[1] It contains an account of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, "its announcement and celebration",[2] his presentation in the Second Temple, and an incident from his childhood.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: According to the Gospel of Luke, Caesar Augustus ordered a census be conducted of the ".. entire Roman World", during (or possibly before) the governorship of Quirinius (or "Cyrenius") in Syria, and this is the reason that Joseph and Mary, who lived in Nazareth, were in Bethlehem, King David's place of birth, when Jesus was born.

Many English translations suggest that the purpose of the census was for everyone to be registered, but the King James Version and others state that everyone was to be taxed.

The angels then return to heaven and the shepherds go into Bethlehem to see for themselves and find Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus.

It is generally considered significant that this message was given to shepherds, who were located on the lower rungs of the social ladder in first-century Palestine.

[24] Contrasting with the more powerful characters mentioned in the Nativity, such as the Emperor Augustus, they seem to reflect Mary's words in the Magnificat: "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

[27] Luke does not mention the visit of the Magi, the Massacre of the Innocents, or the escape of Jesus' family to Egypt, which are found in Matthew 2.

[30] Some translations refer to "their purification",[31] but it was Mary, not her child, who needed to be purified,[30] and even though Mary was not polluted by the conception, bearing, and giving birth of Jesus, who had no impurity in his nature (although he was made sin for his people), she still came under this law of purification,[32] so that all possible requirements of the law were fulfilled (cf.

Here Mary appeared with her firstborn son, the true Messiah, marking the first time of Jesus' coming into his temple, as was foretold (Malachi 3:1).

[32] The presentation of Jesus in the Temple officially inducts him into Judaism and concludes the birth narrative in the Gospel of Luke.

"[41] The Greek is not specific: εν τοις του πατρος μου (en tois tou patros mou).

[44] The King James Version of verses 8–11 and 13–14 from this chapter is cited as text in the English-language oratorio "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel (HWV 56).