, God’s man that lived a long time ago. He had God’s spirit in him, and he did powerful things. Well, in the same way, your son John will have God’s spirit in him, and he will do powerful things. He will get people ready for God. John will get people to turn around and live the right way. He will get the men that are fathers to love their kids properly. And he will get people to listen properly to the sensible words of good people. Even those people that don’t listen to God now, he will get them to listen to good people.”
18 And Zacharias said to the messenger, “Whereby will I know this? For I am aged, and my wife is advanced in her days?”
Zekariah said to the angel, “But that’s hard for me to believe. I am an old man, and my wife is old too. We are too old now to have a baby. How can I be sure that your message is true?”
19 And the messenger answering said to him, “I am Gabriel, who has been standing near before God, and I was sent to speak to you, and to proclaim this good news to you,
The angel said, “Look, I am Gabriel. I am always close to God, and I do special jobs for him. And he sent me to tell you this good message.
20 and behold, you will be silent, and not able to speak, until the day that these things will come to pass, because you did not believe my words that will be fulfilled in their season.”
And everything I said will happen at the right time. But you didn’t believe me, so now God will shut you up. You will not be able to talk until this kid gets born.”
21 And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and wondering at his lingering in the temple,
While they were talking in that room, the people outside were waiting for Zekariah. They were thinking, “Why is he staying a long time in that room?”
22 and having come out, he was not able to speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he was beckoning to them, and remained mute.
Then Zekariah came out, and he tried to talk to them, but he couldn’t say anything. He had to make signs with his hands, and at last they understood that he saw something powerful in that room.
23 And it came to pass, when the days of his service were fulfilled, he went away to his house,
Then Zekariah finished his days of work in God’s ceremony house, and he went home.
24 and after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Soon after that, his wife, Elizabeth, found out she was going to have a baby. She stayed inside her house for 5 months.
25 “Thus the LORD has done to me, in days in which He looked on [me], to take away my reproach among men.”
She said, “Wow. God is properly good to me. He will let me have a baby, and nobody will rubbish me any more.”
26 And in the sixth month the messenger Gabriel was sent by God, to a city of Galilee, the name of which [is] Nazareth,
That baby kept on growing inside Elizabeth. After about 6 months, God sent Gabriel, that same angel messenger, to Galilee country, to a town called Nazareth.
27 to a virgin, betrothed to a man, whose name [is] Joseph, of the house of David, and the name of the virgin [is] Mary.
He went there to a young girl that was not married. Her name was Mary. Before that time, Mary didn’t ever sleep with any man, like a woman does with her husband. She was promised to a man that was called Joseph. He belonged to the family of David, the man that was the big boss a long time ago.
28 And the messenger having come in to her, said, “Greetings, favored one, the LORD [is] with you; blessed [are] you among women”;
Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Hello, Mary. God loves you and is good to you. He is here with you now, and he will do something good for you.”
29 and she, having seen, was troubled at his word, and was reasoning of what kind this salutation may be.
This worried Mary. She thought, “What’s he talking about?”
30 And the messenger said to her, “Do not fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God;
Gabriel said, “Don’t be frightened, Mary. God is really happy with you.
31 and behold, you will conceive in the womb, and will bring forth a Son, and call His Name Jesus;
Listen. You will soon have a baby boy, and you will call him Jesus.
32 He will be great, and He will be called Son of the Highest, and the LORD God will give Him the throne of His father David,
God will make him the biggest boss over you Israel people, like David, his grand-father that lived a long time ago. He will be very important, and he will be the biggest boss for ever. He will never stop being the biggest boss over the Israel people. And people will call him the son of God.” (aiōn g165)
34 And Mary said to the messenger, “How will this be, seeing I do not know a husband?”
Mary said, “But I’m not married. I’ve never slept with a man, like a wife sleeps with her husband. How will I get a baby?”
35 And the messenger answering said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore also the holy-begotten thing will be called Son of God;
Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and God’s power will come over you and give you a baby. Your baby will be really special, and people will say he is God’s son.
36 and behold, Elizabeth, your relative, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her who was called barren;
And you know your cousin Elizabeth? Everyone reckoned she is too old to have a baby, but now she is carrying a baby inside her. She has been carrying that baby for the last 6 months, and soon she will have a son.
37 because nothing will be impossible with God.”
You see, God can do anything. Nothing is too hard for him.”
38 And Mary said, “Behold, the maidservant of the LORD; let it be to me according to your saying,” and the messenger went away from her.
Mary said, “All right, I will do whatever God wants. I want everything to happen just like you said.” Then Gabriel left her.
39 And Mary having arisen in those days, went into the hill-country, with haste, to a city of Judea,
Soon after that, Mary got ready, and she went south quickly to a town in the hilly part of the country called Judea.
40 and entered into the house of Zacharias, and greeted Elizabeth.
Zekariah and Elizabeth lived in that town. Mary went to their house, and she went in and said to Elizabeth, “Hello cousin.”
41 And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the baby leapt in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary say those words, she felt her baby jump inside her. And the Holy Spirit came into her,
42 and spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed [are] you among women, and blessed [is] the Fruit of your womb;
and she talked really loud. She said to Mary, “God is really good to you, and he is making you happy. He is being more good to you than to any other woman. And he is being really good to your baby too.
43 and from where [is] this to me, that the mother of my Lord might come to me?
I’m not important, but you are the mother of my leader, the man from God. It is really good of you to visit me.
44 For behold, when the voice of your salutation came to my ears, the baby in my womb leapt in gladness;
You see, as soon as I heard you say ‘hello,’ my baby inside me was so happy he jumped.
45 and blessed [is] she who believed, for there will be a completion to the things spoken to her from the LORD.”
Yes, you believed that God will do everything he told you, and so God makes you very happy.”
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the LORD,
Mary said, “God is really good and really great, and I want to tell everybody about him.
47 And my spirit was glad on God my Savior,
My spirit is really happy with God. I know he will save me.
48 Because He looked on the lowliness of His maidservant, For behold, from now on all the generations will call me blessed,
God knew that I was not important, but he picked me, and now everyone will say that God was good to me.
49 For He who is mighty did great things to me, And holy [is] His Name,
Yes, he is the really strong one, and he did great things for me. God is properly good, better than anyone else.
50 And His kindness [is] to generations of generations, To those fearing Him;
He is always good to all the people that respect him. He was good to people that respected him before, and he is good to people that respect him now, and he will be good to people that respect him later on.
51 He did powerfully with His arm, He scattered abroad the proud in the thought of their heart,
He does great things with his power, and he shows everyone that he is really strong. Some people reckon they are smart and strong, but God makes them nothing. They are like soldiers that get frightened of the enemy and run away.
52 He brought down the mighty from thrones, And He exalted the lowly,
He chucks out the big bosses and takes their power away. But he gets people that are not important, and he makes them bosses.
53 He filled the hungry with good, And the rich He sent away empty;
And he gives hungry people good food, and they eat until they are full. But he doesn’t give anything to the rich people. They go away with nothing.
54 He has taken hold of His servant Israel, To remember kindness,
He feels sorry for his own people, us Israel mob, and he helps us,
just like he promised to Abraham, and our other grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. He said that he will look after us for ever.” (aiōn g165)
56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and turned back to her house.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about 3 months, then she went back to her own home.
57 And to Elizabeth was the time fulfilled for her bringing forth, and she bore a son,
Then the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she had a son.
58 and the neighbors and her relatives heard that the LORD was making His kindness great with her, and they were rejoicing with her.
All her family, and the people that lived near her, they all heard that she had a baby, and they knew that God felt sorry for Elizabeth, and that he was very good to her. Elizabeth was happy, and they were all happy too.
59 And it came to pass, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were calling him by the name of his father, Zacharias,
When the baby was 8 days old, all those people went to Zekariah and Elizabeth’s place. The baby boy had to have a young man operation on that day, and they used to give a baby his name at that time. The people wanted to call him Zekariah, the same name that his father had.
60 and his mother answering said, “No, but he will be called John.”
But Elizabeth said, “No. His name is John.”
61 And they said to her, “There is none among your relatives who is called by this name,”
They said, “What? Nobody in your family has that name.”
62 and they were making signs to his father, what he would wish him to be called,
So they made signs with their hands to his father, to ask him what name he wanted to give to the boy.
63 and having asked for a tablet, he wrote, saying, “John is his name”; and they all wondered;
Zekariah got them to give him something to write on, and he wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was shocked.
64 and his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he was speaking, praising God.
Then, straight away, Zekariah started to talk again, and he told everyone that God is very great.
65 And fear came on all those dwelling around them, and in all the hill-country of Judea were all these sayings spoken of,
The people there never saw God do things like that before. They were really surprised. They told other people about everything that happened, and soon a lot of people in the hilly part of Judea country were talking about it.
66 and all who heard laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” And the hand of the LORD was with him.
Everyone that heard the news thought about it, and they said, “After this kid grows up, what will he be?” They knew God was powerfully looking after that boy.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,
At that time, when Zekariah started talking again, the Holy Spirit came into him, and he told everyone a message from God. He said,
68 “Blessed [is] the LORD, the God of Israel, Because He looked on, And worked redemption for His people,
“The God of us Israel mob, he is a great God. He came now to save us, his people.
69 And raised a horn of salvation to us, In the house of His servant David,
He sent us a very strong person, to save us. You know about David, the big boss that worked for God a long time ago. Well, this person is in David’s family.
God promised this to us a long time ago, and he got his men to tell us this message. (aiōn g165)
71 Salvation from our enemies, And out of the hand of all hating us,
God promised to save us from our enemies, and from everyone that hates us.
72 To do kindness with our fathers, And to be mindful of His holy covenant,
He did that because he felt sorry for our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago, and wanted to be good to them, and do everything that he promised.
73 An oath that He swore to Abraham our father,
Yes, God will remember the things he promised to our grand-father Abraham.
74 To give to us, without fear, Having been delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
He promised to save us from our enemies, so we can work for him without being frightened.
75 To serve Him, in holiness and righteousness Before Him, all the days of our life.
We can live God’s way and work for him in the right way, and we can do that all our lives.”
76 And you, child, Prophet of the Highest will you be called; For you will go before the face of the LORD, To prepare His ways.
Then Zekariah talked to his baby boy. He said, “This word is for you, my son. Everyone will know that you tell people messages from God. You will get things ready for God.
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people In forgiveness of their sins,
You will teach his people how God can say they are not guilty of the bad things they did, and then God will save them.
78 Through the yearnings of our God, In which the rising from on high looked on us,
You see, our God feels sorry for us, so he will do that for us. It will be like the sun coming up, bringing light from God.
79 To give light to those sitting in darkness and death-shade, To guide our feet to a way of peace.”
That light will shine for everybody. Some people are like they are in the dark. They think they will die soon. But that light will shine on everybody. It will show us how to live in a happy and quiet way.”
80 And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit, and he was in the deserts until the day of his showing to Israel.
After that, baby John grew up to be a man, and God made his spirit strong. He went and lived out in the bush for years, until he started to tell the Israel people God’s messages.
