Matthew 1:18-25

Amplified Bible

Conception and Birth of Jesus

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been ^[a]betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by [the power of] the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹And Joseph her [promised] husband, being a just and righteous man and not wanting to expose her publicly to shame, planned to send her away and divorce her quietly. ²⁰But after he had considered this, 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 the Child who has been ^[b]conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation), for He will ^[c]save His people from their sins.” ²²All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the ^[d]prophet [Isaiah]: ²³“Behold, the ^[e]virgin shall be with child and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel”—which, when translated, means, “God with us.”^(A) ²⁴Then Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he took Mary [to his home] as his wife, ²⁵but he kept her a virgin until she had given birth to a Son [her firstborn child]; and he named Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation).

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Footnotes

Matthew 1:18 The first stage of marriage (called shiddukin in Hebrew) in Jewish tradition and law, usually lasting for a year before the wedding night; unlike an engagement, it was legally binding and required a divorce to nullify it. The woman remained with her parents during the betrothal year and was referred to as a “wife” even though the marriage was not consummated during this period of time (cf Deut 22:23, 24).
Matthew 1:20 Lit begotten.
Matthew 1:21 Those who, by personal faith, accept Him as Savior are saved from the penalty of sin and reconciled with the Father.
Matthew 1:22 The prophets in the Bible always have the ability to foretell the future as revealed to them by God. Scripture provides stringent criteria for testing a prophet’s ability to foretell future events (Deut 18:22).
Matthew 1:23 “Virgin” (Gr parthenos) clearly confirms that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus.