THIS pretty woman is Mary. She is an Israelitess, who lives in the town of Nazʹa·reth. God knows that she is a very fine person. That is why he has sent his angel Gaʹbri·el to speak to her. Do you know what Gaʹbri·el has come to tell Mary? Let’s see.

‘Good day, you highly favored one,’ Gaʹbri·el says to her. ‘Jehovah is with you.’ Mary has never seen this person before. She is worried, because she doesn’t know what he means. But right away Gaʹbri·el calms her fears.

‘Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ he says. ‘Jehovah is very pleased with you. That is why he is going to do a wonderful thing for you. You will soon have a baby. And you are to call him Jesus.’

Gaʹbri·el goes on to explain: ‘This child will be great, and he will be called Son of the Most High God. Jehovah will make him king, as David was. But Jesus will be a king forever, and his kingdom will never end!’

‘How can this all be?’ Mary asks. ‘I am not even married. I have not lived with a man, so how can I have a baby?’

‘God’s power will come upon you,’ Gaʹbri·el answers. ‘So the child will be called God’s Son.’ Then he tells Mary: ‘Remember your relative Elizabeth. People said that she was too old to have children. But soon now she will have a son. So you see, there is nothing that God can’t do.’

Right away Mary says: ‘I am Jehovah’s slave girl! May it happen to me just as you have said.’ The angel then leaves.

Mary hurries off to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice, the baby inside Elizabeth jumps for joy. Elizabeth is filled with God’s spirit, and she says to Mary: ‘You are specially blessed among women.’ Mary stays with Elizabeth about three months, and then goes back home to Nazʹa·reth.

Mary is about to get married to a man named Joseph. But when Joseph learns that Mary is going to have a baby, he doesn’t think he should marry her. Then God’s angel says to him: ‘Don’t be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is God who has given her a son.’ So Mary and Joseph get married, and they wait for Jesus to be born.