Elizabeth

Life and work

Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron, married to the priest Zechariah, and Luke describes both of them as righteous and blameless before God — yet she was barren and, by the time the story opens, well along in years (Luke 1:5-7). In a culture where childlessness carried social stigma and was often read as divine disfavor, this had likely shadowed her entire adult life.

While Zechariah was serving in the Jerusalem temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that Elizabeth would bear a son who would prepare the way for the Lord. Zechariah doubted and was struck mute until the birth (Luke 1:8-23). Elizabeth conceived and, Luke notes, secluded herself for five months, saying God had taken away her disgrace (Luke 1:24-25).

In her sixth month, her relative Mary — newly pregnant with Jesus after the annunciation — came to visit. When Mary greeted her, Elizabeth's baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out a blessing over Mary and the child she carried: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (Luke 1:41-45). These words, combined with Gabriel's earlier greeting to Mary, later formed the core of the "Hail Mary" prayer in Western Christian tradition. Mary stayed with her about three months (Luke 1:56).

At John's birth, neighbors and relatives assumed he would be named after his father, but Elizabeth insisted, "No! He is to be called John" — confirmed when the mute Zechariah wrote the same on a tablet, at which his speech returned (Luke 1:57-64). Elizabeth does not appear again in the text after this point.

Extra-biblical evidence

Elizabeth appears in no surviving Jewish or Roman source outside Luke's Gospel; as the wife of a rural priest with no public role of her own, there would have been no occasion for her to appear in contemporary records.

Scripture references

• Luke 1:5-25 — Gabriel announces John's birth to Zechariah
• Luke 1:39-45 — Elizabeth's greeting to Mary
• Luke 1:57-66 — Birth and naming of John