1-3 About the time that John was born, the biggest boss over all those countries was called Augustus. He sent a message to everyone in every country. He said, “The government bosses in every town have to write down everyone’s name on a big list, and make them pay tax money.” So everyone had to go back to their home town and put their names on the list there. (At that time a man called Quirinius was the government boss over Syria country.)

4 Joseph belonged to the family of David, the man that was Israel’s big boss a long time ago. David grew up in the town called Bethlehem, in Judea country, but Joseph lived in a town called Nazareth, in Galilee country. So Joseph had to go south to Bethlehem, to put his name on the right list. 5 Joseph took Mary with him. She was his promised wife, and she was carrying a baby inside her at that time.

6-7 At Bethlehem they couldn’t find any room to stay in, so they had to sleep in the place where the animals ate their food. Then the time came for Mary to have her baby. She had her baby right there, and she wrapped him up in bits of cloth, just like mothers always did. And she put him down to sleep in an animal’s feed box.

8 Not far away, on that same night, some men were out in the grass lands looking after their sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel messenger from God stood there with them, and bright light from God was shining all around them, and they were very frightened. 10 But the angel said, “Don’t be frightened. I’ve got really good news for you, and good news for everyone in the world too. 11-12 Today a young woman had a baby boy over there in Bethlehem, in the place where David grew up. Go there, and you will find him. He is wrapped up in cloth, and lying in an animal’s feed box. Then you will know that this message is true. He is the one that is going to save you people. He is the Christ, the man that God promised to send to you, to be your leader.”

13 Then suddenly a big mob of other angel messengers came from heaven, and they all praised God. They said,

15 Then the angels went back to heaven, and the men said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this baby that God just told us about.” 16 Then they went quickly, and they found Mary and Joseph, with the baby boy in an animal’s feed box, just like the angel said.

17 After those men saw the baby, they talked to people about him, and they told them the message that God’s angel gave them. 18 Everyone was surprised when they heard what those men said. 19 And Mary remembered their words, and she thought about them a lot. 20 As those men walked back to their sheep, they talked about how everything happened, just like God’s angel said. They said to God, “You are really great.” And they told everybody that God is great.

21 You know, the law of Moses said that they had to do a young man operation on all baby boys as soon as they were 8 days old. So Mary’s baby had that operation, and they gave him his name, Jesus, at that time. That’s the name that God’s angel messenger told Mary to call him, before she started to carry that baby inside her.* Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:31

22-24 The Jewish law is like this, a woman’s first baby boy belongs to God. And after a baby boy is born, the mother can’t go into God’s ceremony house or do any of their ceremonies for the next 40 days. It is like she is not clean. Then, after 40 days, she has to go to God’s ceremony house in Jerusalem. She has to get a leader of the Jewish ceremonies there to kill 2 pigeons and burn them, and let the smoke go up to God. This will make her clean again for Jewish ceremonies. So Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem at the right time to follow that law. They took baby Jesus with them.* Exodus 13:2, 12, 15; Leviticus 12:6-8

25 There was an old man in Jerusalem at that time. His name was Simeon. He was a good man that lived God’s way, and he was waiting for God to make the Israel people happy again. And the Holy Spirit used to tell him things. 26 Before that time, the Holy Spirit told him, “You will stay alive until you see the special man that God will send to save his people. He is called the Christ.” 27 Then on the day that Joseph and Mary took Jesus into God’s ceremony house, the Holy Spirit told Simeon to go there too, so he was there when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus in. 28 And Simeon took Jesus from them, and held him in his arms, and he thanked God, and said,

33 Joseph and Mary heard the things Simeon said about Jesus, and they were surprised.

34 Then Simeon asked God to be good to them, and he said to Mary, “This kid is going to ruin a lot of people in Israel, but he will help a lot of others. He will point people to God, but they will not understand, and they will argue against him. 35 When they do that, they will show everyone what they really think. And Mary, later you will be really sad. It will hurt, like somebody is stabbing you with a big knife.”

36-38 While Joseph and Mary were talking to Simeon, a very old woman came along. Her name was Anna. She saw Jesus, and she thanked God for him. Some of the people there were waiting for God to send somebody to help the Jewish people. Anna told them about Jesus, that he is that special person.

Anna’s father was Fanuel, and he belonged to the tribe called Asher. She was 84 years old. A long time before this, Anna was a young woman and she got married. But then after 7 years her husband died. After that, she stayed in God’s ceremony house all the time, telling the people God’s words. She prayed all the time, in the day time and at night, and often she didn’t eat any food because she was praying.