Matthew 1-4 (Amplified Bible)

Matthew 1

 ¹THE BOOK of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham.^(A)

    ²Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

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

    ⁴Aram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,

    ⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

    ⁶Jesse the father of King David, King David the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah,^(B)

    ⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

    ⁸Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram [Jehoram], Joram the father of Uzziah,

    ⁹Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

    ¹⁰Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

    ¹¹And Josiah became the father of Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] and his brothers about the time of the removal (deportation) to Babylon. [II Kings 24:14; I Chron. 3:15, 16.]

    ¹²After the exile to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel [Salathiel], Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

    ¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

    ¹⁴Azor the father of Sadoc, Sadoc the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud,

    ¹⁵Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

    ¹⁶Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called the Christ. (the Messiah, the Anointed)

    ¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen, from David to the Babylonian exile (deportation) fourteen generations, from the Babylonian exile to the Christ fourteen generations.

    ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant [through the power] of the Holy Spirit.

    ¹⁹And her [promised] husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.

    ²⁰But as he was thinking this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary [as] your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of (from, out of) the Holy Spirit.

    ²¹She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus [the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior], for He will save His people from their sins [that is, prevent them from ^[a]failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God].

    ²²All this took place that it might be fulfilled which the Lord had spoken through the prophet,

    ²³Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel--which, when translated, means, God with us.^(C)

    ²⁴Then Joseph, being aroused from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him: he took [her to his side as] his wife.

    ²⁵But he had no union with her as her husband until she had borne her firstborn Son; and he called His name Jesus.

   

Matthew 2

 ¹NOW WHEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men [astrologers] from the east came to Jerusalem, asking,

    ²Where is He Who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east ^[b]at its rising and have come to worship Him.^(D)

    ³When Herod the king heard this, he was disturbed and troubled, and the whole of Jerusalem with him.

    ⁴So he called together all the chief priests and learned men (scribes) of the people and ^[c]anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.

    ⁵They replied to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

    ⁶And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are not in any way least or insignificant among the ^[d]chief cities of Judah; for from you shall come a Ruler (^[e]Leader) Who will govern and ^[f]shepherd My people Israel.^(E)

    ⁷Then Herod sent for the wise men [astrologers] secretly, and ^[g]accurately to the last point ascertained from them the time of the appearing of the star [that is, ^[h]how long the star had made itself visible since its rising in the east].

    ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search for the Child carefully and diligently, and when you have found ^[i]Him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship Him.

    ⁹When they had listened to the king, they went their way, and behold, the star which had been seen in the east ^[j]in its rising went before them until it came and stood over the place where the young Child was.

    ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were thrilled with ecstatic joy.

    ¹¹And on going into the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then opening their treasure bags, they presented to Him gifts--gold and frankincense and myrrh.

    ¹²And ^[k]receiving an answer to their asking, they were divinely instructed and warned in a dream not to go back to Herod; so they departed to their own country by a different way.

    ¹³Now after they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up! [^[l]Tenderly] take unto you the young Child and His mother and flee to Egypt; and remain there till I tell you [otherwise], for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.

    ¹⁴And having risen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew to Egypt

    ¹⁵And remained there until Herod's death. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.^(F)

    ¹⁶Then Herod, when he realized that he had been misled by the wise men, was furiously enraged, and he sent and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that territory who were two years old and under, reckoning according to the date which he had investigated diligently and had learned exactly from the wise men.

    ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

    ¹⁸A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.^(G)

    ¹⁹But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

    ²⁰And said, Rise, [^[m]tenderly] take unto you the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the Child's life are dead.

    ²¹Then he awoke and arose and [^[n]tenderly] took the Child and His mother and came into the land of Israel.

    ²²But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.

    ²³He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He shall be called a Nazarene [Branch, Separated One].^(H)

   

Matthew 3

 ¹IN THOSE days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea

    ²And saying, Repent (^[o]think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

    ³This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness (shouting in the desert), Prepare the road for the Lord, make His highways straight (level, ^[p]direct).^(I)

    ⁴This same John's garments were made of camel's hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.^(J)

    ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the country round about the Jordan went out to him;

    ⁶And they were baptized in the Jordan by him, confessing their sins.

    ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and indignation [of God against disobedience] that is coming?

    ⁸Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart];

    ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our forefather; for I tell you, God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

    ¹⁰And already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    ¹¹I indeed baptize you ^[q]in (with) water ^[r]because of repentance [that is, because of your ^[s]changing your minds for the better, heartily amending your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins]. But He Who is coming after me is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

    ¹²His winnowing fan (shovel, fork) is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out and clean His threshing floor and gather and store His wheat in His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.

    ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

    ¹⁴But John ^[t]protested strenuously, having in mind to prevent Him, saying, It is I who have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?

    ¹⁵But Jesus replied to him, ^[u]Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for [both of] us to fulfill all righteousness [that is, to ^[v]perform completely whatever is right]. Then he permitted Him.

    ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.

    ¹⁷And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!^(K)

   

Matthew 4

 ¹THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

    ²And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.^(L)

    ³And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God's Son, command these stones to be made [^[w]loaves of] bread.

    ⁴But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.^(M)

    ⁵Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on ^[x]a turret (pinnacle, ^[y]gable) of the temple ^[z]sanctuary.^(N)

    ⁶And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.^(O)

    ⁷Jesus said to him, ^[aa]On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, ^[ab]test thoroughly, or ^[ac]try exceedingly the Lord your God.^(P)

    ⁸Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.

    ⁹And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

    ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.^(Q)

    ¹¹Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

    ¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested and put in prison, He withdrew into Galilee.

    ¹³And leaving Nazareth, He went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali--

    ¹⁴That what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be brought to pass:

    ¹⁵The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the ^[ad]way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles [of the ^[ae]peoples who are not of Israel]--^(R)

    ¹⁶The people who sat ^[af](dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.

    ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, ^[ag]crying out, Repent (^[ah]change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

    ¹⁸As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, throwing a dragnet into the sea, for they were fishermen.

    ¹⁹And He said to them, Come ^[ai]after Me [as disciples--letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!

    ²⁰At once they left their nets and ^[aj]became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

    ²¹And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right; and He called them.

    ²²At once they left the boat and their father and ^[ak]joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

    ²³And He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness and infirmity among the people.

    ²⁴So the report of Him spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all who were sick, those afflicted with various diseases and torments, those under the power of demons, and epileptics, and paralyzed people, and He healed them.

    ²⁵And great crowds joined and accompanied Him about, coming from Galilee and Decapolis [the district of the ten cities east of the Sea of Galilee] and Jerusalem and Judea and from the other [the east] side of the Jordan.