Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 zIn the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin abetrothed1 to a man whose name was Joseph, bof the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, cO favored one, dthe Lord is with you!”2 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, eyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 fHe will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the gthrone of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be hno end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”3
35 And the angel answered her, i“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born4 will be called holy—the jSon of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For knothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant5 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your lwomb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be6 a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
m“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me nblessed;
49 for he who is mighty has odone great things for me,
and pholy is his name.
50 And his qmercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has rscattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has sfilled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has thelped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
uto Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the veighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And wfear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and xprophesied, saying,
68 y“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for zhe has visited and aredeemed his people
69 and has braised up a chorn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke dby the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be esaved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show fthe mercy promised to our fathers
and to gremember his holy covenant,
73 hthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and irighteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will jgo before the Lord kto prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the lforgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the msunrise shall visit us7 from on high
79 nto give olight to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the pway of peace.”
80 qAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 qNow the birth of Jesus Christ1 took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been rbetrothed2 to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child sfrom the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to tdivorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an uangel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall vcall his name Jesus, for he will wsave his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place xto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 y“Behold, the zvirgin ashall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name bImmanuel”
(which means, cGod dwith us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but eknew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
