that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.

In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the order of Abijah; and he had a wife of the family of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

who was a descendant of Aaron. They were both righteous in the sight of the Lord, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the law, blameless.

And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God,

And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes.

And the whole multitude of the people was praying without at the time of the incense.

And a messenger of the Lord was seen to him, standing from the right of the altar of fumigation.

And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear came on him.

But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zachariah; for thy prayer was heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name John.

And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to bring thee these good tidings.

And the people were waiting for Zacharias and were surprised because he was in the Temple for such a long time.

And when he came out he was not able to say anything, and they saw that he had seen a vision in the Temple; and he was making signs to them without words.

And, as soon as his term of service was finished, he returned home.

After that time, Elisabeth, being certain that she was to become a mother, kept herself from men's eyes for five months, saying,

it is the Lord, said she, who has thus favour'd me, at the time when he took care to remove the reproach I was under among men.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee, named Nazareth,

To a virgin who was to be married to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary.

But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words?

Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.

About that time Mary made a hurried trip to a Judean town in the hill country. [Note: This was be the same province in which Jerusalem was located].

And when the voice of Mary came to the ears of Elisabeth, the baby made a sudden move inside her; then Elisabeth was full of the Holy Spirit,

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke with a loud voice, and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

For, behold, when the voice of thy greeting was in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

And blessed [is] she who believed that [there] will be a fulfillment to what was spoken to her from the Lord!"

And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour,

And Mary was with her for about three months and then went back to her house.

Now it was time for Elisabeth to give birth, and she had a son.

And her neighbors and kindred heard that the Lord was magnifying His mercy together with her; and they rejoiced with her.

And it was in the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him by the name of his father Zacharias.

And they made signs to his father, to say what name was to be given to him.

Asking for a writing-tablet, he wrote the words--'His name is John.' Every one was surprised;

And straight away his mouth was open and his tongue was free and he gave praise to God.

And fear came on all those who were living round about them: and there was much talk about all these things in all the hill-country of Judaea.

And all who had word of them kept them in their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

And his father, Zacharias, was full of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice of a prophet said these words:

This was the oath which he swore to our forefather Abraham--

And the child became tall, and strong in spirit; and he was living in the waste land till the day when he came before the eyes of Israel.

Now it came about in those days that an order went out from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a numbering of all the world.

This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

So everyone was going to his own town to register.

And Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judaea, to Beth-lehem, the town of David, because he was of the house and family of David,

To be put on the list with Mary, his future wife, who was about to become a mother.

And it fortuned while they were there, her time was come that she should be delivered.

And she had her first son; and folding him in linen, she put him to rest in the place where the cattle had their food, because there was no room for them in the house.

And an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining round about them: and fear came on them.

because there was born to-day, in the city of David, a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord.

And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying,

And it was when the messenger departed from them into heaven, and the men, the shepherds, said to one another, Let us pass through now to Bethlehem, and see this word done,which the Lord made known to us.

And they went hurrying and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child.

And all who heard it were astounded at what was told them by the shepherds,

But Mary was closely keeping all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, even as it was spoken unto them.

And when, after eight days, the time came for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given to him before his birth.

And when the time of their purification, after the law of Moses, was come they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord:

as it was written in the law of the Lord; That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;

and to offer a sacrifice according to what was stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

And there was then in Jerusalem a man whose name was Simeon; and he was an upright man, fearing God and waiting for the comfort of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was on him.

And it was revealed to him by the holy Spirit, that he should not die before he had seen the Anointed of the Lord.

And full of the Spirit he came into the Temple; and when the father and mother came in with the child Jesus, to do with him what was ordered by the law,

A Light for revelation to the Gentiles [to disclose what was previously unknown],
And [to bring] the praise and honor and glory of Your people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was spoken concerning him.

And there was one, Anna, a woman prophet, the daughter of Phanuel, of the family of Asher (she was very old, and after seven years of married life

She had been a widow for eighty-four years); she was in the Temple at all times, worshipping with prayers and going without food, night and day.

Just then she came forward and began to thank God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Now when they had completed everything that was in accordance with the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child became tall and strong and full of wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Now Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem every year to attend the Passover Festival. [Note: This was the annual Jewish festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership].

And when he was twelve years old, they went up, as their way was, to the feast;

And when the days of the feast came to an end and they were going back, the boy Jesus was still in Jerusalem, but they had no knowledge of it:

And in the belief that he was with some of their number, they went a day's journey; and after looking for him among their relations and friends,

And seeing that he was not there, they went back to Jerusalem, to make search for him.

It was not till the third day that they found him in the Temple Courts, sitting among the Teachers, now listening to them, now asking them questions.

Now everyone who was listening to Him was showing astonishment at His intelligence and at His answers.

when Joseph and his mother saw him, great was their surprize: and his mother said to him, son, why did you leave us thus? your father and I have been looking for you with great concern.

And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? was it not clear to you that my right place was in my Father's house?

But they did not understand what He had said to them.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and did as he was ordered: and his mother kept all these words in her heart.

And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis,

And when Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests, a Command from God came to John, the son of Zechariah, while he was in the wilderness.

This was in fulfillment of what is said in the writings of the Prophet Isaiah--'The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness: "Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight.

He was saying, therefore, to the multitudes coming forth to be immersed by him, "Broods of vipers! who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

The soldiers also once and again inquired of him, "And we, what are we to do?" His answer was, "Neither intimidate any one nor lay false charges; and be content with your pay."

And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not,

Therefore, indeed, exhorting them as to many and various things, he was proclaiming the good news to the people;

Then Herod the Tetrarch; when he was rebuked of him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done;

Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open,

the heaven was opened, and the holy Spirit descended in a corporeal form, like a dove upon Him, and there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

who was the son of Matthath, who was the son of Levi, who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Jannai, who was the son of Joseph,

who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Amos, who was the son of Nahum, who was the son of Esli, who was the son of Naggai,

who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Shimei, who was the son of Josech, who was the son of Joda,

who was the son of Joanan, who was the son of Rhesa, who was the son of Zerubbabel, who was the son of Shealtiel, who was the son of Neri,

who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Addi, who was the son of Kosam, who was the son of Elmadam, who was the son of Er,

who was the son of Jesus, who was the son of Eliezer, who was the son of Jorim, who was the son of Matthath, who was the son of Levi,

who was the son of Simeon, who was the son of Judah, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jonam, who was the son of Eliakim,

who was the son of Melea, who was the son of Menna, who was the son of Mattatha, who was the son of Nathan, who was the son of David,

who was the son of Jesse, who was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz, who was the son of Salma, who was the son of Nahshon,