¹⁸The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way: His mother Mary had been promised to Joseph in marriage. But before they were married, Mary realized that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph was an honorable man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So he decided to break the marriage agreement with her secretly.

²⁰Joseph had this in mind when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said to him, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus ^[He Saves^[, because he will save his people from their sins.” ²²All this happened so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: ²³“The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. ²⁵He did not have marital relations with her before she gave birth to a son. Joseph named the child Jesus.

Read in Logos

Matthew 1:18: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Footnotes

[Proper names or foreign words whose meaning is significant for understanding a particular Bible passage are translated in brackets following the name or phrase