The Genealogy of Jesus
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob
the father of Judah and his brothers,3 Judah the father of Perez
and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father
of Jesse,6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father
of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel
the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud,15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David,
fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 This
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together,
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.19 Because Joseph her husband
was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived
in her is from the Holy Spirit.21 She will give birth to
a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which
means, "God with us."
24 When
Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
The Visit of the Magi
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time
of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have
come to worship him."
3 When
King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.4 When
he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to
be born.5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is
what the prophet has written:
6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him,
report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead
of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.10 When
they saw the star, they were overjoyed.11 On coming to the house,
they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented
him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.12 And having been warned
in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The Escape to Egypt
13 When
they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his
mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left
for Egypt,15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what
the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders
to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned
from the Magi.17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 "A voice is heard
in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel
weeping for her children
and refusing
to be comforted,
because they are no
more."
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those
who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning
in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district
of Galilee,23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled
what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert
of Judea2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is near."3 This is he who was spoken
of through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'"
4 John's
clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he
said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.9 And do not think you can
say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
11 "I
baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not
fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.12 His
winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the
chaff with unquenchable fire."
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill
all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that
moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
