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.

Glory in the Highest

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And ^[a]behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, ^(A)and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, ^(B)“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy ^(C)which will be to all people. ^11 (D)For there is born to you this day in the city of David ^(E)a Savior, ^(F)who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a ^[b]manger.”

^13 (G)And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made ^[d]widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ^19 (K)But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and ^(L)praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

¹⁸ Now all things are of God, ^(A)who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that ^(B)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not ^[a]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Now then, we are ^(C)ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For ^(D)He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become ^(E)the righteousness of God in Him.

^18 (A)while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

^5 (A)Now hope does not disappoint, ^(B)because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Christ in Our Place

⁶ For when we were still without strength, ^[a]in due time ^(C)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But ^(D)God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified ^(E)by His blood, we shall be saved ^(F)from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For ^(G)if when we were enemies ^(H)we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ^(I)by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also ^(J)rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.