¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” ^(A) Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years.^[a] Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.^{(B) 12} So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?” ^(C)

¹³ But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible for the Lord?^(D) At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Look, I am the Lord, the God over every creature.^(A) Is anything too difficult for me?^(B)

³⁶ “Now therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to this city about which you said, ‘It has been handed over to Babylon’s king through sword, famine, and plague’: ³⁷ I will certainly gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in my anger, fury, and intense wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.^{(A) 38} They will be my people, and I will be their God.^{(B) 39} I will give them integrity of heart^(C) and action^[a] so that they will fear me always, for their good and for the good of their descendants after them.

⁴⁰ “I will make a permanent covenant with them:^(D) I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from me.^{(E) 41} I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all my heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.^(F)

Gabriel Predicts Jesus’s Birth

²⁶ In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel^(A) was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,^{(B) 27} to a virgin engaged^[a](C) to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.^(D) The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”^{[b] 29} But she was deeply troubled^(E) by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. ³⁰ Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,^(F) for you have found favor with God.^{(G) 31} Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.^{(H) 32} He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High,^(I) and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.^{(J) 33} He will reign over the house of Jacob^(K) forever, and his kingdom will have no end.” ^(L)

³⁴ Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” ^[c]

³⁵ The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,^(M) and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.^{(N) 36} And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”^(O)

³⁸ “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.