Luke 1:26-56

Living Bible

²⁶ The following month God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin, Mary, engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.

²⁸ Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Congratulations, favored lady! The Lord is with you!”^[a]

²⁹ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.

³⁰ “Don’t be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, “for God has decided to wonderfully bless you! ³¹ Very soon now, you will become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name him ‘Jesus.’ ³² He shall be very great and shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ And he shall reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom shall never end!”

³⁴ Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.”

³⁵ The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you; so the baby born to you will be utterly holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ Furthermore, six months ago your Aunt^[b] Elizabeth—‘the barren one,’ they called her—became pregnant in her old age! ³⁷ For every promise from God shall surely come true.”

³⁸ Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared.

^39-40 A few days later Mary hurried to the highlands of Judea to the town where Zacharias lived, to visit Elizabeth.

⁴¹ At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴² She gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “You are favored by God above all other women, and your child is destined for God’s mightiest praise. ⁴³ What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! ⁴⁴ When you came in and greeted me, the instant I heard your voice, my baby moved in me for joy! ⁴⁵ You believed that God would do what he said; that is why he has given you this wonderful blessing.”

⁴⁶ Mary responded, “Oh, how I praise the Lord. ⁴⁷ How I rejoice in God my Savior! ⁴⁸ For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God. ⁴⁹ For he, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me. ⁵⁰ His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who reverence him.

⁵¹ “How powerful is his mighty arm! How he scatters the proud and haughty ones! ⁵² He has torn princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. ⁵³ He has satisfied the hungry hearts and sent the rich away with empty hands. ⁵⁴ And how he has helped his servant Israel! He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful. ⁵⁵ For he promised our fathers—Abraham and his children—to be merciful to them forever.”

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.