forth the Son of God:
13 Gives him a sign,
14 and departs.

BUT when he had been there for
some time, on a certain day
when he was alone, the angel
of the Lord stood by him with
a prodigious light.

2 To whom, being troubled at
the appearance, the angel who had
appeared to him, endeavouring to
compose him, said:

3 Be not afraid, Joachim, nor
troubled at the sight of me, for
I am an angel of the Lord sent by
him to you, that I might inform
you that your prayers are heard,
and your alms ascended in the
sight of God.

4 For he hath surely seen your
shame, and heard you unjustly
reproached for not having children:
for God is the avenger of sin,
and not of nature;

5 And so when he shuts the
womb of any person, he does it for
this reason, that he may in a more
wonderful manner again open it,
and that which is born appear to
be not the product of lust, but the
gift of God.

6 For the first mother of your
nation, Sarah, was she not barren
even till her eightieth year: and
yet even in the end of her old age
brought forth Isaac, in whom the
promise was made of a blessing to
all nations.

7 Rachel, also, so much in
favour with God, and beloved so
much by holy Jacob, continued
barren for a long time, yet
afterwards was the mother of Joseph,
who was not only governor of
Egypt, but delivered many nations
from perishing with hunger.

8 Who among the judges was
more valiant than Sampson, or more
holy than Samuel? And yet both
their mothers were barren.

9 But if reason will not convince
you of the truth of my words, that
there are frequent conceptions in
advanced years, and that those
who were barren have brought forth
to their great surprise; therefore
Anna your wife shall bring you a
daughter, and you shall call her
name Mary;

10 She shall, according to your
vow, be devoted to the Lord from
her infancy, and be filled with the
Holy Ghost from her mother's
womb;

11 She shall neither eat nor
drink any thing which is unclean,
nor shall her conversation be
without among the common people,
but in the temple of the Lord;
that so she may not fall under any
slander or suspicion of what is bad.

12 So in the process of her
years, as she shall be in a
miraculous manner born of one that
was barren, so she shall, while yet
a virgin, in a way unparalleled,
bring forth the Son of the most
High God, who shall, be called
Jesus, and, according to the
signification of his na