Luke 2:4-41

⁴Joseph belonged to David’s family. 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 he had to get up and go south to Bethlehem, to put his name on the right list.

⁵Joseph took Mary with him. She was his promised wife, and she was carrying a baby inside her at that time.

⁶At 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 some strips of cloth and put him down to sleep in an animal’s feed box.

⁸Not far away, on that same night, some men were out in the grass lands looking after their sheep.

⁹Suddenly, an angel messenger from heaven stood there with them, and bright light from God was shining all around them, and they were very frightened.

¹⁰But the angel said, “Don’t be frightened. I’ve got real good news for you, and good news for everyone in the world, too.

¹¹Today a young woman had a baby boy over there in Bethlehem, in the place where David grew up. You go there and you will find him. He is wrapped up in strips of cloth and lying in an animal’s feed box. Then you will know that this message I tell you is true. He is the one that is going to save you people. He is the one God promised to send to be your leader.”

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

¹⁴“God, you are real great there in heaven. And here on the earth, your people are quiet and happy. You are real good to your people.”

¹⁵Then 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.”

¹⁶Then they got up quickly and went and found Mary and Joseph, with the baby boy in an animal’s feed box, just like the angel said.

¹⁷After that those men went back to their sheep. They told everyone what they saw, and what God’s messenger told them. Everything happened just like he said. So they praised God and said he is great. Everyone was surprised when they heard these things, and Mary remembered them all her life and thought about them a lot.

²¹The law of Moses said that they had to do a young man’s operation on all baby boys as soon as they were 8 days old. So they did that to him, and they gave him his name, Jesus, at that time. That’s the name God’s messenger told Mary to call him, before she started to carry that baby inside her.

²²The 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, and kill 2 pigeons and burn them there, 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.

²⁵There was an old man in Jerusalem called 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 was with him.

²⁶Before this time the Holy Spirit told him, “You will stay alive till you see the person God will send to help the Israel people.”

²⁷On that same day, as Joseph and Mary took Jesus to God’s ceremony house, the Holy Spirit told Simeon to go there too, so he was there when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus in.

²⁸And Simeon took Jesus from them, and held him in his arms, and he thanked God, and said,

²⁹“Now, God, I can die happy and quiet, just like you promised me,

³⁰because now I can see the one you promised to send. People in every tribe will see him, and he will save them.

³²He will shine like a light for people that are not Jews, showing them new things about you, God. And he will get everyone to respect your people, the Israel nation.”

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

³⁴Then 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 won’t understand, and they will argue against him.

³⁵In that way they will show everyone what they really think. And Mary, later you will be real sad. It will hurt, like somebody is stabbing you with a big knife.”

³⁶While Joseph and Mary were talking to Simeon, a very old woman called Anna came along and saw Jesus, and she thanked God for him. She called out to all the people close by and told them about Jesus, that he was the one they were waiting for, and she said that God sent him to help the Jerusalem people. Anna’s father was Phanuel, and he belonged to the tribe called Asher. She was 84 years old. A long time before this Anna was a young married woman for 7 years, but then 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.

³⁹After that, Joseph and Mary finished doing everything their law said they had to do. Then they went back home, to Nazareth, in Galilee country.

⁴⁰And the baby started to grow big and strong, and he got wise too. And God was good to him.

⁴¹The Jewish people have a ceremony every year called Passover. Every year Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for that ceremony.