The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

1 ^aThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, ^bthe son of David, ^cthe son of Abraham.

2 ^dAbraham was the father of Isaac, and ^eIsaac the father of Jacob, and ^fJacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and ^gJudah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,¹ 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by ^hRahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and ⁱJesse the father of David the king.

And ^jDavid was the father of Solomon by ^kthe wife of Uriah, 7 and ^lSolomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,² 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, ^mand Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,³ and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and ⁿJosiah the father of ^oJechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: ^pJechoniah was the father of ^qShealtiel,⁴ and ^rShealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of ^sJoseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to ^tthe Christ fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

18 Now the birth of ^uJesus Christ⁵ took place in this way. ^vWhen his mother Mary had been betrothed⁶ to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child ^wfrom the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling ^xto put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, ^yan angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and ^zyou shall call his name Jesus, ^afor he will save his people from their sins.” 22 ^bAll this took place ^cto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

(which means, God ^fwith us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And ^ghe called his name Jesus.

The Visit of the Wise Men

1 Now ^hafter Jesus was born in ⁱBethlehem of Judea ^jin the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men⁷ from ^kthe east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born ^lking of the Jews? For we saw ^mhis star when it rose⁸ and have come to ⁿworship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where ^othe Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, ^rthey offered him gifts, ^sgold and ^tfrankincense and ^umyrrh. 12 And ^vbeing warned ^win a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt

13 Now when they had departed, behold, ^xan angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. ^yThis was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ^z“Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Herod Kills the Children

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 ^aThen was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

The Return to Nazareth

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for ^dthose who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and ^ebeing warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called ^fNazareth, ^gso that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^hIn those days ⁱJohn the Baptist came preaching in ^jthe wilderness of Judea, 2 ^k“Repent, for ^lthe kingdom of heaven is at hand.”⁹ 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

4 Now John wore ^oa garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was ^plocusts and ^qwild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^rconfessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of ^sthe Pharisees and ^tSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^u“You brood of ^vvipers! Who warned you to flee from ^wthe wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit ^xin keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^y‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^zthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^aEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 ^b“I baptize you with water ^cfor repentance, but ^dhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^ewith the Holy Spirit and ^ffire. 12 His ^gwinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^hgather his wheat into the barn, ⁱbut the chaff he will burn with ^junquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

13 ^kThen Jesus came ^lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 ^mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^othe heavens were opened to him,¹¹ and he ^psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, ^qa voice from heaven said, ^r“This is my beloved Son,¹² with whom I am well pleased.”

Zion, the City of Our God

A Song. A Psalm of ^kthe Sons of Korah.