The Genealogy of Jesus.^* 1^a The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.^*

2^b Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.^c 3Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.^d Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4^e Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5^f Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, 6^g Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 7^{* h} Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. 8Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. 9Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos,^* Amos the father of Josiah. 11Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.

12ⁱ After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.^*

5See, days are coming—oracle of the LORD—

when I will raise up a righteous branch for David;

As king he shall reign and govern wisely,

he shall do what is just and right in the land.^e

6In his days Judah shall be saved,

Israel shall dwell in security.

This is the name to be given him:

“The LORD our justice.”^f

7^g Therefore, the days are coming—oracle of the LORD—when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt”; 8but rather, “As the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north”—and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own soil.

‘A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you

from among your own kinsmen;

to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.^l

23Everyone who does not listen to that prophet

will be cut off from the people.’^m

24Moreover, all the prophets who spoke, from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days. 25You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, ‘In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ⁿ 26For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”^o

The Birth of Jesus. 1^* In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus^* that the whole world should be enrolled. 2This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. 4And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,^a 5to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.^b