Jesus’ Birth Foretold

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel ^(A)Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called ^(B)Nazareth, ²⁷ to ^(C)a virgin ^[a]engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, ^(D)of the ^[b]descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was ^[c]Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, ^[d]favored one! The Lord ^[e]is with you.” ²⁹ But she ^(E)was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “^(F)Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you ^(G)shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of ^(H)the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him ^(I)the throne of His father David; ^33 (J)and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, ^(K)and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How ^[f]can this be, since I ^[g]am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “^(L)The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^(M)the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason ^(N)the ^[h]holy Child shall be called ^(O)the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and ^[i]she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For ^[j](P)nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, the ^[k]bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Other Appearances

³⁶ While they were telling these things, ^(A)He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷ But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing ^(B)a spirit. ³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your ^[a]hearts? ^39 (C)See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; ^(D)touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹ While they still ^[b](E)could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “^(F)Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; ⁴³ and He took it and ^(G)ate it before them.

⁴⁴ Now He said to them, “^(H)These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the ^(I)Law of Moses and the Prophets and ^(J)the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then He ^(K)opened their ^[c]minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and He said to them, “^(L)Thus it is written, that the ^[d]Christ would suffer and ^(M)rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that ^(N)repentance ^[e]for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed ^[f]in His name to ^(O)all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are ^(P)witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, ^(Q)I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but ^(R)you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰ And He led them out as far as ^(S)Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple ^[g]praising God.