Matthew ◦ Chapter 1
1 Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham and of David. Here is his family line:2 Abraham had Isaac, who had Jacob.3 Jacob had Judah and his brothers, and Judah had Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez had Hezron, who had Ram, and4 Ram had Amminadab, who had Nahshon, and Nahshon had Salmon.5 Salmon had Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz had Obed by Ruth, and Obed had Jesse,6 who was the father of King David. David had Solomon by the former wife of Uriah.7 Solomon had Rehoboam, who had Abijah, and Abijah had Asa.8 Asa had Jehoshaphat, who had Jehoram, who had Uzziah.9 Uzziah had Jotham, who had Ahaz, who had Hezekiah.10 Hezekiah had Manasseh, who had Amon, who had Josiah.11 Josiah had Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.12 After returning from the Babylonian exile, Jeconiah had Shealtiel, who had Zerubbabel.13 Zerubbabel had Abiud, who had Eliakim, who had Azor.14 Azor had Zadok, who had Akim, who had Eliud.15 Eliud had Eleazar, who had Matthan, who had Jacob.16 And Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus, who is the Messiah, was born.17 So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David and fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to the Messiah.18 The birth of Jesus Christ happened like this: Mary, his mother, was engaged to Joseph, but before they had physical intimacy, she was already pregnant by the Holy Spirit.19 Because Joseph wanted to do what was right for Mary, and he didn't want to disgrace or humiliate her publicly, he planned to end his engagement quietly.20 But before he could do this, an angel from God appeared to him in a dream and said: "Joseph son of David, don't be afraid to marry Mary; she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, not by any man.21 She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus — God heals — because he will heal and restore humanity from selfishness and sin."22 All of this happened just as the Lord foretold through his spokesperson:23 "The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").24 When Joseph awoke, he did just what the Lord's angel had instructed him to do. He married Mary and brought her home as his wife.25 But they didn't have sex until after she gave birth to a son whom they named Jesus.