tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” That she witnessed when her brother was resurrected.​—Joh 11:39-44.

After the resurrection of Lazarus, Christ departed. Later, he returned to Bethany and gathered with others, including Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, in the home of Simon the leper. An evening meal had been prepared and again “Martha was ministering.” Lazarus was at the table, and it was on that occasion that Mary anointed Jesus with costly perfumed oil. (Joh 12:1-8; Mt 26:6-13; Mr 14:3-9) The Scriptures are silent regarding subsequent events in Martha’s life and the time and circumstances of her death.

(Maʹry) [from the Heb. Miriam, possibly meaning “Rebellious”].

There are six Marys mentioned in the Bible.

1. Mary the mother of Jesus. She was the daughter of Heli, though the genealogy given by Luke lists Mary’s husband Joseph as the “son of Heli.” Says M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia (1881, Vol. III, p. 774): “In constructing their genealogical tables, it is well known that the Jews reckoned wholly by males, rejecting, where the blood of the grandfather passed to the grandson through a daughter, the name of the daughter herself, and counting that daughter’s husband for the son of the maternal grandfather (Numb. xxvi, 33; xxvii, 4-7).” It is undoubtedly for this reason the historian Luke says that Joseph was the “son of Heli.”​—Lu 3:23.

Mary was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David. Hence it could be said of her son Jesus that he “sprang from the seed of David according to the flesh.” (Ro 1:3) Through his adoptive father Joseph, a descendant of David, Jesus had a legal right to David’s throne, and through his mother, as the “offspring,” “seed,” and “root” of David, he held the natural hereditary right to “the throne of David his father.”​—Mt 1:1-16; Lu 1:32; Ac 13:22, 23; 2Ti 2:8; Re 5:5; 22:16.

If tradition is correct, Heli’s wife, the mother of Mary, was Anna, whose sister had a daughter named Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer. This tradition would make Elizabeth the cousin of Mary. That Mary was related to Elizabeth, who was “from the daughters of Aaron” of the tribe of Levi, the Scriptures themselves state. (Lu 1:5, 36) Mary’s sister, some have thought, was Salome, the wife of Zebedee, whose two sons, James and John, were numbered among Jesus’ apostles.​—Mt 27:55, 56; Mr 15:40; 16:1; Joh 19:25.

Visited by Angel. About the beginning of 2 B.C.E., the angel Gabriel was sent by God to the virgin girl Mary in the town of Nazareth. “Good day, highly favored one, Jehovah is with you,” was the angel’s most unusual greeting. When he told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son called Jesus, Mary, who at the time was only engaged to Joseph, asked, “How is this to be, since I am having no intercourse with a man?” “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son,” the angel explained. Thrilled with the prospect, yet with fitting modesty and humility, she replied: “Look! Jehovah’s slave girl! May it take place with me according to your declaration.”​—Lu 1:26-38.

To strengthen her faith further for this momentous experience, Mary was told that her relative Elizabeth, in her old age, was already six months pregnant, because the miraculous power of Jehovah had removed her barrenness. Mary paid her a visit, and when she entered Elizabeth’s home the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leaped with joy, whereupon she congratulated Mary, saying: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Lu 1:36, 37, 39-45) Thereupon Mary broke forth in inspired words magnifying Jehovah for his goodness.​—Lu 1:46-55.

After a visit of about three months with Elizabeth in the Judean hills, Mary returned to Nazareth. (Lu 1:56) When it came to Joseph’s notice (likely through disclosure of the matter to him by Mary) that she was pregnant, he intended to divorce her secretly rather than expose her to public shame. (Engaged persons were viewed as married, and a divorce was required to dissolve the engagement.) But Jehovah’s angel appeared, revealing to Joseph that what had been begotten in her was by holy spirit. Joseph thereupon complied with the divine instruction and took Mary as his wife, “but he had no intercourse with her until she gave birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus.”​—Mt 1:18-25.

Bears Jesus in Bethlehem. As this drama continued to unfold, the decree of Caesar Augustus, compelling everyone to register in the town of his origin, proved providential in its timing, for the prophecy concerning Jesus’ birthplace had to be fulfilled. (Mic 5:2) Accordingly, Joseph took Mary, who was “heavy with child,” on the strenuous journey of over 110 km (68 mi) from their home in Nazareth in the N to Bethlehem in the S. Because there was no place for them in the lodging room, the birth of the child took place under most humble conditions, with the newborn babe being laid in a manger. This occurred probably about October 1 of the year 2 B.C.E.​—Lu 2:1-7; see PICTURES, Vol. 2, p. 537; JESUS CHRIST.