Luke 2

₁In that time Caesar Augustus told his men to see how many people were in the land. ₂In that year Quirinius was governor in the province of Syria. ₃All the men went to put their names on a list. Each man went to the town where his family had always lived. ₄Joseph lived in the town of Nazareth in Galilee, but he had to go to Bethlehem because Bethlehem was the town of King David, and Joseph was from the family and descendants of King David. ₅Joseph was engaged to Mary. She was pregnant and she went with Joseph to Bethlehem. ₆When they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have her Baby. ₇Her Son was born. He was her first Child. She put a cloth around Him and she put Him in a crib because there was no place for them in a guest house.

₈That night there were shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem who looked after their sheep. ₉An angel of the Lord came to them and he stood by them and the light of the Lord shone on them. They were afraid. ₁₀The angel said to them: ‘Don't be afraid. I bring you good news. Everyone will be very happy when they hear what has happened. ₁₁Today the Saviour was born in the City of David. He is Christ the Lord. ₁₂You will know who He is when you see a Baby in a crib with a cloth around Him.’

₁₃Immediately there were a lot of other angels from heaven with them. The angels praised God and said:

₁₅The angels went away from the shepherds. They went back to heaven. Then the shepherds said: ‘Let us go to Bethlehem to see what has happened, to see the things that the Lord told us about.’

₁₆The shepherds went immediately and they saw Mary and Joseph and the Baby. He was lying in a crib. ₁₇When the shepherds saw the Baby, they told the people what the angel had said about the Child. ₁₈Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. ₁₉But Mary continued to think about it. ₂₀The shepherds went back to their sheep and they praised God and said wonderful things about Him. Everything they saw and heard was just like the angel had told them.

₂₁When Jesus was 8 days old, it was time to circumcise Him and they named Him Jesus. This was the name that the angel had told Mary to give Him before she became pregnant. ₂₂Moses said in his laws that a woman must give an offering to become pure again after she has had a baby. Mary did that and then she and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem to show Him to the Lord, ₂₃because the Lord says in his laws:

₂₄The laws of the Lord also say that a father and mother must give an offering to God when they have a baby. They must give 2 big or small doves. Mary and Joseph did that.

₂₅There was a man in Jerusalem. His name was Simeon. He did what God wanted and he served the Lord every day. He believed that the Lord would send someone to the Israelites to come and save them. The Holy_Spirit came to Simeon ₂₆and He told Simeon that he would see the Christ, the Lord, before he died. ₂₇One day the Holy_Spirit told Simeon to go to the temple. That was on the same day that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to do what the laws of Moses say. ₂₈Simeon took baby Jesus in his arms and he praised God and said:

₃₃Joseph and Mary were amazed when they heard what Simeon said about Jesus. ₃₄Simeon blessed them and he said to Mary, the mother of Jesus: ‘God has chosen this Child. He will tell a lot of Israelites how to serve God. Some people will listen to Him, but many people will not accept Him. ₃₅Mary, you will suffer a lot. People will argue about this Child and that will show what every person thinks about Him.’

₃₆The same day there was a prophet in the temple. She was a woman. Her name was Anna and she was very old. Her father was Penuel. He was from the Asher tribe. Anna had married when she was young and her husband had died after 7 years. ₃₇After he had died, she did not get married again. She was 84 years old now and every day she was in the temple. She worshipped God and fasted and prayed day and night. ₃₈Anna came to Joseph and Mary and she thanked God and she talked about Jesus to all the people who were waiting for God to free the people of Jerusalem.

₃₉Joseph and Mary did everything that the laws of the Lord said and they went back to their town of Nazareth in Galilee. ₄₀Jesus was a Child but He grew up and became strong and wise and God was very good to Him.

₄₁Every year Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. ₄₂When Jesus was 12 years old, they went to Jerusalem again as they always did. ₄₃When the feast was over, Joseph and Mary went back to Nazareth, but Jesus did not go with them. He stayed in Jerusalem and his parents did not know. ₄₄They did not see Jesus but they thought He was with the other people who were going back to Nazareth. They were looking for Jesus with their family and friends ₄₅but when they did not find Him after one day, they went back to Jerusalem to look for Him there. ₄₆After 3 days they found Jesus in the temple. He was listening to the teachers and He asked them a lot of questions. ₄₇Everyone who listened to Jesus was surprised by how much He knew and that He could answer difficult questions. ₄₈When his parents saw Him, they were amazed and his mother said to Him: ‘My Child, why did You do this to us? Your father and I have looked everywhere for You and we were very worried about You.’

₄₉But Jesus said to them: ‘Why did you look for Me? Didn't you know that I would be here in my Father's house? I must talk about Him.’ ₅₀But they did not understand what his words meant. ₅₁Jesus went with his parents to Nazareth and He obeyed them. His mother remembered everything that had happened and she thought about it a lot. ₅₂Jesus grew up and He became very wise. God and the people loved Him.