of
Wisdom and Understanding, the
Spirit of Counsel and Might, the
Spirit of Knowledge and Piety,
and the Spirit of the fear of the
Lord shall fill him.

16 Then, according to this
prophecy, he appointed, that all
the men of the house and family
of David, who were marriageable,
and not married, should bring their
several rods to the altar,

17 And out of whatsoever
person's rod after it was brought,
a flower should bud forth, and on
the top of it the Spirit of the Lord
should sit in the appearance of a
dove, he should be the man to
whom the Virgin should be given
and be betrothed.

CHAPTER VI.

1 Joseph draws back his rod.
5 The dove pitches on it. He betroths Mary and
returns to Bethlehem.
7 Mary returns to her parents' house at Galilee.

AMONG the rest there was a
man named Joseph of the
house and family of David, and a
person very far advanced in years,
who kept back his rod, when every
one besides presented his.

2 So that when nothing appeared
agreeable to the heavenly voice,
the high-priest judged it proper to
consult God again.

3 Who answered that he to
whom the Virgin was to be
betrothed was the only person of
those who were brought together,
who had not brought his rod.

4 Joseph therefore was betrayed.

5 For, when he did bring his
rod, and a dove coming from
Heaven pitched upon the top of
it, every one plainly saw, that the
Virgin was to be betrothed to him.

6 Accordingly, the usual
ceremonies of betrothing being over,
he returned to his own city of
Bethlehem, to set his house in
order, and make the needful
provisions for the marriage.

7 But the Virgin of the Lord,
Mary, with seven other virgins of
the same age, who had been weaned
at the same time, and who had
been appointed to attend her by
the priest, returned to her parents'
house in Galilee.

CHAPTER VII.

7 The salutation of the Virgin by Gabriel, who explains to her
that she shall conceive, without lying with a man, while a Virgin,
19 by the Holy Ghost coming upon her without the heats of lust.
21 She submits.

NOW at this time of her first
coming into Galilee, the
angel Gabriel was sent to her
from God, to declare to her the
conception of our Saviour, and
the manner and way of her
conceiving him.

2 Accordingly going into her,
he filled the chamber where she
was with a prodigious light, and
in a most courteous manner saluting
her, he said,