Matthew 1-4

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1 The ^[a]record of the genealogy of ^[b]Jesus ^[c]the Messiah, ^(A)the son of David, ^(B)the son of Abraham:

² Abraham ^[d]was the father of Isaac, ^[e]Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of ^[f]Judah and his brothers. ³ Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, ^(C)Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of ^[g]Ram. ⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. ⁵ Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. ⁶ Jesse was the father of David the king.

David ^(D)was the father of Solomon by ^[h]Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. ⁷ Solomon ^(E)was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of ^[i]Asa. ⁸ Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of ^[j]Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. ⁹ Uzziah was the father of ^[k]Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰ Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of ^[l]Amon, and Amon the ^(F)father of Josiah. ¹¹ Josiah became the father of ^[m]Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the ^(G)deportation to Babylon.

¹² After the ^(H)deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of ^[n]Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. ¹³ Zerubbabel was the father of ^[o]Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. ¹⁴ Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. ¹⁵ Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. ¹⁶ Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, ^(I)who is called ^[p]the Messiah.

¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the ^(J)deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the ^(K)deportation to Babylon to ^[q]the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Conception and Birth of Jesus

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus ^[r]Christ was as follows: when His ^(L)mother Mary had been ^[s]betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was ^(M)found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned ^[t](N)to send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “^(O)Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for ^[u]the Child who has been ^[v]conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a Son; and ^(P)you shall call His name Jesus, for ^[w]He ^(Q)will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this ^[x]took place to fulfill what was ^(R)spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³ “^(S)Behold, the virgin shall be with ^(T)child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name ^[y]Immanuel,” which translated means, “^(U)God with us.” ²⁴ And Joseph ^[z]awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ^25 [aa]but kept her a virgin until she ^(V)gave birth to a Son; and ^(W)he called His name Jesus.

The Visit of the Magi

2 Now after Jesus was ^(X)born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of ^(Y)Herod the king, ^[ab]magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² “Where is He who has been born ^(Z)King of the Jews? For we saw ^(AA)His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the ^[ac]Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “^(AB)In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written ^[ad]by the prophet:

⁷ Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them ^[ae]the exact time ^(AE)the star appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” ⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with ^(AF)Mary His mother; and they ^[af]fell to the ground and ^(AG)worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been ^(AH)warned by God ^(AI)in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an ^(AJ)angel of the Lord *^(AK)appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ So ^[ag]Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He ^[ah]remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “^(AL)Out of Egypt I called ^(AM)My Son.”

Herod Slaughters Babies

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by ^(AN)the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and ^(AO)slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. ¹⁷ Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *^(AQ)appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ²⁰ “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So ^[ai]Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being ^(AR)warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, ²³ and came and lived in a city called ^(AS)Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a ^(AT)Nazarene.”

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3 Now ^(AU)in those days ^(AV)John the Baptist *^[aj]came, ^[ak]preaching in the ^(AW)wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “^(AX)Repent, for ^(AY)the kingdom of heaven ^[al]is at hand.” ³ For this is the ^(AZ)one referred to ^[am]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

⁴ Now John himself had ^[ao](BC)a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(BD)locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem ^(BE)was going out to him, and all Judea and all ^(BF)the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being ^(BG)baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the ^(BH)Pharisees and ^(BI)Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You ^(BJ)brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from ^(BK)the wrath to come? ^8 (BL)Therefore bear fruit ^(BM)in keeping with repentance; ⁹ and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘^(BN)We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ The ^(BO)axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore ^(BP)every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, ^(BQ)I baptize you ^[ap]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; ^(BR)He will baptize you ^[aq]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His ^(BS)winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will ^(BT)gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the ^(BU)chaff with ^(BV)unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

^13 (BW)Then Jesus *arrived ^(BX)from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us ^(BY)to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[ar](BZ)he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[as]lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “^(CA)This is ^[at]My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(CB)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^(CC)to be tempted by the devil. ² And after He had ^(CD)fasted forty days and forty nights, He ^[au]then became hungry. ³ And ^(CE)the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the ^(CF)Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘^(CG)Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil *took Him into ^(CH)the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

and

⁷ Jesus said to him, “^[av]On the other hand, it is written, ‘^(CJ)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

^8 (CK)Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; ⁹ and he said to Him, “^(CL)All these things I will give You, if You fall down and ^[aw]worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘^(CM)You shall worship the Lord your God, and ^[ax]serve Him only.’” ¹¹ Then the devil *left Him; and behold, ^(CN)angels came and began to minister to Him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹² Now when Jesus heard that ^(CO)John had been taken into custody, ^(CP)He withdrew into Galilee; ¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and ^(CQ)settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

^17 (CT)From that time Jesus began to ^[ba]preach and say, “^(CU)Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The First Disciples

^18 (CV)Now as Jesus was walking by ^(CW)the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, ^(CX)Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “^[bb]Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there He saw two other brothers, ^[bc](CY)James the son of Zebedee, and ^[bd]John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Ministry in Galilee

²³ Jesus was going ^(CZ)throughout all Galilee, ^(DA)teaching in their synagogues and ^(DB)proclaiming the ^[be]gospel of the kingdom, and ^(DC)healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

²⁴ The news about Him spread ^(DD)throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, ^(DE)demoniacs, ^[bf](DF)epileptics, ^(DG)paralytics; and He healed them. ²⁵ Large crowds ^(DH)followed Him from Galilee and ^(DI)the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from ^(DJ)beyond the Jordan.