Luke 2:6-7

The birth. ἐπλήσθησαν αἱ ἡ., as in Luke 1:57. In this case, as in that of John, the natural course was run. ἐσπαργάνωσεν (here and Luke 2:12), ἀνέκλινεν : the narrative runs as if Mary did these things herself, whence the patristic inference of painless birth. φάτνῃ, in a manger (in a stall, Grotius, et al.). καταλύματι, in the inn, not probably a πανδοχεῖον (Luke 10:34), with a host, but simply a khan, an enclosure with open recesses. The meaning may be, not that there was absolutely no room for Joseph and Mary there, but that the place was too crowded for a birth, and that therefore they retired to a stall or cave, where there was room for the mother, and a crib for the babe (vide ch. Luke 22:11).