? Just after the same manner it has happened to me.

8 Then Joseph arising from the ground, called her, and said, O thou who hast been so much favoured by God, why hast thou done this?

9 Why hast thou thus debased thy soul, who wast educated in the Holy of Holies, and received thy food from the hand of angels ?

10 But she, with a flood of

sleep, and glorified the God of Israel, who had shown him such favour, and preserved the Virgin.

CHAP. XI.

3 Annas visits Joseph, perceives the Virgin big with child, 4 informs the high priest that Joseph had privately married her. 8 Joseph and Mary brought to trial on the charge. 17 Joseph drinks the water of the Lord as an ordeal, and receiving no harm, returns home.

HEN came Annas the scribe,

have known no man.

11 Then said Joseph, How comes it to pass you are with child?

12 Mary answered, As the Lord my God liveth, I know not by what means.

TH

fore have we not seen you since your return }

2 And Joseph replied, Because I was weary after my journey, and rested the first day.

14 If I conceal her crime, I shall be found guilty by the law of the Lord;

15 And if I discover her to the children of Israel, I fear, lest she being with child by an angel, I shall be found to betray the life of an innocent person:

16 What therefore shall I do? I will privately dismiss her.

17 Then the night was come upon him, when behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said,

18 Be not afraid to take that young woman, for that which is within her is of the Holy Ghost;

19 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

20 Then Joseph arose from his

4 And went away to the priest, and told him, Joseph in whom you placed so much confidence, is guilty of a notorious crime, in that he hath defiled the Virgin whom he received out of the temple of the Lord, and hath privately married her, not discovering it to the children of Israel.

5 Then said the priest, Hath Joseph done this?

6 Annas replied, If you send any of your servants you will find that she is with child.

7 And the servants went, and found it as he said.

8 Upon this both she and Joseph were brought to their trial, and the priest said unto her, Mary, what hast thou done?

9 Why hast thou debased thy soul, and forgot thy God, seeing thou wast brought up in the Holy of Holies, and didst receive thy

Joseph's trial

food from the hands of angels, and heardest their songs?

10 Why hast thou done this? 11 To which with a flood of tears she answered, As the Lord my God liveth, I am innocent in his sight, seeing I know no

man.

12 Then the priest said to Joseph, Why hast thou done. this?

13 And Joseph answered, As the Lord my God liveth, I have not been concerned with her.

14 But the priest said, Lie not, but declare the truth; thou hast privately married her, and not discovered it to the children of Israel, and humbled thyself under the mighty hand (of God), that thy seed might be blessed.

15 And Joseph was silent. 16 Then said the priest (to Joseph), You must restore to the temple of the Lord the Virgin which you took thence.

17 But he wept bitterly, and the priest added, I will cause you both to drink the water of the Lord,' which is for trial, and so your iniquity shall be laid open before you.

18 Then the priest took the water, and made Joseph drink, and sent him to a mountainous place.

19 And he returned perfectly well, and all the people wondered that his guilt was not discovered.

20 So the priest said, Since the Lord hath not made your sins evident, neither do I condemn you.

21 So he sent them away. 22 Then Joseph took Mary, and went to his house, rejoicing and praising the God of Israel.

Num. v. 18.

and acquittal.

CHAP. XII.

1 A decree from Augustus for taxing the Jews, 5 Joseph puts Mary on an ass, to return to Bethlehem, 6 she looks sorrowful, 7 she laughs, 8 Joseph inquires the cause of each, 9 she tells him she sees two persons, one mourning and the other rejoicing, 10 the delivery being near, he takes her from the ass, and places her in a cave.

ND it came to pass, that

A there went forth a decree

from the Emperor Augustus, that all the Jews should be taxed, who were of Bethlehem in Judæa :

2 And Joseph said, I will take care that my children be taxed : but what shall I do with this young woman?

3 To have her taxed as my wife I am ashamed; and if I tax her as my daughter, all Israel knows she is not my daughter.

4 When the time of the Lord's appointment shall come, let him do as seems good to him.

5 And he saddled the ass, and put her upon it, and Joseph and Simon followed after her, and arrived at Bethlehem within three miles.

6 Then Joseph turning about saw Mary sorrowful, and said within himself, Perhaps she is in pain through that which is within her.

7 But when he turned about again he saw her laughing, and said to her,

8 Mary, how happens it, that I sometimes see sorrow, and sometimes laughter and joy in thy countenance?

9 And Mary replied to him, I see two people with mine eyes. the one weeping and mourning, the other laughing and rejoicing.

10 And he went again across the way, and Mary said to Jo

Luke ii. 1.

Miracles ut

seph, Take me down from the ass, for that which is in me presses to come forth.

11 But Joseph replied, Whither shall I take thee for the place is desert.

12 Then said Mary again to Joseph, take me down, for that which is within me mightily presses me.

13 And Joseph took her down. 14 And he found there a cave, and let her into it.

CHAP. XIII.

1 Joseph seeks a Hebrew midwife, 2 perceives the fowls stopping in their fight, 3 the working people at their food not moving, 8 the sheep standing still, 9 the shepherd fixed and immoveable, 10 and kids with their mouths touching the water but not drinking.

A

NL leaving her and his sons in the cave, Joseph went forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the village of Bethlehem.

2 But as I was going (said Joseph) I looked up into the air, and I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of their flight.

3 And I looked down towards the earth, and saw a table spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon the table, and they did not move to eat.

4 They who had meat in their mouths did not eat.

5 They who lifted their hands up to their heads did not draw them back:

6. And they who lifted them up to their mouths did not put anything in ;

7 But all their faces were fixed upwards.

Mary's labour.

9 And the shepherd lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up.

10 And I looked unto a river, and saw the kids with their mouths close to the water, and touching it, but they did not drink.

CHAP. XIV.

1 Joseph finds a midwife. 10 A bright cloud overshadows the cave. 11 A great light in the cave, gradually increases until the infant is born. 13 The midwife goes out, and tells Salome that she has seen a virgin bring forth. 17 Salome doubts it. 20 her hand withers, 22 she supplicates the Lord, 28 is cured, 30 but warned not to declare what she had

seen.

T

THEN I beheld a woman coming down from the mountains, and she said to me, Whereart thou going, O man?

2 And I said to her, I go to enquire for a Hebrew midwife.

3 She replied to me, Where is the woman that is to be delivered? 4 And I answered, In the cave, and she is betrothed to me.

5 Then said the midwife, Is she not thy wife?

6 Joseph answered, It is Mary, who was educated in the Holy of Holies, in the house of the Lord, and she fell to me by lot, and is not my wife, but has conceived by the Holy Ghost.

7 The midwife said, Is this true?

8 He answered, Come and see.

9 And the midwife went along with him, and stood in the cave. 10 Then a bright cloud over

The wise men. 2 Who said, Where is the king of the Jews born? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3 When Herod heard this, he was exceedingly troubled, and sent messengers to the wise men, and to the priests, and enquired of them in the town-hall,

4 And said unto them, Where have you it written concerning Christ the king, or where should he be born?

5 Then they say unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa; for thus it is written: And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a ruler, who shall rule my people Israel.

6 And having sent away the chief priests, he inquired of the wise men in the town-hall, and said unto them, What sign was it ye saw concerning the king that is born?

7 They answered him, We saw an extraordinary large star shining among the stars of heaven, and so out-shined all the other stars, as that they became not visible, and we knew thereby that a great king was born in Israel, and therefore we are come to worship him.

8 Then said Herod to them, Go and make diligent inquiry; and if ye find the child, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

9 So the wise men went forth, and behold, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over the cave where the young child was with Mary his mother.

10 Then they brought forth out of their treasures, and offered

Star in the East.

unto him gold and frankincense, and myrrh.

11 And being warned in 8 dream by an angel, that they should not return to Herod through Judæa, they departed into their own country by another way.

CHAP. XVI.

1 Herod enraged, orders the infants in Bethlehem to be slain. 2 Mary puts her infant in an ox-manger. 3 Eliza beth flees with her son John to the mountains. 6 A mountain miracu lously divides and receives them. 9 Herod incensed at the escape of John, causes Zacharias to be murdered at the altar, 23 the roofs of the temple rent, the body miraculously conveyed, and the blood petrified. 25 Israel mourns for him. 27 Simeon chosen his suo cessor by lot.

HEN Herod' perceiving that

THE

he was mocked by the wise men, and being very angry, commanded certain men to go and to kill all the children that were in Bethlehem, from two years old and under.

2 But Mary hearing that the children were to be killed, being under much fear, took the child, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in an oxmanger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

2