²⁰ But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “^(A)Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for ^[a]the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

²¹ She will give birth to a Son; and ^(A)you shall name Him Jesus, for ^[a]He ^(B)will save His people from their sins.”

²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord ^[a]is with you.” ²⁹ But she ^(A)was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “^(B)Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you ^(C)shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of ^(D)the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him ^(E)the throne of His father David; ^33 (F)and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, ^(G)and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I ^[b]am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “^(H)The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^(I)the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also ^(J)the ^[c]holy Child will be called ^(K)the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth herself has conceived a son in her old age, and ^[d]she who was called infertile is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For ^(L)nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

⁷ And she ^(A)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a ^[a]manger, because there was no ^[b]room for them in the inn.

⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. ⁹ And ^(B)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(C)stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ And so the angel said to them, “^(D)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a ^(E)Savior, who is ^[c](F)Christ ^(G)the Lord. ¹² And ^(H)this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ^[d]manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly ^[e]army of angels praising God and saying,

¹⁵ When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”