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.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when¹ Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his ^rbetrothed,² who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.³

The Preeminence of Christ

15 He is the ^zimage of the ^ainvisible God, ^bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For ^cby¹ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ^ebefore all things, and in him all things ^fhold together. 18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the ^kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him ^lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, ⁿwho once were ^oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now ^preconciled ^qin his body of flesh by his death, ^rin order to present you ^sholy and blameless and ^tabove reproach before him, 23 ^uif indeed you continue in the faith, ^vstable and ^wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation² under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a ^xminister.