5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest
named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the
daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6And they were both righteous
before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the
Lord. 7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren,
and both were advanced in years.
8Now while he was serving as priest before God
when his division was on duty, 9according to the custom of the
priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and
burn incense. 10And the whole multitude of the people were
praying outside at the hour of incense. 11And there appeared to him an angel
of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12And Zechariah was troubled when he
saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13But the angel said to him,
"Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and
your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name
John. 14And you will have joy and gladness, and many
will rejoice at his birth, 15for he will be great before
the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he
will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16And he will turn many of the
children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17and he will go before
him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
18And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know
this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."19And the angel answered him,
"I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to
speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20And behold, you will be
silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because
you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their
time." 21And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were
wondering at his delay in the temple. 22And when he came out, he was
unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision
in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained
mute. 23And when his time of service was ended, he went to
his home.
Malachi 4
5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6And he will turn the hearts
of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers."
Turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just:
Luke 3
3And he went into all the region around the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. . . . 7He said therefore to the crowds that came out
to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear
fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to
yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able
from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9Even now the axe is laid to the root of the
trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire."
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