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/1:57/ Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. /1:58/ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. /1:59/ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. /1:60/ But his mother said, "No; he is to be called John." /1:61/ They said to her, "None of your relatives has this name." /1:62/ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. /1:63/ He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And all of them were amazed. /1:64/ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. /1:65/ Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. /1:66/ All who heard them pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. /1:67/ Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: /1:68/ "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. /1:69/ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, /1:70/ as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, /1:71/ that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. /1:72/ Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, /1:73/ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us /1:74/ that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, /1:75/ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. /1:76/ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, /1:77/ to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. /1:78/ By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, /1:79/ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." /1:80/ The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.