Luke 2-3

Luke 2

¹Now 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.

²This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

³And all men went to be numbered, everyone to his town.

⁴And 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,

⁵To be put on the list with Mary, his future wife, who was about to become a mother.

⁶And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

⁷And 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.

⁸And in the same country there were keepers of sheep in the fields, watching over their flock by night.

⁹And an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining round about them: and fear came on them.

¹⁰And the angel said, Have no fear; for truly, I give you good news of great joy which will be for all the people:

¹¹For on this day, in the town of David, a Saviour has come to birth, who is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this is the sign to you: you will see a young child folded in linen, in the place where the cattle have their food.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace among men with whom he is well pleased.

¹⁵And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us.

¹⁶And they came quickly, and saw Mary and Joseph, and the child in the place where the cattle had their food.

¹⁷And when they saw it, they gave them an account of the things which had been said to them about the child.

¹⁸And all those to whose ears it came were full of wonder at the things said by the keepers of the sheep.

¹⁹But Mary kept all these words in her heart, and gave much thought to them.

²⁰Then the keepers of the sheep went back, giving glory and praise to God for all the things which had come to their ears and which they had seen, as it had been said to them.

²¹And 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.

²²And when the necessary days for making them clean by the law of Moses had come to an end, they took him to Jerusalem to give him to the Lord

²³(As it says in the law of the Lord, Every mother's first male child is to be holy to the Lord),

²⁴And to make an offering, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord, of two doves or other young birds.

²⁵And 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.

²⁶And he had knowledge, through the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ.

²⁷And 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,

²⁸Then he took him in his arms and gave praise to God and said,

²⁹Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said;

³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation,

³¹Which you have made ready before the face of all nations;

³²A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.

³³And his father and mother were full of wonder at the things which were said about him.

³⁴And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;

³⁵(And a sword will go through your heart;) so that the secret thoughts of men may come to light.

³⁶And 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

³⁷She 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.

³⁸And coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, talking of him to all those who were waiting for the freeing of Jerusalem.

³⁹And when they had done all the things which were ordered by the law of the Lord, they went back to Galilee, to Nazareth, the town where they were living.

⁴⁰And the child became tall and strong and full of wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

⁴¹And every year his father and mother went to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up, as their way was, to the feast;

⁴³And 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:

⁴⁴And 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,

⁴⁵And seeing that he was not there, they went back to Jerusalem, to make search for him.

⁴⁶And after three days they came across him in the Temple, seated among the wise men, giving ear to their words and putting questions to them.

⁴⁷And all to whose ears it came were full of wonder at his knowledge and the answers which he gave.

⁴⁸And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow.

⁴⁹And 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?

⁵⁰And his words seemed strange to them.

⁵¹And 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.

⁵²And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men.

Luke 3

¹Now in the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being ruler of Judaea, and Herod being king of Galilee, his brother Philip king of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias king of Abilene,

²When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the waste land.

³And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.

⁴As it says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight.

⁵Every valley will be lifted up, and all the mountains and hills made low, and the twisted will be made straight, and the rough ways smooth;

⁶And all flesh will see the salvation of God.

⁷So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

⁸Make clear by your acts that your hearts have been changed; and do not say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children of Abraham.

⁹And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; and every tree which does not have good fruit will be cut down and put into the fire.

¹⁰And the people put questions to him, saying, What have we to do?

¹¹And he made answer and said to them, He who has two coats, let him give to him who has not even one; and he who has food, let him do the same.

¹²Then tax-farmers came to him for baptism and said to him, Master, what have we to do?

¹³And he said to them, Do not make an attempt to get more money than the right amount.

¹⁴And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you.

¹⁵And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not,

¹⁶John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:

¹⁷In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out.

¹⁸And so comforting them with these and other words, he gave the good news to the people;

¹⁹But Herod the king, because John had made a protest on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and other evil things which Herod had done,

²⁰Did this most evil thing of all, and had John shut up in prison.

²¹Now 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,

²²The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

²³And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

²⁴The son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

²⁵The son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

²⁶The son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,

²⁷The son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

²⁸The son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

²⁹The son of Jesus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

³⁰The son of Symeon, the son of Judas, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

³¹The son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

³²The son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

³³The son of Amminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

³⁴The son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

³⁵The son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,

³⁶The son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

³⁷The son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

³⁸The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.