then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, ¹  because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: ²  go, humble yourself, ³  and appeal firmly ⁴  to your neighbor.

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ¹  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ² 

For a child has been ¹  born to us, a son has been given to us. He shoulders responsibility and is called: ²  Extraordinary Strategist, ³  Mighty God, ⁴  Everlasting Father, ⁵  Prince of Peace. ⁶ 

A wolf will reside ¹  with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, ²  as a small child leads them along.

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹  Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ²  Even if mothers ³  were to forget, I could never forget you! ⁴ 

So I said, ¹  “Oh, my dear people, ²  put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now ³  that destructive army ⁴  will come against us.”

Will the Lord accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin? ¹ 

He ¹  sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”

After listening to the king they left, and once again ¹  the star they saw when it rose ²  led them until it stopped above the place where the child was.

As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ¹  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ²  and myrrh. ³ 

“Woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ²  and when you get one, ³  you make him twice as much a child of hell ⁴  as yourselves!

The angel replied, ¹  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow ²  you. Therefore the child ³  to be born ⁴  will be holy; ⁵  he will be called the Son of God.

So ¹  Simeon, ²  directed by the Spirit, ³  came into the temple courts, ⁴  and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, ⁵ 

Then ¹  Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Listen carefully: ²  This child ³  is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising ⁴  of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected. ⁵ 

At that moment, ¹  she came up to them ²  and began to give thanks to God and to speak ³  about the child ⁴  to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ⁵ 

When ¹  his parents ²  saw him, they were overwhelmed. His ³  mother said to him, “Child, ⁴  why have you treated ⁵  us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” ⁶ 

Now when he came to the house, Jesus ¹  did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, ²  and James, and the child’s father and mother.

and said to them, “Whoever welcomes ¹  this child ²  in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.” ³ 

But Abraham said, ‘Child, ¹  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ²