Matthew 1–13

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

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

^2dAbraham was the father of Isaac, and ^eIsaac the father of Jacob, and ^fJacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³and ^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, ⁵and Salmon the father of Boaz by ^hRahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶and ⁱJesse the father of David the king.

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

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

¹⁷So 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

¹⁸Now 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. ¹⁹And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling ^xto put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰But 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. ²¹She will bear a son, and ^zyou shall call his name Jesus, ^afor he will save his people from their sins.” ^22bAll this took place ^cto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

^23d“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name ^eImmanuel”

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

The Visit of the Wise Men

2Now ^hafter Jesus was born in ⁱBethlehem of Judea ^jin the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men¹ from ^kthe east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, “Where is he who has been born ^lking of the Jews? For we saw ^mhis star when it rose² and have come to ⁿworship him.” ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where ^othe Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

^6p“ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will ^qshepherd my people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And 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.” ⁹After 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. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹And 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. ¹²And ^vbeing warned ^win a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt

¹³Now 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.” ¹⁴And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵and 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

¹⁶Then 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. ^17aThen was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

^18b“A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be comforted, because they ^care no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for ^dthose who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But 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. ²³And 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

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

^m“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

ⁿ‘Prepare² the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’ ”

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

⁷But 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? ⁸Bear fruit ^xin keeping with repentance. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰Even 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.

^11b“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. ¹²His ^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

^13kThen Jesus came ^lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ^14mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^othe heavens were opened to him,³ and he ^psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, ^qa voice from heaven said, ^r“This is my beloved Son,⁴ with whom I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4^sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^tto be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting ^uforty days and forty nights, he ^vwas hungry. ³And ^wthe tempter came and said to him, “If you are ^xthe Son of God, command ^ythese stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, ^z“It is written,

^a“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

^5bThen the devil took him to ^cthe holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

^d“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again ^eit is written, ^f‘You shall not ^gput the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ^8hAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ⁱSatan! For ^jit is written,

^k“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and ^lhim only shall you serve.’ ”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, ^mangels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹²Now when he heard that ⁿJohn had been arrested, ^ohe withdrew into Galilee. ¹³And leaving ^pNazareth he went and lived in ^qCapernaum by ^rthe sea, in the territory of ^sZebulun and Naphtali, ^14tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

^15u“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

^16vthe…