The Family History of Jesus^(A)

1 This is the ·family history [record of the ancestors; genealogy; ^Lbook of the offspring/family; ^Cperhaps a title for the entire book] of Jesus ·Christ [the Messiah]. ·He came from the family of David, and David came from the family of Abraham [^L…the son of David, the son of Abraham; ^C“son” can mean descendant].

¹⁷ So there were fourteen generations [^Lin all] from Abraham to David. And there were fourteen generations from David until the ·people were taken [exile; deportation] to Babylon. And there were fourteen generations from the time ·when the people were taken [of the exile/deportation] to Babylon until ·Christ [the Messiah] was born.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus ·Christ [the Messiah] came about. His mother Mary was ·engaged [pledged; ^Tbetrothed; ^Ca formal agreement between families that required a “divorce” to annul] to marry Joseph, but before they ·married [came to live together], she ·learned she was [or was found/discovered to be] ·pregnant [^Twith child] ·by the power of [through] the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Mary’s husband, Joseph, was a ·good [righteous] man, he did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to ·divorce her [end the engagement] ·secretly [privately; quietly].

²⁰ While Joseph ·thought about [considered; decided; resolved to do] these things, [^Llook; ^Tbehold] an angel of the Lord ·came [appeared] to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, ·descendant [son] of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because ·the baby [^Lwhat is conceived] in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins [^Cthe name Jesus means “the Lord saves”].”

²² All this happened to ·bring about [fulfill] what the Lord had ·said [spoken] through the prophet: ²³ “[^LLook; ^TBehold] The virgin will ·be pregnant [^Lconceive in her womb; Is. 7:14]. She will ·have [give birth to] a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which [^Cin Hebrew] means “God is with us.”

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord’s angel had ·told [commanded] him to do. Joseph took Mary as his wife, ²⁵ but he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And ·Joseph [^Lhe] named him Jesus.

⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep but loses one of them. ·Then he will [^LWon’t he…?] leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the ·open field [wilderness; desert] and go out and look for the lost sheep until he finds it. ⁵ And when he finds it, he ·happily [joyfully] puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. He calls ·to [together] his friends and neighbors and says, ‘·Be happy [Rejoice] with me because I found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ In the same way, I tell you there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who ·changes his heart and life [repents], than over ninety-nine ·good [righteous; ^Cself-righteous] people who don’t need to ·change [repent].

⁹ “·Jacob’s sons [^LThe patriarchs] became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰ and ·saved [rescued; delivered] him from all his ·troubles [afflictions]. God gave Joseph ·wisdom to gain the favor of [^Lfavor and wisdom before] Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of ·all the people in his palace [^Lhis whole household].

¹¹ “Then all the land of Egypt and Canaan experienced a famine, and the people suffered very much. ·Jacob’s sons, our ancestors, [^LOur fathers] could not find anything to eat. ¹² But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent ·his sons [^Lour fathers] there. This was their first trip to Egypt [Gen. 42]. ¹³ When they went there a second time [Gen. 43—45], Joseph ·told his brothers who he was [made himself known to his brothers], and ·the king [^LPharaoh] learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴ Then Joseph sent messengers to ·invite [summon; call] Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt along with all his relatives (seventy-five persons altogether). ¹⁵ So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and ·his sons [^Lour fathers] died. ¹⁶ Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave Abraham had bought for a sum of ·money [^Lsilver] from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.) [^CStephen combines two accounts, Abraham’s purchase of a field in Hebron (Gen. 23:3–20) and Jacob’s purchase of a field in Shechem (Josh. 24:32).]