After seeing him,
the shepherds told everyone what had happened
and what the angel had said to them about this child.
All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,
but Mary kept all these things in her heart
and thought about them often.
The shepherds went back to their flocks,
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
It was just as the angel had told them.
Suddenly,
the angel was joined by a vast host of others—
the armies of heaven—
praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven,
the shepherds said to each other,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem!
Let’s see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph.
And there was the baby,
lying in the manger.
And because Joseph was a descendant of King David,
he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea,
David’s ancient home.
He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
He took with him Mary, his fiancée,
who was now obviously pregnant.
And while they were there,
the time came for her baby to be born.
She gave birth to her first child, a son.
She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth
and laid him in a manger,
because there was no lodging available for them.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby,
guarding their flocks of sheep.
Suddenly,
an angel of the Lord appeared among them,
and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
They were terrified,
but the angel reassured them.
“Don’t be afraid!”
he said.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
The Savior—
yes,
the Messiah,
the Lord—
has been born today in Bethlehem,
the city of David!
And you will recognize him by this sign:
You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth,
lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:4-12
The angel replied,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the baby to be born will be holy,
and he will be called the Son of God.
What’s more,
your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age!
People used to say she was barren,
but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month.
For the word of God will never fail.”
Mary responded,
“I am the Lord’s servant.
May everything you have said about me come true.”
And then the angel left her.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy,
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,
a village in Galilee,
to a virgin named Mary.
She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph,
a descendant of King David.
Gabriel appeared to her and said,
“Greetings,
favored woman!
The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed,
Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.
Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men,
and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.
Then he told them,
“Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child.
And when you find him,
come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
After this interview the wise men went their way.
And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem.
It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star,
they were filled with joy!
They entered the house and saw the child with his mother,
Mary,
and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
When it was time to leave,
they returned to their own country by another route,
for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,
during the reign of King Herod.
About that time some wise men from eastern lands
arrived in Jerusalem,
asking,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star as it rose,
and we have come to worship him.”
King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this,
as was everyone in Jerusalem.
He called a meeting of the leading priests
and teachers of religious law and asked,
“Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
“In Bethlehem in Judea,”
they said,
“for this is what the prophet wrote:
‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
And she will have a son,
and you are to name him Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look!
The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born.
And Joseph named him Jesus.
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born.
His mother,
Mary,
was engaged to be married to Joseph.
But before the marriage took place,
while she was still a virgin,
she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph,
to whom she was engaged,
was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly,
so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
“Joseph,
son of David,”
the angel said,
“do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.“
“Look!
I am sending my messenger,
and he will prepare the way before me.
Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple.
The messenger of the covenant,
whom you look for so eagerly,
is surely coming,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But who will be able to endure it when he comes?
Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears?
For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal,
or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.
He will sit like a refiner of silver,
burning away the dross.
He will purify the Levites,
refining them like gold and silver,
so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.
