Matthew

Written to a Jewish audience, this Gospel, which means “good news,” links the Old and New Testaments. It presents Jesus as the King promised to the Jewish people and frequently quotes passages from the Old Testament. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who would save the people—Jew and Gentile alike. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ authority and power.

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1:1–17pp—Lk 3:23–38
1:3–6pp—Ru 4:18–22
1:7–11pp—1Ch 3:10–17

1 This is the genealogya of Jesus the Messiahb the son of David,a the son of Abraham:b

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,c

Isaac the father of Jacob,d

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,e

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,f

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,g

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David.h

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,i

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,j

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiahc and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.k

12 After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,l

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,m

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

15 Elihud 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,n and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.o

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 Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came aboutd: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.p 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yete did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorceq her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angelr of the Lord appeared to him in a dreams 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,f t because he will save his people from their sins.”u

22 All this took place to fulfillv what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”g w (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angelx of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.y

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,z during the time of King Herod,a Magia from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?b We saw his starc when it rose 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 Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehemd 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 shepherd my people Israel.’b”e

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 search carefully 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 when it rose 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.f Then they opened their treasures and presented him with giftsg of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warnedh in a dreami not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angelj of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.k “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.”l

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 fulfilledm what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”c n

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:o

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachelp weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”d q

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angelr of the Lord appeared in a dreams to Joseph in Egypt 20 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.”t

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,u he withdrew to the district of Galilee,v 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.w So was fulfilledx what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.y

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3:1–12pp—Mk 1:3–8; Lk 3:2–17

3 In those days John the Baptistz came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heavena has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ”a b

4 John’sc clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.d His food was locustse 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 baptizedf 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!g Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?h 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.i 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’j 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.k

11 “I baptize you withb water for repentance.l But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you withc the Holy Spiritm and fire.n 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.”o

The Baptism of Jesus

3:13–17pp—Mk 1:9–11; Lk 3:21,22; Jn 1:31–34

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.p 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,q and he saw the Spirit of Godr descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heavens said, “This is my Son,t whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”u

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4:1–11pp—Mk 1:12,13; Lk 4:1–13

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempteda v by the devil.w 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights,x he was hungry. 3 The temptery came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God,z tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’b”a

5 Then the devil took him to the holy cityb and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,”c he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’c”d

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’d”e

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!f For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’e”g

11 Then the devil left him,h and angels came and attended him.i

Jesus Begins to Preach

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison,j he withdrew to Galilee.k 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in …