Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/123

Rh be for the priests and the elders; also a hundred goats for all the people. And behold, Joachim came with his flocks, and Anna stood at the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon his neck, saying, Now I know that the Lord God hath blessed me greatly; for behold, the widow is no more a widow, and I that am childless shall conceive. And Joachim rested the first day in his house.

on the morrow he offered his gifts, saying in himself, If the Lord God be propitious to me, he will make the plate on the priest's forehead manifest to me. And Joachim offered his gifts, and observed the plate on the priest's forehead, as he went up to the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself, and Joachim said, Now I know that the Lord is propitious to me, and hath pardoned all my sins. And he went down from the temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his own house.

And her months were accomplished, and in the ninth month Anna bare a child. And she said to the midwife, What have I borne? And she said, A girl. And Anna said, This day my soul is magnified; and she laid it down. And when the days were accomplished, Anna purified herself, and gave the child the breast, and called its name Mary.