Matthew 1–2

The Family Line of Jesus

1This is a record of the family line of Jesus Christ. He is the son of David. He is also the son of Abraham.

²Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Isaac was the father of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah. Tamar was their mother.

Perez was the father of Hezron.

Hezron was the father of Ram.

⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab.

Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.

Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz. Rahab was Boaz’s mother.

Boaz was the father of Obed. Ruth was Obed’s mother.

Obed was the father of Jesse.

⁶And Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon. Solomon’s mother had been Uriah’s wife.

⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.

Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.

Abijah was the father of Asa.

⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.

Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.

⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham.

Jotham was the father of Ahaz.

Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.

¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.

Manasseh was the father of Amon.

Amon was the father of Josiah.

¹¹And Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers. At that time, the Jewish people were forced to go away to Babylon.

¹²After this, the family line continued.

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel.

Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.

¹³Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.

Abiud was the father of Eliakim.

Eliakim was the father of Azor.

¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok.

Zadok was the father of Akim.

Akim was the father of Eliud.

¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar.

Eleazar was the father of Matthan.

Matthan was the father of Jacob.

¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph. Joseph was the husband of Mary. And Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called Christ.

¹⁷So there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were 14 from David until the Jewish people were forced to go away to Babylon. And there were 14 from that time to the Christ.

Jesus Christ Is Born

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary and Joseph had promised to get married. But before they started to live together, it became clear that she was going to have a baby. She became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph was a godly man. He did not want to put her to shame in public. So he planned to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But as Joseph was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. The baby inside her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She is going to have a son. You must give him the name Jesus. That is because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All of this took place to bring about what the Lord had said would happen. He had said through the prophet, ²³“The virgin is going to have a baby. She will give birth to a son. And he will be called Immanuel.” The name Immanuel means “God with us.”

²⁴Joseph woke up. He did what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do. He took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he did not make love to her until after she gave birth to a son. And Joseph gave him the name Jesus.

The Wise Men Visit Jesus

2Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea. This happened while Herod was king of Judea.

After Jesus’ birth, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. ²They asked, “Where is the child who has been born to be king of the Jews? When we were in the east, we saw his star. Now we have come to worship him.”

³When King Herod heard about it, he was very upset. Everyone in Jerusalem was troubled too. ⁴So Herod called together all the chief priests of the people. He also called the teachers of the law. He asked them where the Christ was going to be born.

⁵“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied. “This is what the prophet has written. He said,

⁶“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are certainly not the least important among the towns of Judah.

A ruler will come out of you.

He will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod called for the Wise Men secretly. He found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem. He said, “Go! Make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, bring me a report. Then I can go and worship him too.”

⁹After the Wise Men had listened to the king, they went on their way. The star they had seen when they were in the east went ahead of them. It finally stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

¹¹The Wise Men went to the house. There they saw the child with his mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures. They gave him gold, incense and myrrh.

¹²But God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they returned to their country on a different road.

Jesus’ Family Escapes to Egypt

¹³When the Wise Men had left, Joseph had a dream. In the dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him. “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you to come back. Herod is going to search for the child. He wants to kill him.”

¹⁴Joseph got up. During the night, he left for Egypt with the child and his mother Mary. ¹⁵They stayed there until King Herod died. So the words the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true. He had said, “I chose to bring my son out of Egypt.”

¹⁶Herod realized that the Wise Men had tricked him. So he became very angry. He gave orders concerning Bethlehem and the area around it. All the boys two years old and under were to be killed. This agreed with the time when the Wise Men had seen the star.

¹⁷In this way, the words the prophet Jeremiah spoke came true. He had said,

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah.

It’s the sound of crying and deep sadness.

Rachel is crying over her children.

She refuses to be comforted,

because they are gone.”

Jesus’ Family Returns to Nazareth

¹⁹After Herod died, Joseph had a dream while he was still in Egypt. In the dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him. ²⁰The angel said, “Get up! Take the child and his mother. Go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

²¹So Joseph got up. He took the child and his mother Mary back to the land of Israel. ²²But then he heard that Archelaus was king of Judea. Archelaus was ruling in place of his father Herod. This made Joseph afraid to go there.

Warned in a dream, Joseph went back to the land of Galilee instead. ²³There he lived in a town called Nazareth. So what the prophets had said about Jesus came true. They had said, “He will be called a Nazarene.”