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.^*

2Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes, who lay sprawled on his bed, for he was drunk with wine. 3Judith had ordered her maidservant to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait, as on the other days, for her to come out; she had said she would be going out for her prayer. She had also said this same thing to Bagoas.

4When all had departed, and no one, small or great, was left in the bedchamber, Judith stood by Holofernes’ bed and prayed silently, “O Lord, God of all might, in this hour look graciously on the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. 5Now is the time for aiding your heritage and for carrying out my design to shatter the enemies who have risen against us.”^a 6She went to the bedpost near the head of Holofernes, and taking his sword from it, 7she drew close to the bed, grasped the hair of his head, and said, “Strengthen me this day, Lord, God of Israel!” 8Then with all her might she struck his neck twice and cut off his head.^b 9She rolled his body off the bed and took the canopy from its posts. Soon afterward, she came out and handed over the head of Holofernes to her maid, 10who put it into her food bag. Then the two went out together for prayer as they were accustomed to do.

Judith and Her Maid Return to Bethulia. They passed through the camp, and skirting that valley, went up the mountain to Bethulia, and approached its gates. 11From a distance, Judith shouted to the guards at the gates: “Open! Open the gate! God, our God, is with us. Once more he has shown his strength in Israel and his power against the enemy, as he has today!”

Judith Displays the Head of Holofernes. 12^* When the citizens heard her voice, they hurried down to their city gate and summoned the elders of the city. 13All the people, from the least to the greatest, hurriedly assembled, for her return seemed unbelievable. They opened the gate and welcomed the two women. They made a fire for light and gathered around the two. 14Judith urged them with a loud voice: “Praise God, give praise! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand this very night!”

15Look down from heaven and regard us

from your holy and glorious palace!

Where is your zealous care and your might,

your surge of pity?ⁱ

Your mercy hold not back!

16For you are our father.

Were Abraham not to know us,

nor Israel to acknowledge us,

You, LORD, are our father,

our redeemer you are named from of old.

17Why do you make us wander, LORD, from your ways,

and harden our hearts so that we do not fear you?^*

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your heritage.

18Why have the wicked invaded your holy place,

why have our enemies trampled your sanctuary?

19^* Too long have we been like those you do not rule,

on whom your name is not invoked.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

with the mountains quaking before you,^j

1^* See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^a 2Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed^* we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.^b 3Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.^c

Avoiding Sin. 4Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.^* 5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.^d 6No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. 7Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.^e 9No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.^* 10In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.

Announcement of the Birth of Jesus.^* 26In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.^l 28And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”^m 29But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31ⁿ Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32^o He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,^* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, 33and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”^p 34But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”^* 35And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.^q 36And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived^* a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37for nothing will be impossible for God.”^r 38Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.