Luke 1:17

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.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

In Context

16And then, after he grows up, he will get lots of you Israel people to turn away from bad things and turn back to God.

18Zekariah 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?”

Read all of Luke 1

Cross References

1 Samuel 7:5Then Samuel told them all, “Send messengers to every place. I want all the Israel mob to meet together at that place called Mizpah. Then I will pray to God for everybody there.”

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:6-26

The Appearance of an Angel to Zacharias; The Birth of John Foretold; The Unbelief of Zacharias. 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. 8 And it came to… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Luke 1:17