And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;

Now in those days a decree went out from [the emperor] Caesar Augustus, that all the inhabited world (the Roman Empire) should be registered [in a census].

When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with Him earnestly [to come], saying, “He is worthy for You to do this for him,

And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He ordered that she be given something to eat.

However, they did not understand this statement. Its meaning was kept hidden from them so that they would not grasp it; and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

But I will point out to you whom you should fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority and power to hurl [you] into hell; yes, I say to you, [stand in great awe of God and] fear Him!

so he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and have found none. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground [depleting the soil and blocking the sunlight]?’

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, [searching] until he finds it?

And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

It would be better for him if a millstone [as large as one turned by a donkey] were hung around his neck and he were hurled into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble [in sin and lose faith].

But they were insistent and unrelenting, demanding with loud voices that Jesus be crucified. And their voices began to prevail and accomplish their purpose.

Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and [only then to] enter His glory?”

and said, “And so it is written, that the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

and that repentance [necessary] for forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.