John the Baptist is born
57 The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58 Her 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. 59 When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him. They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.
1:59They 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. 60 Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’
61 They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’ 62 So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be.
1:62Because Zechariah could not hear anything, they had to make signs to ask him.
63 Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote. 64 Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to praise God.
65 The 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. 66 Everyone 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.
