Luke 2:1-52
2 And in those days a decree was issued by Caesar Augustus that all the world of men should be registered.
2 (This was the first registration while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 And everybody went to be registered at his own city;
4 and Joseph, among the rest, went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of David’s house and clan,
5 to have himself registered with Mary his wife, she being with child.
6 And while they were there she came to her full number of days for bearing,
7 and gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the lodgings.
8 And there were shepherds in that same country camping out in the fields and keeping night-watches over their flock;
9 and an angel of the Lord came and stood over them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 And the angel said to them “Do not be afraid; for lo, I bring you the news of a great gladness which there shall be for all the people:
11 * that there is born for you today a savior, who is the Lord Messiah, in the city of David.
12 * And this is a sign for you: you shall find a wrapped baby lying in a manger.”
13 And all of a sudden there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying
14 “Glory on high to God, and on earth peace among men of grace.”
15 And when the angels had gone away from them into the heavens the shepherds told each other “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came in haste and hunted them up, Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger;
17 and when they saw them they gave an account of the thing that had been told them about this child.
18 And all who heard it wondered over what they were told by the shepherds;
19 but Mary kept track of all these things, putting them together in her mind.
20 And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as they had been told.
21 And when a week was full for circumcising him, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.
22 And when their days of cleansing according to the law of Moses were full they took him up to Jerusalem to present him before the Lord,
23 as it is written in the law of the Lord “Every male that opens up a womb shall be sacred to the Lord,”
24 and to give a sacrifice in accordance with what it says in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two squabs.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Symeon, and this man was upright and godly, one who was watching for the comforting of Israel, and there was Holy Spirit upon him;
26 * and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.
27 And he came into the temple-precinct in the Spirit; and upon the parents’ bringing in the child Jesus, that they might do on his account such things as are usual according to the law,
28 he received him in his arms and blessed God and said
29 “Now thou dost, Master, in accordance with thy word, send thy servant away with a blessing;
30 for my eyes have seen thy salvation
31 which thou hast made ready before the face of all peoples,
32 a light for the revelation of the nations and the glory of thy people Israel.”
33 And his father and mother were wondering at what they were told about him;
34 and Symeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother “Lo, this boy is destined for the falling and rising up of many in Israel, and for a disparaged token,
35 and you yourself shall have a sword go through your soul; that designs in many hearts may be disclosed.”
36 And there was a prophetess Hannah daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was greatly advanced in years, having lived with a husband seven years from her maidenhood
37 * and been a widow as much as eighty-four years) who never quitted the temple-precinct, worshiping night and day with fasts and prayers;
38 and she came at that very moment and stood before them and gave praise to God, and told about him to all who were watching for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 And when they had finished everything that the law of the Lord requires, they returned to Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
40 And the child grew and strengthened, filling with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
41 And his parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, and they were going up in accordance with the custom of the feast
43 and had completed the days, at their returning the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem; and his parents did not know of it,
44 but, supposing him to be in the company, went a day’s journey and looked all about for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and,
45 not finding him, returned to Jerusalem to look him up.
46 And after three days they found him in the temple-precinct sitting among the teachers and listening to them and putting questions to them;
47 and all who heard him were surprised at his insight and his answers.
48 * And at seeing him they were astonished, and his mother said to him “Child, why did you do such a thing to us? here are your father and I hunting for you and suffering pain over you.”
49 And he said to them “How came it you were hunting for me? didn’t you know I must be at my Father’s?”
50 and they did not understand the word that he spoke to them.
51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was under their control; and his mother kept the run of all these matters in her mind;
52 and Jesus kept growing in wisdom and height, and in favor with God and men.
Footnotes
^ 2:11 (the Lord Messiah) If these words were originally in Hebrew, they must have meant the Lord’s Messiah or the Lord’s Anointed
^ 2:12 Var. the sign
^ 2:26 Or the Lord’s Anointed
^ 2:37 Or to the age of eighty-four years Lit. up to eighty-four years
^ 2:48 Var. here your father and I have been hunting
