Matthew 1-4

New American Standard Bible

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.

Conception and Birth of Jesus

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the ^[p]Messiah was as follows: when His ^(L)mother Mary had been ^[q]betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was ^(M)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 ^[r](N)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, “^(O)Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for ^[s]the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a Son; and ^(P)you shall name Him Jesus, for ^[t]He ^(Q)will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this ^[u]took place so that what was ^(R)spoken by the Lord through ^[v]the prophet would be fulfilled: ²³ “^(S)Behold, the virgin will ^[w](T)conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him ^[x]Immanuel,” which translated means, “^(U)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 [y]but kept her a virgin until she ^(V)gave birth to a Son; and ^(W)he named Him 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, behold, ^[z]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 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the ^[aa]Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “^(AB)In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written ^[ab]by ^[ac]the prophet:

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the magi and determined from them the exact ^[ad]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 on their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on ahead of them until it came to a stop over the place where the Child was to be found. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with ^(AF)His mother Mary; and they fell down and ^[ae](AG)worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And after being ^(AH)warned by God ^(AI)in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

The Escape 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 stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

¹⁴ So ^[af]Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He ^[ag]stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by the Lord through ^[ah]the prophet would be fulfilled: “^(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 men and ^(AO)killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity ^[ai]who were two years old or 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 to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So ^[aj]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 settled in a city called ^(AS)Nazareth. This happened so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He will be called a ^(AT)Nazarene.”

The Preaching of John the Baptist

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

⁴ Now John himself had ^[aq](BC)a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(BD)locusts and wild honey. ⁵ At that time Jerusalem ^(BE)was going out to him, and all Judea and all ^(BF)the region 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 ^[ar]baptism, he said to them, “You ^[as](BJ)offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from ^(BK)the wrath to come? ^8 (BL)Therefore produce fruit ^(BM)consistent with repentance; ⁹ and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘^(BN)We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ And the ^(BO)axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^(BP)every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, ^(BQ)I baptize you ^[at]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 ^[au]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 the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us ^(BY)to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *allowed Him. ¹⁶ After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[av](BZ)he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[aw]settling on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “^(CA)This is ^[ax]My beloved Son, with 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 for forty days and forty nights, He ^[ay]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 comes out of the mouth of God.’”

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

and

⁷ Jesus said to him, “^[az]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 along 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 ^[ba]worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘^(CM)You shall worship the Lord your God, and ^[bb]serve Him only.’” ¹¹ Then the devil *left Him; and behold, ^(CN)angels came and began to serve 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 happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled:

^17 (CT)From that time Jesus began to ^[be]preach and say, “^(CU)Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ^[bf]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 his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “^[bg]Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there He saw two other brothers, ^[bh](CY)James the son of Zebedee, and his brother ^[bi]John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, 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)about in all of Galilee, ^(DA)teaching in their synagogues and ^(DB)proclaiming the ^[bj]gospel of the kingdom, and ^(DC)healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

²⁴ And the news about Him spread ^(DD)throughout Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and severe pain, ^(DE)demon-possessed, people with ^(DF)epilepsy, and people who were ^(DG)paralyzed; 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.