⁵ Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah^(A) before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^{(B) 6} And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.^(C) Otherwise, I will come and strike the land^[a] with a curse.”

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid,^(A) Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.^(B) Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.^{(C) 14} There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer.^(D) He will be filled with the Holy Spirit^(E) while still in his mother’s womb.^{(F) 16} He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.^{(G) 17} And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children,^(H) and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”^(I)

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them,^(A) “Don’t tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised^[a] from the dead.”

¹⁰ So the disciples asked him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ^(B)

¹¹ “Elijah is coming^[b] and will restore everything,” he replied.^{[c](C) 12} “But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”^{(D) 13} Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.