Christmas.

[zspBANNED]

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 2
The Magi Visit the Messiah
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

 

[Kjell]

Pretty different from the version I heard, but interesteding read. I've alyways found it so odd that the translations can differ so much.

 

[codanostra]

I'll believe it when i see it :slug:

 

[ORBOTRON]

Thanks for posting this Z. Nice to see people keeping focus where it ought to be.

 

[Shepherd]

Pretty different from the version I heard, but interesteding read.

Bible history - and I'm talking the history of the text itself, not the larger world of biblical history - is a fascinating study. What people have read at any given time in history was a product of what was available to be translated, what scholars of the day were capable of translating, and what the powers at be thought was appropriate to put in the book. In our day and age we have access to more original sources and more ancient language experts than, say, the writers of the King James Version. Likewise the crafters of the KJV wanted to nudge messages in certain ways that reflected the needs of the time, just as the crafters of the New International Version nudged the language to reflect 20th century needs. That doesn't make any version bad, it just each a product of its time.

Regardless of what you and yours believe, I hope you have all had a peaceful holiday season. Later we can get back to our game of world domination!

 

[ORBOTRON]

Very true Shep, I find that type of study very interesting. As a Christian, I appreciate the way we can use both the ever increasing number of biblical texts, and our understanding of them to get as close as possible to the original. There is quite a debate in the theological world about the newer translations using dynamic equivalence, or thought for thought methods, the thing is, it's needed to some degree. Joe Shmo off the street won't be able to make heads or tails out of a literal translation. The fact that we have the old texts, and people dedicated to preserving and studying them means we can make understandable and relevant versions available to people without worry of losing anything.
Maybe we can make a map of scholars, secular and religious leaders fighting over versions of the Bible, lol

 

[Shepherd]

Well said, orbotron. I think that any text, from the Bible to the Koran to the Gita to the US Constitution, actually becomes more - not less - significant and meaningful when you understand the journey that the words have been through over the centuries. Just as Joe Shmo isn't going to make sense of a two thousand year old literal translation, Joe Shmo's 2010 reading is going to be loaded with 2010 background knowledge and values; so when Joe reads that "All men are created equal," he's probably going to assume that this also includes women and minorities. Words are dynamic.

Maybe we can make a map of scholars, secular and religious leaders fighting over versions of the Bible, lol

actually, some "holy land" maps would be fun. A series of such maps is probably the safest way to go, as any map of the region from any historical era is going to have detractors and lead to some debate... does a contemporary map represent Israel?