⁸ Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;^(A) and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees^(B) that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life^(C) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.^(D)

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;^{(A) 17} but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,^(B) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”^(C)

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you^[a] a sign:^(A) The virgin^[b](B) will conceive and give birth to a son,^(C) and^[c] will call him Immanuel.^[d](D)

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel^(A) to Nazareth,^(B) a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph,^(C) a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,^(D) Mary; you have found favor with God.^{(E) 31} You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.^{(F) 32} He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.^(G) The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,^{(H) 33} and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom^(I) will never end.”^(J)

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you,^(K) and the power of the Most High^(L) will overshadow you. So the holy one^(M) to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God.^{(N) 36} Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child^(O) in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”^(P)

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[a] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce^(A) her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel^(B) of the Lord appeared to him in a dream^(C) and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[b](D) because he will save his people from their sins.”^(E)

²² All this took place to fulfill^(F) what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[c](G) (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel^(H) of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus^(A) issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.^{(B) 2} (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.)^{(C) 3} And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem^(D) the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.