Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin ^(A)betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, ^(B)“Rejoice, highly favored one, ^(C)the Lord is with you; ^[a]blessed are you among women!”

²⁹ But ^[b]when she saw him, ^(D)she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found ^(E)favor with God. ^31 (F)And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and ^(G)shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, ^(H)and will be called the Son of the Highest; and ^(I)the Lord God will give Him the ^(J)throne of His ^(K)father David. ^33 (L)And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I ^[c]do not know a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, ^(M)“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called ^(N)the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For ^(O)with God nothing will be impossible.”

³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, ^(P)to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was ^(Q)filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ^(R)“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ^45 (S)Blessed is she who ^[d]believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

The Song of Mary

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

^21 (A)And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name ^[a]Jesus, ^(B)for He will save His people from their sins.”

⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, ^(A)by which He ^[a]made us accepted in ^(B)the Beloved.

^32 (A)This Jesus God has raised up, ^(B)of which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore ^(C)being exalted ^[a]to ^(D)the right hand of God, and ^(E)having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He ^(F)poured out this which you now see and hear.

³⁴ “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, ^(H)they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Then Peter said to them, ^(I)“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the ^[b]remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, ^(A)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, ^(B)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but ^(C)now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which ^(D)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by ^(E)raising Him from the dead.”