Not known
How old was Mary when Jesus was born?
The Bible does not say. She was engaged and not yet married, and girls were often betrothed in their early or mid teens then, so many guess she was young. It is a guess.
Around Jesus
Who was Mary, the mother of Jesus?
Mary was a young woman of Nazareth, engaged to Joseph, when the angel Gabriel told her she would bear the Son of God. She said yes. She gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, raised him in Nazareth, stood by his cross, and prayed with his followers after he rose.
- When
- Jesus was born about 6 to 4 BC. Mary lived at least into the first weeks of the church, about AD 30 to 33.
- Read
- Luke 1–2, John 2 and 19, Acts 1
8 moments
Mary’s life, in order
See where Mary fits on the Bible timeline
Tap a passage to read it here. Each one opens in full in the Lumin Translation.
The angel’s news
Gabriel tells Mary she will have a son by the Holy Spirit. “Here I am, the Lord’s servant.”
With Elizabeth
She hurries to her relative Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah and sings the song called the Magnificat.
Born in Bethlehem
Mary gives birth and lays Jesus in a manger. She treasures what the shepherds say.
A sword will pierce
At the temple, old Simeon blesses the child and warns Mary of sorrow to come.
To Egypt and back
Warned in a dream, Joseph takes Mary and the child to Egypt, then home to Nazareth.
The wedding at Cana
When the wine runs out, Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
At the cross
Mary stands near the cross. Jesus gives her into the care of the disciple he loved.
With the disciples
After Jesus goes up to heaven, Mary prays with the apostles and Jesus’ brothers in Jerusalem.
Read these first
Key verses about Mary
Mary said, “Here I am, the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me as you have said.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38I am the Lord’s servant
Then Mary said, “My soul declares the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit is overjoyed in God my Savior…
Luke 1:46-47Her song
But Mary held on to all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
Luke 2:19She treasured these things
Questions people ask
What the Bible says, and what tradition adds
Each answer is marked: in the Bible, tradition, readers disagree, or not known.
Tradition, not the Bible
Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem?
No donkey is in the text. Luke says only that Joseph went up with Mary. The donkey comes from later retellings.
See Luke 2:4-5
Readers disagree
Did Mary have other children?
The Gospels name brothers and sisters of Jesus. Many Protestants read them as Mary’s later children. Catholic and Orthodox Christians teach that Mary stayed a virgin and read them as cousins or Joseph’s children from an earlier marriage.
See Mark 6:3
Tradition, not the Bible
Who were Mary’s parents?
The names Joachim and Anne come from the Protoevangelium of James, a 2nd-century writing that is not in the Bible.
Tradition, not the Bible
What happened to Mary at the end of her life?
The Bible does not say. Catholics hold that she was taken body and soul into heaven, and the Orthodox speak of her falling asleep. Neither is told in Scripture.
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