Then the Messenger of the Lord said to her, “You are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You will name him Ishmael [God Hears], because the Lord has heard your cry of distress.
Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben [Here’s My Son], because she said, “Certainly, the Lord has seen my misery; now my husband will love me!”
I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
Adam made love to his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because ⌞she said,⌟ “God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
That day the man of God ⌞also⌟ gave ⌞them⌟ a miraculous sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord will give you: You will see the altar torn apart. The ashes on it will be poured ⌞on the ground⌟.”
It will sweep through Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will be neck-high. Its outspread wings will extend over your whole country, O Immanuel.
A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are too small to be included among Judah’s cities. Yet, from you Israel’s future ruler will come for me. His origins go back to the distant past, to days long ago.
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.
The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.
The mystery that gives us our reverence for God is acknowledged to be great: He appeared in his human nature, was approved by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was announced throughout the nations, was believed in the world, and was taken to heaven in glory.
She called the boy Ichabod [No Glory], saying, “Israel’s glory is gone,” because the ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and her husband ⌞died⌟.