Elizabeth
Tribe of Levi
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Elizabeth was the wife of Zechariah, a priest, and the mother of John the Baptist.
Elizabeth was a righteous woman of the priestly tribe of Levi, wife of the priest Zechariah and a kinswoman of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:5, 36). Though barren and advanced in years, she miraculously conceived and bore John the Baptist in fulfillment of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Zechariah. Her joyful greeting of Mary—during which the infant John leaped in her womb—prompted Mary's great hymn of praise, the Magnificat (Luke 1:41–45). Elizabeth is venerated in Christian tradition as the last of the great mothers of promise, her son serving as the forerunner of the Messiah.