18 This is the account of what happened just before Jesus Christ was born. Mary, his mother, {had publicly promised Joseph that she would marry him} had been publicly promised to marry Joseph. Before they began to sleep together, Mary realized that she was pregnant. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that had caused her to become pregnant. 19 Joseph, her future husband, was a man who obeyed God’s commands. One of those commands was that men must divorce women who had acted immorally. So when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, he assumed that she was pregnant as a result of her acting immorally. So he decided to break the engagement. But because he did not want to shame her publicly, he decided to do it privately. 20 While he was seriously considering this, much to his surprise, in a dream he saw an angel whom the Lord had sent. The angel said, "Joseph, descendant of King David, do not be afraid that you(sg) would be doing wrong if you(sg) would marry Mary. Instead, begin to treat her as your wife, because the Holy Spirit, not a man, has caused her to be pregnant. 21 She will give birth to a son. Since it is he who will cause that his people will be saved from the guilt of their having sinned, name the baby Jesus, which means ‘the Lord saves people’."

22 All this happened as a result of what the Lord told the prophet Isaiah to write long ago about what was going to happen. This is what Isaiah wrote: 23 "Listen, a virgin will become pregnant and will give birth to a son. They will call him Emmanuel." Emmanuel means ‘God is with us’. 24 When Joseph got up from sleep, he did what the angel whom the Lord had sent commanded him to do. He took Mary home to be his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until she had given birth to a son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

14 Yahweh himself will do something for you to prove that he will help/protect you. Listen to this: A young woman will become pregnant and give birth to a son. She will name him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’.

26 When Elizabeth had been pregnant [EUP] for almost six months, the angel Gabriel was sent by God {God sent the angel Gabriel} again. 27 This time he went to Nazareth town in Galilee district, to a virgin whose name was Mary. It had been {Her parents had} promised that she would marry a man named Joseph, who was descended from King David.

30 Then the angel said to her, "Mary, God is very pleased with you (sg), so do not be afraid. 31 You will become pregnant and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. 32 He will become great. He will be called {People will call him} ◄the Son of God/the man who is also God►. God, the Lord, will make him a king [MTY] as his ancestor King David was. 33 He will be the King of the Jews, the descendants [MTY] of your ancestor Jacob, forever. He will rule as king forever!"

34 Then Mary said to the angel, "I am a virgin, so how can I have a baby?" 35 The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come to you; the power of God [MTY/EUP] will overshadow you and enable you to become pregnant. So the child you will bear will be completely set apart {give himself completely} to obey God, and he will be called {people will say that he is} ◄the Son of God/the man who is also God►.

13 You created all the parts of my body;

you put the parts of my body together when I was still in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because you made my body in a very awesome and wonderful way.

Everything that you do is amazing!

I know that very well.

15 When my body was being formed,

while it was being put together where no one else could see it,

you saw it!

16 You saw me before I was born.

You wrote in your book the number of days that you had decided that I would live.

You did that before any of those days had even started!

5 "I knew you before I finished forming you in your mother’s womb.

Before you were born, I ◄set you apart/chose you►

and I appointed you to be my prophet

whose messages would be for all nations."

9 Why do you not protect me now as you did when I was born?

I was safe even when I was ◄nursing/drinking milk from my mother’s breasts►.

10 It was as though you adopted me right when I was born.

You have ◄been my God/taken care of me► ever since I was born.

6 I have depended on you all my life;

you have taken care of me [IDM] since the day that I was born,

so I will always praise you.

15 But Yahweh replies,

"That is not true! ◄Can a woman forget the infant that she is nursing?/A woman certainly cannot forget the infant that she is nursing!► [RHQ]

◄Can she stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth?/She certainly cannot stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth!► [RHQ]

But even if a woman would do that,

I will not forget you!

9 Women certainly do not [RHQ] bring infants to the time when they are ready to be born and then do not allow them to be born.

Similarly, he will do for Jerusalem [MET] what he has promised to do:

He will cause Jerusalem to be full of people again.

That will happen because Yahweh has said it.

14 But when Jesus saw us scolding them, he said to us, "Let the children come to me! Do not stop them! It is people who are humble and trusting like they are, who can experience God’s rule in their lives."

4 The people who become as humble as this child or any child is, will be the most important people among those over whom God rules. 5 Also, when those who, because they love me, welcome a child like this one, God considers that they are welcoming me."

16 Then he embraced the children. He also put his hands on them and asked God to bless them.

3 Children are a gift that comes to parents from Yahweh;

they are a reward/blessing from him.

27 I prayed that Yahweh would enable me to give birth to a child, and this is the child whom I requested Yahweh to give me.

4 Yahweh, you have caused me to be glad;

I sing joyfully because of what you [SYN] have done.

3 Jesus replied to him, "Listen to this carefully: Unless people are born again and have a new life from God, they cannot even see the place where God rules [MET]!"

21 A woman who is about to bear a child feels pain, because that is what happens [MTY] at that time. But after her baby is born, she forgets that pain, because she is very joyful that her child has been born.

9 People do not continue sinning repeatedly if they have become children of God. Instead, they continue to conduct their lives according to the character/nature that God produced in them [MET]. They cannot continually sin because God has caused them to become his children.

9 Sing to him; sing songs to praise him.

Tell about all his miraculous deeds.