The Life of Jesus

to a virgin, betrothed to a man, whose name is Joseph, of the house of David, and the name of the virgin is Mary.

And the messenger having come in unto her, said, `Hail, favoured one, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women;'

and she, having seen, was troubled at his word, and was reasoning of what kind this salutation may be.

And the messenger said to her, `Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God;

and lo, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and call his name Jesus;

he shall be great, and Son of the Highest he shall be called, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father,

and he shall reign over the house of Jacob to the ages; and of his reign there shall be no end.'

And Mary said unto the messenger, `How shall this be, seeing a husband I do not know?'

And the messenger answering said to her, `The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also the holy-begotten thing shall be called Son of God;

and lo, Elisabeth, thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her who was called barren;

because nothing shall be impossible with God.'

And Mary said, `Lo, the maid-servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to thy saying,' and the messenger went away from her.

And Mary having arisen in those days, went to the hill-country, with haste, to a city of Judea,

and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.

And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe did leap in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

and spake out with a loud voice, and said, `Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb;

and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord might come unto me?

for, lo, when the voice of thy salutation came to my ears, leap in gladness did the babe in my womb;

and happy is she who did believe, for there shall be a completion to the things spoken to her from the Lord.'

And Mary said, `My soul doth magnify the Lord,

And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour,

Because He looked on the lowliness of His maid-servant, For, lo, henceforth call me happy shall all the generations,

For He who is mighty did to me great things, And holy is His name,

And His kindness is to generations of generations, To those fearing Him,

He did powerfully with His arm, He scattered abroad the proud in the thought of their heart,