THE
GOOD NEWS ACCORDING TO
MATTHEW
The Birth, Parentage and Infancy
1A genealogy of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David and Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac of Jacob, Jacob of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez of Hezron, Hezron of Aram, 4 Aram of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon, 5 Salmon of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed of Jesse, 6 Jesse of David the King. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother was Uriah’s widow, 7 Solomon of Rehoboam, Rehoboam of Abijah, Abijah of Asa, 8 Asa of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat of Joram, Joram of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah of Jotham, Jotham of Ahaz, Ahaz of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah of Manasseh, Manasseh of Amon, Amon of Josiah, 11 Josiah of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the Exile to Babylon. 12 After the Exile to Babylon – Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, Salathiel of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, Eliakim of Azor, 14 Azor of Zadok, Zadok of Achim, Achim of Eliud, 15 Eliud of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, Matthan of Jacob, 16 Jacob of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, who is called ‘Christ’. 17 So the whole number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen; from David to the Exile to Babylon fourteen; and from the Exile to Babylon to the Christ fourteen.
18 This is how Jesus Christ was born:
His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but, before the marriage took place, she found herself to be pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband, Joseph, was a just man and, since he did not want to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to put an end to their engagement privately. 20 He had been thinking this over, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
“Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary for your wife, for her child has been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son; name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this happened in fulfillment of these words of the Lord through the prophet, where he says –
23 ‘The virgin will conceive and will give birth to a son, and they will give him the name Immanuel’
– a word which means ‘God is with us.’ 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him. 25 He made Mary his wife, but they did not sleep together before the birth of her son; and to this son he gave the name Jesus.