Sunday, January 5, 2025

^4:5But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry. ⁶For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. ⁸From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

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^1:1The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ²As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you: ³the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’” ⁴John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. ⁵All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. ⁶John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. ⁸I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

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^1:1In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. ²But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water. ³And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so. ⁷And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day. ⁹And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

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^14:15And the Lord said to Moses, Why criest thou to me? speak to the children of Israel, and let them proceed. ¹⁶And do thou lift up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it, and let the children of Israel enter into the midst of the sea on the dry land. ¹⁷And lo! I will harden the heart of Pharao and of all the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them; and I will be glorified upon Pharao, and on all his host, and on his chariots and his horses. ¹⁸And all the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I am glorified upon Pharao and upon his chariots and his horses. ²¹And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the Lord carried back the sea with a strong south wind all the night, and made the sea dry, and the water was divided. ²²And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the water of it was a wall on the right hand and a wall on the left. ²³And the Egyptians pursued them and went in after them, and every horse of Pharao, and his chariots, and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea. ²⁷And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the water returned to its place toward day; and the Egyptians fled from the water, and the Lord shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸And the water returned and covered the chariots and the riders, and all the forces of Pharao, who entered after them into the sea: and there was not left of them even one. ²⁹But the children of Israel went along dry land in the midst of the sea, and the water was to them a wall on the right hand, and a wall on the left.

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^15:22So Moses brought up the children of Israel from the Red Sea, and brought them into the wilderness of Sur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water to drink. ²³And they came to Merrha, and could not drink of Merrha, for it was bitter; therefore he named the name of that place, Bitterness. ²⁴And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? ²⁵And Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the water, and the water was sweetened: there he established to him ordinances and judgments, and there he proved him, ²⁶and said, If thou wilt indeed hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do things pleasing before him, and wilt hearken to his commands, and keep all his ordinances, no disease which I have brought upon the Egyptians will I bring upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God that heals thee. ²⁷And they came to Ælim, and there were there twelve fountains of water, and seventy stems of palm-trees; and they encamped there by the waters. ^16:1And they departed from Ælim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Ælim and Sina; and on the fifteenth day, in the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt,

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^3:7And the Lord said to Joshua, This day do I begin to exalt thee before all the children of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I also be with thee. ⁸And now charge the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, As soon as ye shall enter on a part of the water of Jordan, then ye shall stand in Jordan. ¹⁵And when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered upon Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were dipped in part of the water of Jordan; (now Jordan overflowed all its banks about the time of wheat harvest:) ¹⁶then the waters that came down from above stopped; there stood one solid heap very far off, as far as the region of Kariathiarim, and the lower part came down to the sea of Araba, the salt sea, till it completely failed; and the people stood opposite Jericho. ¹⁷And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry land in the midst of Jordan; and all the children of Israel went through on dry land, until all the people had completely gone over Jordan.

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^1:16Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities; ¹⁷learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow. ¹⁸And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool. ¹⁹And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land: ²⁰but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.

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^32:1And Laban rose up in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban having turned back, departed to his place. ²And Jacob departed for his journey; and having looked up, he saw the host of God encamped; and the angels of God met him. ³And Jacob said, when he saw them, This is the Camp of God; and he called the name of that place, Encampments. ⁴And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom. ⁵And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye say to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob; I have sojourned with Laban and tarried until now. ⁶And there were born to me oxen, and asses, and sheep, and men-servants and women-servants; and I sent to tell my lord Esau, that thy servant might find grace in thy sight. ⁷And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and lo! he comes to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁸And Jacob was greatly terrified, and was perplexed; and he divided the people that was with him, and the cows, and the camels, and the sheep, into two camps. ⁹And Jacob said, If Esau should come to one camp, and smite it, the other camp shall be in safety. ¹⁰And Jacob said, God of my father Abraam, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, thou art he that said to me, Depart quickly to the land of thy birth, and I will do thee good.

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^2:5And the daughter of Pharao came down to the river to bathe; and her maids walked by the river's side, and having seen the ark in the ooze, she sent her maid, and took it up. ⁶And having opened it, she sees the babe weeping in the ark: and the daughter of Pharao had compassion on it, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. ⁷And his sister said to the daughter of Pharao, Wilt thou that I call to thee a nurse of the Hebrews, and shall she suckle the child for thee? ⁸And the daughter of Pharao said, Go: and the young woman went, and called the mother of the child. ⁹And the daughter of Pharao said to her, Take care of this child, and suckle it for me, and I will give thee the wages; and the woman took the child, and suckled it. ¹⁰And when the boy was grown, she brought him to the daughter of Pharao, and he became her son; and she called his name, Moses, saying, I took him out of the water.

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^6:36And Gedeon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, ³⁷behold, I put the fleece of wool in the threshing-floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and drought on all the ground, I shall know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said. ³⁸And it was so: and he rose up early in the morning, and wrung the fleece, and dew dropped from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹And Gedeon said to God, Let not, I pray thee, thine anger be kindled with me, and I will speak yet once; I will even yet make one trial more with the fleece: let now the drought be upon the fleece only, and let there be dew on all the ground. ⁴⁰And God did so in that night; and there was drought on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

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^18:30And Eliu said to the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him. ³¹And Eliu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, as the Lord spoke to him, saying, Israel shall be thy name. ³²And he built up the stones in the name of the Lord, and repaired the altar that had been broken down; and he made a trench that would hold two measures of seed round about the altar. ³³And he piled the cleft wood on the altar which he had made, and divided the whole-burnt-offering, and laid it on the wood, and laid it in order on the altar, and said, Fetch me four pitchers of water, and pour it on the whole-burnt-offering, and on the wood. And they did so. ³⁴And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. ³⁵And the water ran round about the altar, and they filled the trench with water. ³⁶And Eliu cried aloud to heaven, and said, Lord God of Abraam, and Isaac, and Israel, answer me, O Lord, answer me this day by fire, and let all this people know that thou art the Lord, the God of Israel, and I am thy servant, and for thy sake I have wrought these works. ³⁷Hear me, O Lord, hear me, and let this people know that thou art the Lord God, and thou hast turned back the heart of this people. ³⁸Then fire fell from the Lord out of heaven, and devoured the whole-burnt-offerings, and the wood and the water that was in the trench, and the fire licked up the stones and the earth. ³⁹And all the people fell upon their faces, and said, Truly the Lord is God; he is God.

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^49:8Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I succoured thee: and I have formed thee, and given thee for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages: ⁹saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth; and bidding them that are in darkness shew themselves. They shall be fed in all the ways, and in all the paths shall be their pasture. ¹⁰They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall he lead them. ¹¹And I will make every mountain a way, and every path a pasture to them. ¹²Behold, these shall come from far: and these from the north and the west, and others from the land of the Persians. ¹³Rejoice, ye heavens; and let the earth be glad: let the mountains break forth with joy; for the Lord has had mercy on his people, and has comforted the lowly ones of his people. ¹⁴But Sion said, The Lord has forsaken me, and, The Lord has forgotten me. ¹⁵Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have compassion upon the offspring of her womb? but if a woman should even forget these, yet I will not forget thee, saith the Lord.

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^24:36As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. ⁴³He took them, and ate in front of them. ⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” ⁵⁰He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

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^9:19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; ²¹to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. ²²To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. ²³Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. ²⁴Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. ²⁵Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. ²⁶I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, ²⁷but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

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^3:1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. ³He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. ⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. ⁵Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. ⁶All flesh will see God’s salvation.’” ⁷He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! ⁹Even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?” ¹¹He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.” ¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?” ¹³He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.” ¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, ¹⁶John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people,

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^35:1Be glad, thou thirsty desert: let the wilderness exult, and flower as the lily. ²And the desert places of Jordan shall blossom and rejoice; the glory of Libanus has been given to it, and the honour of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God. ³Be strong, ye relaxed hands and palsied knees. ⁴Comfort one another, ye faint-hearted; be strong, fear not; behold, our God renders judgment, and he will render it; he will come and save us. ⁵Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. ⁶Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly; for water has burst forth in the desert, and a channel of water in a thirsty land. ⁷And the dry land shall become pools, and a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes. ⁸There shall be there a pure way, and it shall be called a holy way; and there shall not pass by there any unclean person, neither shall there be there an unclean way; but the dispersed shall walk on it, and they shall not go astray. ⁹And there shall be no lion there, neither shall any evil beast go up upon it, nor at all be found there; but the redeemed and gathered on the Lord's behalf, shall walk in it, ¹⁰and shall return, and come to Sion with joy, and everlasting joy shall be over their head; for on their head shall be praise and exultation, and joy shall take possession of them: sorrow and pain, and groaning have fled away.

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^55:1Ye that thirst, go to the water, and all that have no money, go and buy; and eat and drink wine and fat without money or price. ²Wherefore do ye value at the price of money, and give your labour for that which will not satisfy? hearken to me, and ye shall eat that which is good, and your soul shall feast itself on good things. ³Give heed with your ears, and follow my ways: hearken to me, and your soul shall live in prosperity; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David. ⁴Behold, I have made him a testimony among the Gentiles, a prince and commander to the Gentiles. ⁵Nations which know thee not, shall call upon thee, and peoples which are not acquainted with thee, shall flee to thee for refuge, for the sake of the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified thee. ⁶Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, ⁷let the ungodly leave his ways, and the transgressor his counsels: and let him return to the Lord, and he shall find mercy; for he shall abundantly pardon your sins. ⁸For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways, saith the Lord. ⁹But as the heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind. ¹⁰For as rain shall come down, or snow, from heaven, and shall not return until it have saturated the earth, and it bring forth, and bud, and give seed to the sower, and bread for food: ¹¹so shall my word be, whatever shall proceed out of my mouth, it shall by no means turn back, until all the things which I willed shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy ways prosperous, and will effect my commands. ¹²For ye shall go forth with joy, and shall be taught with gladness: for the mountains and the hills shall exult to welcome you with joy, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches. ¹³And instead of the bramble shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle: and the Lord shall be for a name, and for an everlasting sign, and shall not fail.

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^12:3Draw ye therefore water with joy out of the wells of salvation. ⁴And in that day thou shalt say, Sing to the Lord, call aloud upon his name, proclaim his glorious deeds among the Gentiles; make mention that his name is exalted. ⁵Sing praise to the name of the Lord; for he has done great things: declare this in all the earth. ⁶Exalt and rejoice, ye that dwell in Sion: for the Holy One of Israel is exalted in the midst of her.

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^10:1Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; ²and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³and all ate the same spiritual food; ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

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^1:9In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

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^14:14And Abram having heard that Lot his nephew had been taken captive, numbered his own home-born servants three hundred and eighteen, and pursued after them to Dan. ¹⁵And he came upon them by night, he and his servants, and he smote them and pursued them as far as Choba, which is on the left of Damascus. ¹⁶And he recovered all the cavalry of Sodom, and he recovered Lot his nephew, and all his possessions, and the women and the people. ¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodollogomor, and the kings with him, to the valley of Saby; this was the plain of the kings. ¹⁸And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth loaves and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God. ¹⁹And he blessed Abram, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, who made heaven and earth, ²⁰and blessed be the most high God who delivered thine enemies into thy power. And Abram gave him the tithe of all.

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^1:8Behold, God has delivered the land before you; go in and inherit the land, which I sware to your fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them. ⁹And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I shall not be able by myself to bear you. ¹⁰The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, ye are to-day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ¹¹The Lord God of your fathers add to you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you as he has spoken to you. ¹⁵So I took of you wise and understanding and prudent men, and I set them to rule over you as rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers to your judges. ¹⁶And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear causes between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. ¹⁷Thou shalt not have respect to persons in judgment, thou shalt judge small and great equally; thou shalt not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgment is God's; and whatsoever matter shall be too hard for you, ye shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.

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^10:14Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord thy God, the earth and all things that are in it. ¹⁵Only the Lord chose your fathers to love them, and he chose out their seed after them, even you, beyond all nations, as at this day. ¹⁶Therefore ye shall circumcise the hardness of your heart, and ye shall not harden your neck. ¹⁷For the Lord your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great, and strong, and terrible God, who does not accept persons, nor will he by any means accept a bribe: ¹⁸executing judgment for the stranger and orphan and widow, and he loves the stranger to give him food and raiment. ¹⁹And ye shall love the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt cleave to him, and shalt swear by his name. ²¹He is thy boast, and he is thy God, who has wrought in the midst of thee these great and glorious things, which thine eyes have seen.

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^24:36As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. ⁴³He took them, and ate in front of them. ⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” ⁵⁰He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

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^11:9By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ¹⁷By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son, ¹⁸to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,” ¹⁹concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead. ²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. ²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. ²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones. ²³By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. ³²What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets— ³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. ³⁹These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise, ⁴⁰God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

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^1:1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ²Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. ³Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. ⁴Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon. ⁵Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse. ⁶Jesse became the father of King David. David the king became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife. ⁷Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa. ⁸Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah. ⁹Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah. ¹¹Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. ¹²After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel. ¹³Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor. ¹⁴Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud. ¹⁵Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob. ¹⁶Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. ¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations. ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. ²⁰But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.” ²²Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ²³“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” ²⁴Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself; ²⁵and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

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