1142 | Matthew 1:18
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18
This is how the birth of Jesus the Mes si ah came about a : His moth er Mary was pledged to be mar ried to Jo seph , but be fore they came to geth er , she was found to be preg nant through the Holy Spir it . 19 Be cause Jo seph her hus band was faith ful to the law , and yet b did not want to ex pose her to pub lic dis grace , he had in mind to di vorce her qui et ly .
20
But af ter he had con sid ered this , an an gel of the Lord ap peared to him in a dream and said , “ Jo seph son of Da vid , do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife , be cause what is con ceived in her is from the Holy Spir it . 21 She will give birth to a son , and you are to give him the name Jesus , c be cause he will save his peo ple from their sins .”
22
All this took place to ful fill what the Lord had said through the proph et :
23
“ The vir gin will con ceive and give birth to a son , and they will call him Immanuel ” d
( which means “ God with us ”).
24
When Jo seph woke up , he did what the an gel of the Lord had com mand ed him and took Mary home as his wife . 25 But he did not con sum mate their marriage un til she gave birth to a son . And he gave him the name Jesus .
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2
Af ter Jesus was born in Beth le hem in Ju dea , dur ing the time of King Her od ,
Magi e from the east came to Je ru sa lem 2 and asked , “ Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews ? We saw his star when it rose and have come to wor ship him .”
3
When King Her od heard this he was dis turbed , and all Je ru sa lem with him .
4
When he had called to geth er all the peo ple ’ s chief priests and teach ers of the law , he asked them where the Mes si ah was to be born . 5 “ In Bethlehem in Judea ,” they re plied , “ for this is what the proph et has writ ten :
6
“ ‘ But you , Bethlehem , in the land of Judah , are by no means least among the rulers of Judah ; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel .’ f ”
7
Then Her od called the Magi se cret ly and found out from them the ex act time the star had ap peared . 8 He sent them to Beth le hem and said , “ Go and search care ful ly for the child . As soon as you find him , re port to me , so that I too may go and wor ship him .”
9
Af ter they had heard the king , they went on their way , and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them un til it stopped over the place where the child was .
10
When they saw the star , they were over joyed . 11 On com ing to the house , they saw the child with his moth er Mary , and they bowed down and worshiped him . Then they opened their trea sures and pre sent ed him with gifts of gold , frankincense and myrrh .
12
And hav ing been warned in a dream not to go back to Her od , they re turned to their coun try by an oth er route .
The Escape to Egypt
13
When they had gone , an an gel of the Lord ap peared to Jo seph in a dream . “ Get up ,” he said , “ take the child and his moth er and es cape to Egypt . Stay there un til I tell you , for Her od is go ing to search for the child to kill him .”
14
So he got up , took the child and his moth er dur ing the night and left for Egypt ,
15 where he stayed un til the death of Her od . And so was ful filled what the Lord had said through the proph et : “ Out of Egypt I called my son .” g
16
When Her od re al ized that he had been out wit ted by the Magi , he was fu rious , and he gave or ders to kill all the boys in Beth le hem and its vi cin i ty who were
a 18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this b 19 Or was a righteous man and c 21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua , which means the Lord saves . d 23 Isaiah 7:14 e 1 Traditionally wise men f 6 Micah 5:2,4 g 15 Hosea 11:1