<p class="poetry">And you, child,<n id="1" /> will be called the prophet<n id="2" /> of the Most High.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For you will go before<n id="4" /> the Lord to prepare his ways,<n id="5" />p>

When<n id="1" /> they saw him,<n id="2" /> they related what they had been told<n id="3" /> about this child,

And the child grew and became strong,<n id="1" /> filled with wisdom,<n id="2" /> and the favor<n id="3" /> of God<n id="4" /> was upon him.p>

But when Jesus discerned their innermost thoughts,<n id="1" /> he took a child, had him stand by<n id="2" /> his side,

<p class="bodytext">On<n id="1" /> the eighth day<n id="2" /> they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name<n id="3" /> him Zechariah after his father.

<p class="bodytext">And the child kept growing<n id="1" /> and becoming strong<n id="2" /> in spirit, and he was in the wilderness<n id="3" /> until the day he was revealed<n id="4" /> to Israel.p>

I tell you the truth,<n id="1" /> whoever does not receive<n id="2" /> the kingdom of God like a child<n id="3" /> will never<n id="4" /> enter it.&#8221;p>

All<n id="1" /> who heard these things<n id="2" /> kept them in their hearts,<n id="3" /> saying, &#8220;What then will this child be?&#8221;<n id="4" /> For the Lord&#8217;s hand<n id="5" /> was indeed with him.p>

So<n id="1" /> Simeon,<n id="2" /> directed by the Spirit,<n id="3" /> came into the temple courts,<n id="4" /> and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law,<n id="5" />

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">we wailed in mourning,<n id="3" /> yet you did not weep.&#8217;p>

Then<n id="1" /> he will reply<n id="2" /> from inside, &#8216;Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed.<n id="3" /> I cannot get up and give you anything.&#8217;<n id="4" />

But Jesus called for the children,<n id="1" /> saying, &#8220;Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God<n id="2" /> belongs to such as these.<n id="3" />

and said to them, &#8220;Whoever welcomes<n id="1" /> this child<n id="2" /> in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>