Lucas 2

1 Now it happened in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole inhabited world should be enrolled.*Of course the Roman Empire did not control the whole world, but the decree was doubtless worded in grandiose terms. 2 This first census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.*Quirinius served two terms: the best known was in ad 6-10, but there is good evidence for a prior term in 4-1 bc 3 So everyone was traveling, each to his own town, to enroll himself.

At night, in Bethlehem, the Savior is born

4 So Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of Natsareth town, into Judea to the city of David, that is called Bethlehem, because he was of David’s ‘house’, that is, line of descent, 5 to enroll himself with Mary, the woman who had been betrothed to him,*That is what the Text says. We know from Matthew 1:24-25 that Joseph had already received her as his wife, but still had not had sexual relations with her—obviously an atypical situation. He had taken responsibility for her as his wife, but as far as sex was concerned she was still ‘pledged’—thus Luke’s unusual turn of phrase. who was pregnant.