Luke (Luk) 2

¹Around this time, Emperor Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken throughout the Empire.

²This registration, the first of its kind, took place when Quirinius was governing in Syria.

³Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

⁴So Yosef, because he was a descendant of David, went up from the town of Natzeret in the Galil to the town of David, called Beit-Lechem, in Y’hudah,

⁵to be registered, with Miryam, to whom he was engaged, and who was pregnant.

⁶While they were there, the time came for her to give birth;

⁷and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in cloth and laid him down in a feeding trough, because there was no space for them in the living-quarters.

⁸In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night in the fields, guarding their flocks,

⁹when an angel of Adonai appeared to them, and the Sh’khinah of Adonai shone around them. They were terrified;

¹⁰but the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, because I am here announcing to you Good News that will bring great joy to all the people.

¹¹This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord.

¹²Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”

¹³Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven praising God:

¹⁴“In the highest heaven, glory to God!

And on earth, peace among people of good will!”

¹⁵No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven than the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go over to Beit-Lechem and see this thing that has happened, that Adonai has told us about.”

¹⁶Hurrying off, they came and found Miryam and Yosef, and the baby lying in the feeding trough.

¹⁷Upon seeing this, they made known what they had been told about this child;

¹⁸and all who heard were amazed by what the shepherds said to them.

¹⁹Miryam treasured all these things and kept mulling them over in her heart.

²⁰Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told.

²¹On the eighth day, when it was time for his b’rit-milah , he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception.

²²When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai

²³(as it is written in the Torah of Adonai , “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai ”)

²⁴and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai .

²⁵There was in Yerushalayim a man named Shim‘on. This man was a tzaddik , he was devout, he waited eagerly for God to comfort Isra’el, and the Ruach HaKodesh was upon him.

²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Ruach HaKodesh that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah of Adonai .

²⁷Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required,

²⁸Shim‘on took him in his arms, made a b’rakhah to God, and said,

²⁹“Now, Adonai , according to your word,

your servant is at peace as you let him go;

³⁰for I have seen with my own eyes your yeshu‘ah ,

³¹which you prepared in the presence of all peoples —

³²a light that will bring revelation to the Goyim

and glory to your people Isra’el.”

³³Yeshua’s father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim‘on was saying about him.

³⁴Shim‘on blessed them and said to the child’s mother, Miryam,

“This child will cause many in Isra’el to fall and to rise,

he will become a sign whom people will speak against;

³⁵moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too.

All this will happen in order to reveal many people’s inmost thoughts.”

³⁶There was also a prophet named Hannah Bat-P’nu’el, of the tribe of Asher. She was a very old woman — she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage

³⁷and had remained a widow ever since; now she was eighty-four. She never left the Temple grounds but worshipped there night and day, fasting and praying.

³⁸She came by at that moment and began thanking God and speaking about the child to everyone who was waiting for Yerushalayim to be liberated.

³⁹When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of Adonai , they returned to the Galil, to their town Natzeret.

⁴⁰The child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom — God’s favor was upon him.

⁴¹Every year Yeshua’s parents went to Yerushalayim for the festival of Pesach .

⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up for the festival, as custom required.

⁴³But after the festival was over, when his parents returned, Yeshua remained in Yerushalayim. They didn’t realize this;

⁴⁴supposing that he was somewhere in the caravan, they spent a whole day on the road before they began searching for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵Failing to find him, they returned to Yerushalayim to look for him.

⁴⁶On the third day they found him — he was sitting in the Temple court among the rabbis, not only listening to them but questioning what they said;

⁴⁷and everyone who heard him was astonished at his insight and his responses.

⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were shocked; and his mother said to him, “Son! Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you!”

⁴⁹He said to them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be concerning myself with my Father’s affairs?”

⁵⁰But they didn’t understand what he meant.

⁵¹So he went with them to Natzeret and was obedient to them. But his mother stored up all these things in her heart.

⁵²And Yeshua grew both in wisdom and in stature, gaining favor both with other people and with God.