Sunday 6 January 2013

Christmas, by Luke - Part IV

Happy New Year! This is Part IV in a series of new translations of the nativity story from Luke. To read from the beginning, go to Part I , Part II and Part III.



PART IV : THE  SHEPHERDS ARRIVE
And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped up in cloth in a manger. Suddenly, alongside the angel a great host from heaven appeared, praising God and saying

“Glory in the highest to God,
and on earth good will to men.”

And when the angels had passed back into heaven, the shepherds spoke to each other: “Let’s go to Bethlehem to see this thing which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they departed with great haste and found Mary, Joseph and the baby lying in the manger. Having seen him, they went out and spread the word; what they had been told about this child, and everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were exactly what they had been told they would be.
2.12 καὶ τοῦτο ὑμῖν τὸ σημεῖον, εὑρήσετε βρέφος ἐσπαργανωμένον ἐν φάτνῃ. 2.13 καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἐγένετο σὺν τῷ ἀγγέλῳ πλῆθος στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου αἰνούντων τὸν θεὸν καὶ λεγόντων· 2.14 δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας. 2.15 Καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἀπῆλθον ἀπ’ αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν οἱ ἄγγελοι, οἱ ποιμένες ἐλάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους· διέλθωμεν δὴ ἕως Βηθλεὲμ καὶ ἴδωμεν τὸ ῥήμα τοῦτο τὸ γεγονὸς ὃ ὁ κύριος ἐγνώρισεν ἡμῖν. 2.16 καὶ ἦλθαν σπεύσαντες, καὶ ἀνεῦραν τήν τε Μαριὰμ καὶ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ καὶ τὸ βρέφος κείμενον ἐν τῇ φάτνῃ· 2.17 ἰδόντες δὲ ἐγνώρισαν περὶ τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ λαληθέντος αὐτοῖς περὶ τοῦ παιδίου τούτου. 2.18 καὶ πάντες οἱ ἀκούσαντες ἐθαύμασαν περὶ τῶν λαληθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν ποιμένων πρὸς αὐτούς· 2.19 ἡ δὲ Μαρία πάντα συνετήρει τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα συνβάλλουσα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς. 2.20 καὶ ὑπέστρεψαν οἱ ποιμένες, δοξάζοντες καὶ αἰνοῦντες τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἷς ἤκουσαν καὶ ἴδον καθὼς ἐλαλήθη πρὸς αὐτούς.












[The Adoration of the Magi - Peter Paul Rubens, c.1634 - King's College Chapel, Cambridge]
(Frame model's own)


Consummatum Est