5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest by the name of Zechariah from the priestly group of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was from the family of Aaron.
6 Both of them were good people and pleased the Lord God by obeying all that he had commanded.
7 But they did not have children. Elizabeth could not have any, and both Zechariah and Elizabeth were already old.
8 One day Zechariah's group of priests were on duty, and he was serving God as a priest.
9 According to the custom of the priests, he had been chosen to go into the Lord's temple that day and to burn incense,
10 while the people stood outside praying.
11 All at once an angel from the Lord appeared to Zechariah at the right side of the altar.