Protoevangelium of James 6

1(1) Day by day, the child grew stronger. When she was six months old, her mother stood her on the ground to see whether she could stand. She walked seven steps and came to her mother’s breast. Her mother picked her up and said, “As the Lord my God lives, you will not walk on this ground again until I bring you into the Temple of the Lord.” She made a sanctuary in her bedroom and did not allow anything sacrilegious or impure to pass through it. She called the pure daughters of the Hebrews, and they played with her. (2) When the child became one year old, Joachim held a great feast and invited the chief priests, the priests, the scribes, the elders, and all the people of Israel. Joachim brought the child to the priests, and they blessed her, saying, “God of our ancestors, bless this child and give her a name that will be spoken forever among all generations.” All the people said, “So be it. Amen!” They brought her to the chief priests, and they blessed her, saying, “Most High God, look upon this child and bless her with a final blessing that cannot be surpassed.” (3) Her mother took her up to the sanctuary of her bedroom and nursed the child. Anna made a song to the Lord God, saying: “I will sing a holy song to the Lord my God, because God has visited me and removed the criticism of my enemies. “And the Lord God has given me the fruit of God’s justice, singular yet manifold before God. “Who will report to Reubel’s people that Anna nurses a child? ‘Listen, listen, twelve tribes of Israel: Anna nurses a child!’” Anna rested in the sanctuary of her bedroom. Then she went and ministered to them. When dinner was over, they went down rejoicing and glorifying the God of Israel.