Conception and Birth of Jesus

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the ^[a]Messiah was as follows: when His ^(A)mother Mary had been ^[b]betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was ^(B)found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to ^[c](C)send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “^(D)Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for ^[d]the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a Son; and ^(E)you shall name Him Jesus, for ^[e]He ^(F)will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this ^[f]took place so that what was ^(G)spoken by the Lord through ^[g]the prophet would be fulfilled: ²³ “^(H)Behold, the virgin will ^[h](I)conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him ^[i]Immanuel,” which translated means, “^(J)God with us.” ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ^25 [j]but kept her a virgin until she ^(K)gave birth to a Son; and ^(L)he named Him Jesus.

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem

2 Now in those days a decree went out from ^(A)Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of ^(B)all ^[a]the inhabited earth. ^2 [b]This was the first census taken while ^[c]Quirinius was governor of ^(C)Syria. ³ And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because ^(D)he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was ^[d]betrothed to him, and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the ^[e]time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she ^(E)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a ^[f]manger, because there was no ^[g]room for them in the inn.

⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. ⁹ And ^(F)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(G)stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ And so the angel said to them, “^(H)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a ^(I)Savior, who is ^[h](J)Christ ^(K)the Lord. ¹² And ^(L)this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ^[i]manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly ^[j]army of angels praising God and saying,

¹⁵ When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the ^[l]manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen Him, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary ^(O)treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds went back, ^(P)glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

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

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

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

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

Genealogy of Jesus

^23 (A)When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years old, being, as was commonly held, the son of ^(B)Joseph, ^[a]the son of ^[b]Eli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of ^[c]Hesli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, ^(C)the son of Zerubbabel, the son of ^[d]Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of ^[e]Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of ^[f]Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ^32 (D)the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of ^[g]Salmon, the son of ^[h]Nahshon, ³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of ^[i]Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, ^(E)the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of ^[j]Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of ^[k]Heber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶ the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, ^(F)the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Jesus Presented at the Temple

²¹ And when ^(A)eight days were completed ^[a]so that it was time for His circumcision, ^(B)He was also named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

^22 (C)And when the days for ^[b]their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “^(D)Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what has been stated in the Law of the Lord: “^(E)A pair of turtledoves or two young doves.”

²⁵ And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was ^(F)righteous and devout, ^(G)looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And ^(H)it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not ^(I)see death before he had seen the Lord’s ^[c]Christ. ²⁷ And he came ^[d]by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, ^[e](J)to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, ²⁸ then he took Him in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

³³ And His father and ^(N)mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to ^(O)His mother Mary, “Behold, this Child is appointed for ^(P)the fall and ^[g]rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be ^[h]opposed— ³⁵ and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶ And there was a ^(Q)prophetess, ^[i]Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of ^(R)the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in ^[j]years ^(S)and had lived with her husband for seven years after her ^[k]marriage, ³⁷ and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the temple grounds, serving night and day with ^(T)fasts and prayers. ³⁸ And at that very ^[l]moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak about Him to all those who were ^(U)looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Return to Nazareth

³⁹ And when His parents had completed everything in accordance with the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to ^(V)their own city of Nazareth. ^40 (W)Now the Child continued to grow and to become strong, ^[m]increasing in wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him.