1 Dear Theophilus:Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us.
2 They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message.
3 And so, your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you.
4 I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught.
5 During the time when Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife's name was Elizabeth; she also belonged to a priestly family.
6 They both lived good lives in God's sight and obeyed fully all the Lord's laws and commands.
7 They had no children because Elizabeth could not have any, and she and Zechariah were both very old.