King James Bible
"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,"
This identifies the speaker as John the Baptist's father, who had been struck mute for doubting Gabriel's announcement. His ability to speak returns at the moment he obeys God by naming his son John, marking a pivotal transformation from doubt to faith. The Spirit's filling signals divine inspiration and authority for what follows. In Luke's Gospel, this empowerment typically precedes significant prophetic utterances, connecting Zacharias to the Old Testament prophetic tradition. This introduces the Benedictus (verses 68-79), one of Luke's infancy canticles. The verb tense indicates immediate prophetic speech resulting from the Spirit's filling, demonstrating that God's promises are actively unfolding through these events.