Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Jesus’ genealogy
1 The book of the family tree of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac of Jacob, Jacob of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah of Peres and Zara (by Tamar), Peres of Esrom, Esrom of Aram, 4 Aram of Aminadab, Aminadab of Naason, Naason of Salmon, 5 Salmon of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz of Obed (by Ruth), Obed of Jesse, 6 and Jesse of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 7 Solomon of Rehoboam, Rehoboam of Abijah, Abijah of Asaph, 8 Asaph of Jehosaphat, Jehosaphat of Joram, Joram of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah of Joatham, Joatham of Ahaz, Ahaz of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah of Manasseh, Manasseh of Amoz, Amoz of Josiah, 11 Josiah of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the exile in Babylon.
12 After the Babylonian exile, Jeconiah became the father of Salathiel, Salathiel of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel of Abioud, Abioud of Eliakim, Eliakim of Azor, 14 Azor of Sadok, Sadok of Achim, Achim of Elioud, 15 Elioud of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, Matthan of Jacob, 16 and Jacob of Joseph the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called “Messiah.”
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David add up to fourteen; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; and from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
The birth of Jesus
18 This was how the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place. His mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph; but before they came together she turned out to be pregnant—by the holy spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband-to-be, was an upright man. He didn’t want to make a public example of her. So he decided to set the marriage aside privately. 20 But, while he was considering this, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream.
“Joseph, son of David,” said the angel, “don’t be afraid to get married to Mary. The child she is carrying is from the holy spirit. 21 She is going to have a son. You are to give him the name Jesus; he is the one who will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this happened so that what the Lord said through the prophet might be fulfilled: 23 “Look: the virgin is pregnant, and will have a son, and they shall give him the name Emmanuel,”—which means, in translation, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up from his sleep he did what the Lord’s angel had told him to. He married his wife, 25 but he didn’t have sexual relations with her until after the birth of her son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
The Magi visit Jesus
2 When Jesus was born, in Bethlehem of Judaea, at the time when Herod was king, some wise and learned men came to Jerusalem from the East.
2 “Where is the one,” they asked, “who has been born to be king of the Jews? We have seen his star rising in the East, and we have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this, he was very disturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. 4 He called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, and inquired from them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judaea,” they replied. “That’s what it says in the prophet:
6 You, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land
are not the least of Judah’s princes;
from out of you will come the ruler
who will shepherd Israel my people.”
7 Then Herod called the wise men to him in secret. He found out from them precisely when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem.
“Off you go,” he said, “and make a thorough search for the child. When you find him, report back to me, so that I can come and worship him too.”
9 When they heard what the king said, they set off. There was the star, the one they had seen rising in the East, going ahead of them! It went and stood still over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were beside themselves with joy and excitement. 11 They went into the house and saw the child, with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure-chests and gave him presents: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12 They were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they returned to their own country by a different route.
Travels to Egypt
13 After the Magi had gone, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
“Get up,” he said, “and take the child, and his mother, and hurry off to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to hunt for the child, to kill him.”
14 So he got up and took the child and his mother by night, and went off to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until the death of Herod. This happened to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet:
Out of Egypt I called my son.
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magi, he flew into a towering rage. He dispatched people to kill all the boys in Bethlehem, and in all its surrounding districts, from two years old and under, according to the time the Magi had told him. 17 That was when the word that came through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 There was heard a voice in Rama,
crying and loud lamentation.
Rachel is weeping for her children,
and will not let anyone comfort her,
because they are no more.
19 After the death of Herod, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
20 “Get up,” he said, “and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who wanted to kill the child are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judaea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. After being advised in a dream, he went off to the region of Galilee. 23 When he got there, he settled in a town called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what the prophet had spoken:
He shall be called a Nazorean.
The preaching of John the Baptist
3 In those days John the Baptist appeared. He was preaching in the Judaean wilderness.
2 “Repent!” he was saying. “The kingdom of heaven is coming!”
3 John, you see, is the person spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, when he said,
The voice of someone shouting in the desert:
“Prepare the route that the Lord will take,
straighten out his paths!”
4 John himself had clothing made from camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Jerusalem, all Judaea, and the whole area around the Jordan, were going off to him. 6 They were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 He saw several Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized by him.
“You brood of vipers!” he said to them. “Who warned you to escape from the coming wrath? 8 You’d better prove your repentance by bearing the right sort of fruit! 9 And you needn’t start thinking to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ Let me tell you, God is quite capable of raising up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 The axe is already taking aim at the root of the trees. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Jesus’ baptism
11 “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,” John continued. “But the one who is coming behind me is more powerful than me! I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire! 12 He’s got his shovel in his hand, ready to clear out his barn, and gather all his corn into the granary. But he’ll burn up the chaff with a fire that will never go out.”
13 Then Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Galilee, and came to John to be baptized by him.
14 John tried to stop him.
“I ought to be baptized by you,” he said, “and are you going to come to me?”
15 “This is how it’s got to be right now,” said Jesus. “This is the right way for us to complete God’s whole saving plan.”
So John consented, 16 and Jesus was baptized. All at once, as he came up out of the water, suddenly the heavens were opened, and he saw God’s spirit coming down like a dove and landing on him.
17 Then there came a voice out of the heavens.
“This is my son, my beloved one,” said the voice. “I am delighted with him.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.