Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ¹² But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. ¹³ Then Isaiah^[a] said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman^[b] is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.^[c]

⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Consequently, when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said,

⁸ When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And it is by God’s will^[c] that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’^{[a] 29} But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. ³¹ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’^{[b] 35} The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶ And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.’ ³⁸ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.