1 The priests desire a new veil for the temple,
3 seven virgins cast lots for making different parts of it,
4 the lot to spin the true purple falls to Mary.
5 Zacharias, the high priest, becomes dumb.
7 Mary takes a pot to draw water, and hears a voice,
8 trembles and begins to work,
9 an angel Appears and salutes her, and tells her she
shall conceive by the Holy Ghost,
17 she submits.
19 Visits her cousin Elizabeth, whose child in her womb leaps.
AND it came to pass, in a council
of the priests, it was said,
Let us make a new veil for the
temple of the Lord.
2 And the high-priest said,
Call together to me seven undefiled
virgins of the tribe of David.
3 And the servants went and
brought them into the temple of
the Lord, and the high-priest said
unto them, Cast lots before me
now, who of you shall spin the
golden thread, who the blue, who
the scarlet, who the fine linen, and
who the true purple.
4 Then the high-priest knew
Mary; that she was of the tribe of
David; and he called her, and the
true purple fell to her lot to spin,
and she went away to her own
house.
5 But from that time Zacharias
the high-priest became dumb, and
Samuel was placed in his room till
Zacharias spoke again.
6 But Mary took the true purple;
and did spin it.
7 And she took a pot, and
went out to draw water, and heard
a voice saying unto her, Hail thou
who art full of grace, the Lord
is with thee; thou art blessed
among women.
8 And she looked round to the
right and to the left (to see) whence
that voice came, and then trembling
went into her house, and laying
down the water-pot, she took
the purple, and sat down in her
seat to work it.
9 And behold the angel of the
Lord stood by her, and said, Fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found
favour in the sight of God.
10 Which when she heard, she
reasoned with herself what that
sort of salutation meant.
11 And the angel said unto her,
The Lord is with thee, and thou
shalt conceive:
12 To which she replied, What!
shall I conceive by the living God
and bring forth as all other
women do?
13 But the angel returned
answer, Not so, O Mary, but the
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Most High
shall overshadow thee;
14 Wherefore that which shall
be born of thee shall be holy,
and shall be called the Son of the
Living God, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus; for he shall save his
people from their sins.
15 And behold thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also hath conceived a son in her
old age.
16 And this now is the sixth
month with her, who was called
barren: for nothing is impossible
with God.
17 And Mary said, Behold the
handmaid of the Lord; let it be
unto me according to thy word.
18 And when she had wrought
her purple, she carried it to the
high-priest, and the high-priest
blessed her, saying, Mary, the
Lord God hath magnified thy name,
and thou shalt be blessed in all the
ages of the world.
19 Then Mary, filled with joy,
went away to her cousin Elizabeth,
and knocked at the door.
20 Which when Elizabeth heard,
she ran and opened to her, and
blessed her, and said, Whence is
this to me, that the mother of my
Lord should come unto me?
21 For lo! as soon as the voice
of thy salutation reached my ears,
that which is in me leaped and
blessed thee.
22 But Mary, being ignorant of
all those mysterious things which
the archangel Gabriel had spoken
to her, lifted up her eyes to heaven,
and said, Lord! What am I, that
all the generations of the earth
should call me blessed?
23 But perceiving herself daily
to grow big, and being afraid, she
went home, and hid herself from
the children of Israel; and was
fourteen years old when all these
things happened.