King James Bible
"To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,"
Zechariah prophesies that John the Baptist's mission is to prepare people to understand and receive salvation. This knowledge goes beyond intellectual awareness—it's experiential understanding that God's deliverance has arrived through the coming Messiah. The mechanism of this salvation is forgiveness, marking a shift from political liberation (which many expected) to spiritual redemption. This connects John's baptism of repentance with the deeper cleansing that Christ would accomplish through his death and resurrection.