Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month the angel ^xGabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named ^yNazareth, 27 ^zto a virgin betrothed¹ to a man whose name was Joseph, ^aof the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, ^bO favored one, ^cthe Lord is with you!”² 29 But ^dshe was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for ^eyou have found favor with God. 31 And behold, ^fyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and ^gyou shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of ^hthe Most High. And the Lord God ⁱwill give to him the throne of ^jhis father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob ^kforever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”³

35 And the angel answered her, ^l“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^hthe Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born⁴ will be called ^mholy—ⁿthe Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her ^owho was called barren. 37 For ^pnothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant⁵ of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And ^qthe angel departed from her.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

1 In those days ^la decree went out from ^mCaesar Augustus that all the world should be ⁿregistered. 2 This was the first ⁿregistration when¹ Quirinius ^owas governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up ^pfrom Galilee, from the town of ^qNazareth, to Judea, to ^rthe city of David, which is called ^sBethlehem, ^tbecause he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,² who was with child. 6 And ^twhile they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and ^uwrapped him in swaddling cloths and ^vlaid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in ^wthe inn.³

The Preeminence of Christ

15 ⁱHe is the image of ^jthe invisible God, ^kthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For by¹ him all things were created, ^lin heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^mthrones or ⁿdominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^othrough him and for him. 17 And ^phe is before all things, and in him all things ^qhold together. 18 And ^rhe is the head of the body, the church. He is ^sthe beginning, ^tthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For ^uin him all the ^vfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and ^wthrough him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^xmaking peace ^yby the blood of his cross.

21 ^zAnd you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, ^adoing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled ^bin his body of flesh by his death, ^cin order to present you holy and blameless and ^dabove reproach before him, 23 ^eif indeed you continue in the faith, ^fstable and steadfast, not shifting from ^gthe hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed ^hin all creation² under heaven, ⁱand of which I, Paul, became a minister.