Luke 2:1-6

¹About that time the Emperor Augustus commanded that ◄ his officials must write down the names/ a census be taken► of all the people who lived in countries controlled by the Roman government {that the Roman government controlled}, so that the government could collect taxes from them.

²That was the first time that they ◄wrote down the names/took a census► in Syria province, which included Judea district. They did this while Quirinius was the governor of the province.

³Every person had to go to the town where his most famous ancestor had lived, so that the officials could write down their names.

⁴So, because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he went up from Nazareth, the town in Galilee district where he lived, to the town of Bethlehem in Judea district. That was the town where King David grew up.

⁵Joseph went with Mary, who was considered {whom people considered} to be his wife, who was now pregnant. They went so that they could put his name and Mary's name in the record book.

⁶When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was no place for them to stay in the house where travelers stay. So they stayed in a cattle shed. When the time for Mary to give birth arrived, she gave birth to her first son there. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and placed him in a trough where people put food for the animals.