Bible in 90 Days

11 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!

² Wail, O fir tree and cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the glorious and lofty trees are laid waste! Wail, O you oaks of Bashan, for the thick and inaccessible forest [on the steep mountainside] has in flames been felled!

³ A voice of the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory, the broad pasturage, is laid waste! A voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan [the jungle or thickets] is ruined!

⁴ Thus says the Lord my God: Shepherd the flock [destined] for slaughter,

⁵ Whose buyers or possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty; and they who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich! And their own shepherds neither pity nor spare them [from the wolves].

⁶ For I will no more pity or spare the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord; but behold, I will deliver every man into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his [foreign] king. And [the enemy] shall lay waste the land, and I will not deliver [the people] out of the hand [of the foreign oppressor].

⁷ So I [Zechariah] shepherded the flock of slaughter, truly [as the name implies] the most miserable of sheep. And I took two [shepherd’s] staffs, the one I called Beauty or Grace and the other I called Bands or Union; and I fed and shepherded the flock.

⁸ And I cut off the three shepherds [the civil authorities, the priests, and the prophets] in one month, for I was weary and impatient with them, and they also loathed me.^(A)

⁹ So I [Zechariah] said, I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let the survivors devour one another’s flesh.

¹⁰ And I took my staff, Beauty or Grace, and broke it in pieces to show that I was annulling the covenant or agreement which I had made with all the peoples [not to molest them].

¹¹ So the covenant was annulled on that day, and thus the most wretched of the flock and the traffickers in the sheep who were watching me knew (recognized and understood) that it was truly the word of the Lord.

¹² And I said to them, If it seems just and right to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them. So they weighed out for my price thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, Cast it to the potter [as if He said, To the dogs!]—the munificently [miserable] sum at which I [and My shepherd] am priced by them! And I [Zechariah] took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.^(B)

¹⁴ Then I broke into pieces my other staff, Bands or Union, indicating that I was annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to me, Take up once more the implements [the staff and rod of a shepherd, but this time] of a worthless and wicked shepherd.^(C)

¹⁶ For behold, I will raise up a false shepherd in the land; the lost and perishing he will not miss or visit, the young and scattered he will not go to seek, the wounded and broken he will not heal, nor will he feed those that are sound and strong; but he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and break off their hoofs [to consume all the flesh].

¹⁷ Woe to the worthless and foolish shepherd who deserts the flock! The sword shall smite his arm and his right eye; his arm shall be utterly withered and his right eye utterly blinded.^(D)

12 The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, Who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him:

² Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup or bowl of reeling to all the peoples round about, and in the siege against Jerusalem will there also be a siege against and upon Judah.

³ And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who lift it or burden themselves with it shall be sorely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.

⁴ In that day, says the Lord, I will smite every horse [of the armies that contend against Jerusalem] with terror and panic and his rider with madness; and I will open My eyes and regard with favor the house of Judah and will smite every horse of the opposing nations with blindness.

⁵ And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their hearts, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are our strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.

⁶ In that day will I make the chiefs of Judah like a big, blazing pot among [sticks of] wood and like a flaming torch among sheaves [of grain], and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell and sit securely in their own place, in Jerusalem.

⁷ And the Lord shall save and give victory to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be magnified and exalted above Judah.

⁸ In that day will the Lord guard and defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he who is [spiritually] feeble and stumbles among them in that day [of persecution] shall become [strong and noble] like David; and the house of David [shall maintain its supremacy] like God, like the ^[a]Angel of the Lord Who is before them.

⁹ And it shall be in that day that I will make it My aim to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.^(E)

¹¹ In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King ^[b]Josiah].^(F)

¹² And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the [kingly] family of the house of David apart and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan [David’s son] apart and their wives apart;

¹³ The [priestly] family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart; the family of Shimei [grandson of Levi] apart and their wives apart;

¹⁴ All the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves [each with an overwhelming individual sorrow over having blindly rejected their unrecognized Messiah].

13 In that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem [to cleanse them from] sin and uncleanness.

² And in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will remove from the land the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit.

³ And if anyone again appears [falsely] as a prophet, then his father and his mother who bore him shall say to him, You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother who bore him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.

⁴ And in that day the [false] prophets shall each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, nor will he wear a hairy or rough garment to deceive,

⁵ But he will [deny his identity and] say, I am no prophet. I am a tiller of the ground, for I have been made a bond servant from my youth.

⁶ And one shall say to him, What are these wounds on your breast or between your hands? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded [when disciplined] in the house of my [loving] friends.

⁷ Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My associate, says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd and the sheep [of the flock] shall be scattered, and I will turn back My hand and stretch it out again upon the little ones [of the flock].^(G)

⁸ And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.^(H)

⁹ And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

14 Behold, a day of the Lord is coming when the spoil [taken from you] shall be divided [among the victors] in the midst of you.

² For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.

⁴ And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from the east to the west by a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.^(I)

⁵ And you shall flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal, and you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my [Zechariah’s] ^[c]God shall come, and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him.^(J)

⁶ And it shall come to pass in that day that there shall not be light; the glorious and bright ones [the heavenly bodies] shall be darkened.

⁷ But it shall be one continuous day, known to the Lord—not day and not night, but at evening time there shall be light.

⁸ And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern [Dead] Sea and half of them to the western [Mediterranean] Sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.

⁹ And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be one [in the recognition and worship of men] and His name one.

¹⁰ All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon, [the Rimmon that is] south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain lifted up on its site and dwell in its place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

¹¹ And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse or ban of utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall dwell securely.^(K)

¹² And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall corrode away in their sockets and their tongue shall decay away in their mouth.

¹³ And in that day there shall be a great confusion, discomfiture, and panic among them from the Lord; and they shall seize each his neighbor’s hand, and the hand of the one shall be raised against the hand of the other.

¹⁴ And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together—gold and silver and apparel in great abundance.

¹⁵ And as that plague on men, so shall be the plague on the horse, on the mule, on the camel, on the donkey, and on all the livestock and beasts that may be in those camps.

¹⁶ And everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

¹⁷ And it shall be that whoso of the families of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt does not go up to Jerusalem and present themselves, upon them there shall be no rain, but there shall be the plague with which the Lord will smite the nations that go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁹ This shall be the consequent punishment of the sin of Egypt and the consequent punishment of the sin of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁰ In that day there shall be [written] upon the [little] bells on the horses, holy to the lord, and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be holy to the Lord like the bowls before the altar.

²¹ Yes, every pot in all the houses of Jerusalem and in Judah shall be dedicated and holy to the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil their sacrifices in them [and traders in such wares will no longer be seen at the temple]. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite [that is, any godless or unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts.^(L)

1 The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi [My messenger].

² I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, How and in what way have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? says the Lord; yet I loved Jacob (Israel),

³ But [in comparison with the degree of love I have for Jacob] I have hated Esau [Edom] and have laid waste his mountains, and his heritage I have given to the jackals of the wilderness.^(M)

⁴ Though [impoverished] Edom should say, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places—thus says the Lord of hosts: They may build, but I will tear and throw down; and men will call them the Wicked Country, the people against whom the Lord has indignation forever.

⁵ Your own eyes shall see this and you shall say, The Lord is great and will be magnified over and beyond the border of Israel!^(N)

⁶ A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the [reverent] fear due Me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. You say, How and in what way have we despised Your name?

⁷ By offering polluted food upon My altar. And you ask, How have we polluted it and profaned You? By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible and may be despised.

⁸ When you [priests] offer blind [animals] for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Present such a thing [a blind or lame or sick animal] now to your governor [in payment of your taxes, and see what will happen]. Will he be pleased with you? Or will he receive you graciously? says the Lord of hosts.

⁹ Now then, I [Malachi] beg [you priests], entreat God [earnestly] that He will be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand [as a defective animal for sacrifice], will He accept it or show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁰ Oh, that there were even one among you [whose duty it is to minister to Me] who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on My altar to no purpose [an empty, futile, fruitless pretense]! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hand.

¹¹ For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and indeed a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

¹² But you [priests] profane it when [by your actions] you say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit of it, its food, is contemptible and may be despised.

¹³ You say also, Behold, what a drudgery and weariness this is! And you have sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was ^[d]taken by violence, or the lame or the sick; this you bring as an offering! Shall I accept this from your hand? says the Lord.^(O)

¹⁴ But cursed is the [cheating] deceiver who has a male in his flock and vows to offer it, yet sacrifices to the [sovereign] Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible and to be [reverently] feared among the nations.

2 And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you.

² If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I have already turned them to curses because you do not lay it to heart.

³ Behold, I will rebuke your seed [grain—which will prevent due harvest], and I will spread the ^[e]dung from the festival offerings upon your faces, and you shall be taken away with it.

⁴ And you shall know, recognize, and understand that I have sent this [new] decree to you priests, to be My [new] covenant with Levi [the priestly tribe], says the Lord of hosts.

⁵ My covenant [on My part with Levi] was to give him life and peace, because [on his part] of the [reverent and worshipful] fear with which [the priests] would revere Me and stand in awe of My name.

⁶ The law of truth was in [Levi’s] mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from iniquity.

⁷ For the priest’s lips should guard and keep pure the knowledge [of My law], and the people should seek (inquire for and require) instruction at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

⁸ But you have turned aside out of the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction [in the law]; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi [with Me], says the Lord of hosts.

⁹ Therefore have I also made you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept My ways but have shown favoritism to persons in your administration of the law [of God].

¹⁰ Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then do we deal faithlessly and treacherously each against his brother, profaning the covenant of [God with] our fathers?

¹¹ Judah has been faithless and dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah [that is, Jewish men] has profaned the holy sanctuary of the Lord which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god [having divorced his Jewish wife].^(P)

¹² The Lord will cast out of the tents of Jacob to the last man those who do this [evil thing], the master and the servant [or the pupil] alike, even him who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts.

¹³ And this you do with double guilt; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears [shed by your unoffending wives, divorced by you that you might take heathen wives], and with [your own] weeping and crying out because the Lord does not regard your offering any more or accept it with favor at your hand.

¹⁴ Yet you ask, Why does He reject it? Because the Lord was witness [to the covenant made at your marriage] between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously and to whom you were faithless. Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your marriage vows].

¹⁵ And did not God make [you and your wife] one [flesh]? Did not One make you and preserve your spirit alive? And why [did God make you two] one? Because He sought a godly offspring [from your union]. Therefore take heed to yourselves, and let no one deal treacherously and be faithless to the wife of his youth.

¹⁶ For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I hate divorce and marital separation and him who covers his garment [his wife] with violence. Therefore keep a watch upon your spirit [that it may be controlled by My Spirit], that you deal not treacherously and faithlessly [with your marriage mate].

¹⁷ You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, In what way have we wearied Him? [You do it when by your actions] you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or [by asking], Where is the God of justice?

3 Behold, I send My ^[f]messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. And the Lord [the Messiah], Whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; the ^[g]Messenger or Angel of the covenant, Whom you desire, behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts.^(Q)

² But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;^(R)

³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the priests, the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness.

⁴ Then will the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in ancient years.

⁵ Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against the false swearers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and who turn aside the temporary resident from his right and fear not Me, says the Lord of hosts.

⁶ For I am the Lord, I do not change; that is why you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

⁷ Even from the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, How shall we return?

⁸ Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings.

⁹ You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation.^(S)

¹⁰ Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.^(T)

¹¹ And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.

¹² And all nations shall call you happy and blessed, for you shall be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

¹³ Your words have been strong and hard against Me, says the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You?

¹⁴ You have said, It is useless to serve God, and what profit is it if we keep His ordinances and walk gloomily and as if in mourning apparel before the Lord of hosts?

¹⁵ And now we consider the proud and arrogant to be happy and favored; evildoers are exalted and prosper; yes, and when they test God, they escape [unpunished].

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.

¹⁷ And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

¹⁸ Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.

4 For behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven, and all the proud and arrogant, yes, and all that do wickedly and are lawless, shall be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.^(U)

² But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.

³ And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember the law of Moses, My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel.

⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^(V)

⁶ And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction.^(W)

1 The book of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham.^(X)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹ And Josiah became the father of Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] and his brothers about the time of the removal (deportation) to Babylon.^(Z)

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁷ So 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.

¹⁸ Now 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.

¹⁹ And 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.

²⁰ But 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.

²¹ She 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 ^[h]failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God].

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

²³ Behold, 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.^(AA)

²⁴ Then 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.

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

2 Now 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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹ And 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.

¹² And ^[r]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.

¹³ Now after they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up! [^[s]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.

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

¹⁵ And 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.^(AD)

¹⁶ Then 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.

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

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

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

²⁰ And said, Rise, [^[t]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.

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

²² But 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.

²³ He 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].^(AF)

3 In those days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea

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

³ This 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, ^[w]direct).^(AG)

⁴ This 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.^(AH)

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

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

⁷ But 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?

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

⁹ And 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!

¹⁰ And 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.

¹¹ I indeed baptize you ^[x]in (with) water ^[y]because of repentance [that is, because of your ^[z]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.

¹² His 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.

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

¹⁴ But John ^[aa]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?

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

¹⁶ And 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.

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

4 Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

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

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

⁴ But 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.^(AK)

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on ^[ae]a turret (pinnacle, ^[af]gable) of the temple ^[ag]sanctuary.^(AL)

⁶ And 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.^(AM)

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

⁸ Again, 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.

⁹ And 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.

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁵ The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the ^[ak]way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles [of the ^[al]peoples who are not of Israel]—^(AP)

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

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

¹⁸ As 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.

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

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

²¹ And 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.

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

²³ And 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.

²⁴ So 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.

²⁵ And 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.