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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 9:5 Or May God, the one who rules over everything, be praised forever. Amen.

16 for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.[a]
    So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18 Or the firstborn from the dead.

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

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Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.

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20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.[a] And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:20 Greek the one who is true.

16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith[a]:

Christ[b] was revealed in a human body
    and vindicated by the Spirit.[c]
He was seen by angels
    and announced to the nations.
He was believed in throughout the world
    and taken to heaven in glory.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:16a Or of godliness.
  2. 3:16b Greek He who; other manuscripts read God.
  3. 3:16c Or in his spirit.

Though he was God,[a]
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
    he took the humble position of a slave[c]
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
    he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
  2. 2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
  3. 2:7b Or the form of a slave.
  4. 2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.

The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line,

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18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18 Greek and Hades.

The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah

This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham[a]:

Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.[b]
Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.[c]
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.[d]
Jehoram was the father[e] of Uzziah.
Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.[f]
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin[g] and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
12 After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Greek Jesus the Messiah, Son of David and son of Abraham.
  2. 1:3 Greek Aram, a variant spelling of Ram; also in 1:4. See 1 Chr 2:9-10.
  3. 1:7 Greek Asaph, a variant spelling of Asa; also in 1:8. See 1 Chr 3:10.
  4. 1:8a Greek Joram, a variant spelling of Jehoram; also in 1:8b. See 1 Kgs 22:50 and note at 1 Chr 3:11.
  5. 1:8b Or ancestor; also in 1:11.
  6. 1:10 Greek Amos, a variant spelling of Amon; also in 1:10b. See 1 Chr 3:14.
  7. 1:11 Greek Jeconiah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin; also in 1:12. See 2 Kgs 24:6 and note at 1 Chr 3:16.

A Branch from David’s Line

11 Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.

For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,[a] Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

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Footnotes

  1. 9:6 Or Wonderful, Counselor.

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