Luke 1-2

Luke 1

¹Forasmuch as many have undertaken to draw up a relation concerning the matters fully believed among us,

²as those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word have delivered them to us,

³it has seemed good to *me* also, accurately acquainted from the origin with all things, to write to thee with method, most excellent Theophilus,

⁴that thou mightest know the certainty of those things in which thou hast been instructed.

⁵There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the course of Abia, and his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth.

⁶And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

⁷And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

⁸And it came to pass, as he fulfilled his priestly service before God in the order of his course,

⁹it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter into the temple of the Lord to burn incense.

¹⁰And all the multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense.

¹¹And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of incense.

¹²And Zacharias was troubled, seeing him, and fear fell upon him.

¹³But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

¹⁴And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing, and many shall rejoice at his birth.

¹⁵For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

¹⁶And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

¹⁷And *he* shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to the thoughts of just men, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.

¹⁸And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this, for *I* am an old man, and my wife advanced in years?

¹⁹And the angel answering, said to him, *I* am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to thee, and to bring these glad tidings to thee;

²⁰and behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, till the day in which these things shall take place, because thou hast not believed my words, the which shall be fulfilled in their time.

²¹And the people were awaiting Zacharias, and they wondered at his delaying in the temple.

²²But when he came out he could not speak to them, and they recognised that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was making signs to them, and continued dumb.

²³And it came to pass, when the days of his service were completed, he departed to his house.

²⁴Now after these days, Elizabeth his wife conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

²⁵Thus has the Lord done to me in these days in which he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men.

²⁶But in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent of God to a city of Galilee, of which the name was Nazareth,

²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

²⁸And the angel came in to her, and said, Hail, thou favoured one! the Lord is with thee: blessed art *thou* amongst women.

²⁹But she, seeing the angel, was troubled at his word, and reasoned in her mind what this salutation might be.

³⁰And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God;

³¹and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

³²*He* shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father;

³³and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end.

³⁴But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man?

³⁵And the angel answering said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God.

³⁶And behold, Elizabeth, thy kinswoman, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her that was called barren:

³⁷for nothing shall be impossible with God.

³⁸And Mary said, Behold the bondmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

³⁹And Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah,

⁴⁰and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth.

⁴¹And it came to pass, as Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

⁴²and cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art *thou* amongst women, and blessed the fruit of thy womb.

⁴³And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴For behold, as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped with joy in my womb.

⁴⁵And blessed is she that has believed, for there shall be a fulfilment of the things spoken to her from the Lord.

⁴⁶And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.

⁴⁸For he has looked upon the low estate of his bondmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

⁴⁹For the Mighty One has done to me great things, and holy is his name;

⁵⁰and his mercy is to generations and generations to them that fear him.

⁵¹He has wrought strength with his arm; he has scattered haughty ones in the thought of their heart.

⁵²He has put down rulers from thrones, and exalted the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty.

⁵⁴He has helped Israel his servant, in order to remember mercy,

⁵⁵(as he spoke to our fathers,) to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

⁵⁶And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her house.

⁵⁷But the time was fulfilled for Elizabeth that she should bring forth, and she gave birth to a son.

⁵⁸And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹And it came to pass on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called it after the name of his father, Zacharias.

⁶⁰And his mother answering said, No; but he shall be called John.

⁶¹And they said to her, There is no one among thy kinsfolk who is called by this name.

⁶²And they made signs to his father as to what he might wish it to be called.

⁶³And having asked for a writing-table, he wrote saying, John is his name. And they all wondered.

⁶⁴And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he spake, blessing God.

⁶⁵And fear came upon all who dwelt round about them; and in the whole hill-country of Judaea all these things were the subject of conversation.

⁶⁶And all who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, What then will this child be? And the Lord's hand was with him.

⁶⁷And Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought redemption for his people,

⁶⁹and raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of David his servant;

⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began;

⁷¹deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to fulfil mercy with our fathers and remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,

⁷⁴to give us, that, saved out of the hand of our enemies, we should serve him without fear

⁷⁵in piety and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶And *thou*, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways;

⁷⁷to give knowledge of deliverance to his people by the remission of their sins

⁷⁸on account of the bowels of mercy of our God; wherein the dayspring from on high has visited us,

⁷⁹to shine upon them who were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

⁸⁰-- And the child grew and was strengthened in spirit; and he was in the deserts until the day of his shewing to Israel.

Luke 2

¹But it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census should be made of all the habitable world.

²The census itself first took place when Cyrenius had the government of Syria.

³And all went to be inscribed in the census roll, each to his own city:

⁴and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city Nazareth to Judaea, to David's city, the which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

⁵to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him as his wife, she being great with child.

⁶And it came to pass, while they were there, the days of her giving birth to her child were fulfilled,

⁷and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

⁹And lo, an angel of the Lord was there by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they feared with great fear.

¹⁰And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people;

¹¹for to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us make our way then now as far as Bethlehem, and let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

¹⁶And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger;

¹⁷and having seen it they made known about the country the thing which had been said to them concerning this child.

¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at the things said to them by the shepherds.

¹⁹But Mary kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart.

²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they had heard and seen, as it had been said to them.

²¹And when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, his name was called Jesus, which was the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb.

²²And when the days were fulfilled for their purifying according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

²³(as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord),

²⁴and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord: A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.

²⁵And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was just and pious, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

²⁶And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ.

²⁷And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and as the parents brought in the child Jesus that they might do for him according to the custom of the law,

²⁸*he* received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

²⁹Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace;

³⁰for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

³¹which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples;

³²a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

³³And his father and mother wondered at the things which were said concerning him.

³⁴And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, Lo, this child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against;

³⁵(and even a sword shall go through thine own soul;) so that the thoughts may be revealed from many hearts.

³⁶And there was a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was far advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity,

³⁷and herself a widow up to eighty-four years; who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers;

³⁸and she coming up the same hour gave praise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem.

³⁹And when they had completed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth.

⁴⁰And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and God's grace was upon him.

⁴¹And his parents went yearly to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover.

⁴²And when he was twelve years old, and they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast

⁴³and had completed the days, as they returned, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and his parents knew not of it;

⁴⁴but, supposing him to be in the company that journeyed together, they went a day's journey, and sought him among their relations and acquaintances:

⁴⁵and not having found him they returned to Jerusalem seeking him.

⁴⁶And it came to pass, after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

⁴⁸And when they saw him they were amazed: and his mother said to him, Child, why hast thou dealt thus with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee distressed.

⁴⁹And he said to them, Why is it that ye have sought me? did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father's business?

⁵⁰And they understood not the thing that he said to them.

⁵¹And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them. And his mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵²And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.