Luke 1

Luke explains about his report

1 Many people have written about the things that have happened in our country. 2 Some people were present when these things started to happen. They saw everything that happened and they told us about it. They are the people who wrote down the good news for us. 3 I have checked the facts about what really happened. So now, I know about all the things that happened from the beginning. I am writing to make the facts clear to you, my great friend Theophilus. 4 People have already taught you about these things. Now you can be sure that they are true.

An angel speaks about the birth of John the Baptist

5 There was a man whose name was Zechariah. He lived when Herod was king of Judea. Zechariah was a priest and he belonged to a group of priests from the family of Abijah. He had a wife called Elizabeth. She also was a descendant of Aaron.

6 Zechariah and Elizabeth obeyed all God's commands and rules. God saw that they did what was right. They did not do wrong things. 7 But they had no children. Elizabeth could not give birth and they were both getting old.

8 One day, Zechariah's group of priests was working at the temple. He had a special job to do there. 9 The priests used lots to choose one of their group to go into the holy place in the temple. This time they chose Zechariah. His job was to burn incense there. 10 While Zechariah was burning the incense, many people were outside in the yard. They were praying to God.

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah. The angel was standing at the right side of the incense altar.

12 When Zechariah saw the angel, he was very surprised and very afraid. 13 The angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid. God has heard what you prayed. He will give you what you asked for. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a baby boy. You will give him the name “John”. 14 John will make you very happy. Many other people will also be very happy when he is born. 15 John will be a very important person who serves the Lord God. He must never drink anything with alcohol in it. From the time when he is born, the Holy Spirit will live in him.

16 John will teach people in Israel to turn back to the Lord their God and obey him. 17 He will prepare the people for the Lord to come to them. The Holy Spirit will lead John as he led Elijah. John will do powerful things as Elijah did. He will help fathers to love their children. He will teach people who do not obey God. Then they will know what things are right. And they will do them. They will be ready when the Lord comes.’

18 Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure about this? You know that I am an old man. My wife is also old.’

19 The angel answered, ‘I am called Gabriel. My place is to stand in front of God. I am always ready to work for God. He has sent me to speak to you. He told me that I should tell you this good news. 20 Now listen to me. Because you did not believe my message, you will not be able to speak. You will not speak again until the time when your son is born. My message will become true at the right time.’

21 While this was happening, the people outside were waiting for Zechariah. They were thinking, ‘Why has Zechariah stayed for such a long time in the holy place? Why has he not come out yet?’ 22 When Zechariah did come out, he tried to talk to them. But he could not speak. So they knew that God had showed him something special in the holy place. Zechariah was moving his head and his hands about, to tell them what had happened. But still he could not speak.

23 When Zechariah had finished his work in the temple, he returned home. 24 Soon, a baby was growing inside his wife Elizabeth. She stayed in her house for five months. 25 She said, ‘The Lord God has now given me a baby. He has been kind to me. Because of this, other people cannot cause me to be ashamed.’

An angel speaks about the birth of Jesus

26 When Elizabeth's baby had grown inside her for nearly six months, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. Nazareth was a town in Galilee. 27 Gabriel went there to visit a young woman. Her name was Mary. She had never had sex with anyone. She had promised to marry a man called Joseph. He belonged to the family of King David.

28 Gabriel went to Mary and said, ‘Hello Mary. The Lord God loves you very much. He is very near to you.’

29 Mary had a lot of trouble in her mind about Gabriel's message. She did not understand what he meant. 30 Then Gabriel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary. God has been kind to you. 31 Listen! A baby boy will grow inside you. When he is born, you will call him Jesus. 32 He will be great. People will call him the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him rule as king, as his ancestor King David ruled. 33 He will rule over the descendants of Jacob for all time. His kingdom will continue for ever.’

34 Mary asked, ‘How can this happen? I have never had sex with anyone.’

35 Gabriel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you like a shadow. So your child will be special to God. He will be called God's Son. 36 And listen! Your cousin, Elizabeth, is very old. People said that she could not have a baby. But she also will have a son. The baby has grown inside her now for nearly six months. 37 There is nothing that God cannot do.’

38 Mary answered, ‘I am the servant of the Lord. I have heard what you have said. I want it to happen to me just like that.’ Then the angel left her.

Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth

39 After that, Mary prepared herself to travel. She hurried to a town in the hills of Judea. 40 When she arrived at the home of Zechariah, she said ‘hello’ to Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, she felt her baby move quickly inside her. The Holy Spirit filled her. 42 She spoke to Mary in a loud voice, ‘God has made you very happy. He has been good and kind to you more than to other women. He has also been good and kind to your baby. 43 You are the mother of my Lord and I am not an important person. So it is very good that you have visited me. 44 Listen! When I heard you say “hello” to me, my baby moved quickly inside me. He was very happy. 45 The Lord God has told you what will happen and you believed what he told you. Because of that, God has made you a happy person.’

Mary sings to praise God

46 Then Mary said,

‘All of me wants to praise God and say,

“ Lord, you are very good and great!”

47 I thank God because he is the one who saves me.

48 I know that I am not an important person.

God knows this, and he has been kind to me.

Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.

49 Yes, God has done great things for me.

He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.

50 God is kind to people who respect and obey him.

He will always be kind to people like that.

51 He has shown how strong he is to do great things.

Some people think that they are very important.

But he has chased them away in different directions.

52 Some people were ruling as kings.

But he has taken their power away from them.

He has given power to people who do not feel important.

53 He has fed hungry people with good things to eat.

But he has sent rich people away with nothing.

54 God promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel.

Now he has come to help them.

55 He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors.

Now he has done what he promised.’

56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. Then Mary returned to her home.

John the Baptist is born

57 The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58 Her family and the people who lived near her heard about her baby. They knew that the Lord God had been very kind to her. They saw that she was happy. So they were happy too. 59 When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him. They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.

60 Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’

61 They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’ 62 So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be.

63 Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote. 64 Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to praise God.

65 The people who lived near Zechariah and Elizabeth were all very surprised. They saw how great God was. Many people who lived in the hills of Judea also talked about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard about these things thought carefully about them. They asked each other, ‘When this child becomes a man, what will he be?’ They could see that the Lord God really was with him.

Zechariah's sings to praise God

67 The Holy Spirit filled John's father, Zechariah, so that he spoke God's message:

68 ‘ Praise the Lord God of Israel!

He has come to save his people.

He has come to make them free.

69 He has sent a very strong person to save us,

a descendant of God's servant, King David.

70 Long ago, God promised that he would do this.

He gave his own prophets this message to speak.

71 God promised to rescue us from our enemies.

He will save us from everyone who hates us.

72 He promised to be kind to our ancestors.

He will do the things that he promised in his holy covenant.

73 Yes, he will remember the strong promises that he spoke to Abraham.

74 God said, “I will keep you safe from your enemies.

Then you can serve me and not be afraid.

75 You can live in a way that is good and right.

You can do this all your lives.” ’

76 Zechariah then spoke to his son, John:

‘You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God.

You will go in front of the Lord to prepare a way for him.

77 You will tell God's people how God will save them.

God will forgive them for the wrong things that they have done.

78 Our God will do this because he is very kind.

He will send someone to us from heaven,

to be like the sunrise for us.

79 He will bring light to people who do not know God.

They are like people who are living in the dark.

They are afraid to die.

But the light will shine on them.

God will show us how to live so that we have peace.’

80 Zechariah's child grew. God made him strong in his mind. He went into the wilderness and he lived there for many years. Later, God sent him to Israel's people, to teach them.

Luke 2

Jesus is born in Bethlehem

1 At that time, Caesar Augustus made a law. He told his men to count everyone who lived in the countries that he ruled. 2 This was the first time that the Romans had made a list of everyone's names. Quirinius was the Roman ruler of Syria when it happened.

3 Everyone went to his own home town for the Romans to count them. 4 So Joseph went to his home town, Bethlehem. He was living in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee. Bethlehem was in Judea. King David had been born there, so Bethlehem was called the town of David. Joseph belonged to the family of David. That is why he went to Bethlehem.

5 Joseph took Mary with him so that the Romans could count them. She went because she had promised to marry Joseph. She was pregnant.

6 While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 This was her first baby, and it was a boy. She put cloths around him. Then she put him in an animal's food box. She did this because the rooms for visitors were full of people.

An angel sends some shepherds to see the baby Jesus

8 That night some shepherds were living out in the fields near Bethlehem. They were keeping their sheep safe. 9 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to them. A bright light from God shone all around them. That frightened them very much. 10 The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen! I bring you good news. This news will make everyone very happy. 11 Something happened today in the town of David. Someone special was born. He is the one who will save you. He is the Messiah. He is the Lord. 12 I will tell you how you will know this baby. You will find him with cloths around him. He is lying in an animal's food box.’

13 At that moment, a great crowd of angels appeared. They were praising God. They said:

14 ‘God is great! He lives in the highest place above.

He will bless the people on earth who please him.

They will have peace in their minds.’

15 After that, the angels went away and returned to heaven. Then the shepherds said to each other, ‘We should leave the sheep and go to Bethlehem immediately! The Lord God has sent his angels to tell us what has happened. We want to see this baby.’

16 So the shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem. When they got there, they found Mary and Joseph with the baby. The baby really was lying in a food box. 17 After they had seen the baby, they told everybody about him. They told them what the angel had said to them about him. 18 Many people heard what the shepherds said. The people were very surprised. 19 Mary remembered everything that the shepherds had said. She thought about it all for a long time. 20 The shepherds then went back to their sheep. As they went they praised God. They said, ‘How great you are! How good you are! Everything that the angel told us was true! We have heard good news. We have seen very special things!’

Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple

21 When the baby was eight days old, it was time for the priest to circumcise him. His parents gave him the name ‘Jesus’. The angel had told Mary that they must give him that name. He told her that before she had the baby inside her.

22 Long ago, God gave Moses rules for his people to obey. One rule told people how to become clean after a baby was born. The time came for Mary and Joseph to do this. So they took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to show him to the Lord.

23 This is the rule which the Lord God gave to his people: ‘The first male baby born to a woman belongs to me. So you must bring him to me. 24 When you do this, also bring two doves or two young pigeons as a sacrifice.’ So that is what Mary and Joseph did.

Simeon speaks about Jesus

25 At this time, a man called Simeon was living in Jerusalem. He was a good man and he obeyed God. He had waited a long time to see the special person who would save Israel's people. The Holy Spirit was with him. 26 The Holy Spirit had told him, ‘You will not die yet. You know that the Lord God has promised to send his Messiah. You will see him before you die.’

27 Now the day had come. The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he should go to the temple. Mary and Joseph were bringing the baby Jesus to the temple, as God's rule said. 28 Simeon went to them. He took Jesus and he held him in his arms. Then he thanked God. He said:

29 ‘Master, I am your servant.

You have done what you promised to me.

Now I can die with peace in my mind.

30 I have seen the person that you have sent to save your people.

31 You have sent him to the world

and people everywhere will know about him.

32 He will bring light to people so that they can know you.

He will show you to people of other nations.

He will bring honour to your own people, the Israelites.’

33 That is what Simeon said about Jesus. His message surprised Mary and Joseph very much.

34 Then Simeon asked God to be good and kind to Mary and to Joseph. After that, he spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus. He said to her, ‘God has chosen this baby. He will cause many people in Israel to turn away from God. But many of them will turn to God because of him. He will be like a sign that points to God. But many people will speak against him. 35 This will show their secret thoughts about God. It will make you very sad, too. It will seem as if a sharp knife is cutting into you.’

Anna thanks God for Jesus

36 A very old woman called Anna was also there in the temple. She spoke messages that God gave to her. Anna was the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She had lived with her husband for seven years and then he had died. 37 After that, she had lived alone until she was 84 years old. Now she never left the temple. She stayed there day and night to worship God. She fasted and she prayed.

38 At that moment, Anna came to where Mary and Joseph were standing in the temple. When she saw the baby, she thanked God for him. Then she began to speak about him to other people there. Many people were waiting for God to make Jerusalem free. These were the people that she spoke to about the child, Jesus.

39 When Mary and Joseph had done everything that God's rules said, they returned home to the town of Nazareth in Galilee. 40 There the child grew up. God was kind to him and he became strong. He learned many things and he could understand them well.

Jesus talks with teachers in the temple as a young boy

41 Every year, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

42 When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents took him with them to Jerusalem. They went as usual for the festival. 43 When the week finished, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem to return home. But Jesus stayed behind and his parents did not know this. 44 They thought that he was with their group on the way home. They travelled for a whole day. Then they began to look for him among their family and friends.

45 They could not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem. They looked for him there. 46 After three days, they found him in the temple. He was sitting there among the teachers. He was listening to what they were saying. He was also asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard Jesus was very surprised. He understood so many things and he could answer difficult questions. 48 When Jesus' parents saw him there, they were also very surprised. His mother said to him, ‘My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have looked everywhere for you. We have had a lot of trouble in our mind.’

49 Jesus answered them, ‘You should not have needed to look for me. I must be in the place where my Father wants me to be. You should have known that.’ 50 But his parents did not understand what he was saying to them.

51 Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with them. He did what they wanted. His mother, Mary, was careful to remember all the special things that had happened. She thought about them a lot. 52 Jesus grew up into a man. He became strong and he could understand more and more things. God was pleased with him, and people were pleased with him too.