Read the Gospels in 40 Days
The Ancestors of Jesus
(Luke 3.23-38)
1 Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah's sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;
Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.
David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.
12-16 From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:
Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;
Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
17 There were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were also 14 from David to the exile in Babylonia and 14 more to the birth of the Messiah.
The Birth of Jesus
(Luke 2.1-7)
18 (B) This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David's family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God's Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph was a good man[a] and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.
20 While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. 21 (C) Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus,[b] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, 23 (D) “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
24 After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord's angel had told him to do. 25 (E) But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.
The Wise Men
2 When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men[c] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[d] and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. 4 Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”
5 They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,
6 (F) ‘Bethlehem in the land
of Judea,
you are very important
among the towns of Judea.
From your town
will come a leader,
who will be like a shepherd
for my people Israel.’ ”
7 Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. 8 He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I also want to go and worship him.”
9 The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 They were thrilled and excited to see the star.
11 When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh[e] and gave them to him. 12 Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.
The Escape to Egypt
13 After the wise men had gone, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Hurry and take the child and his mother to Egypt! Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him.”
14 That night, Joseph got up and took his wife and the child to Egypt, 15 (G) where they stayed until Herod died. So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “I called my son out of Egypt.”
The Killing of the Children
16 When Herod found out that the wise men from the east had tricked him, he was very angry. He gave orders for his men to kill all the boys who lived in or near Bethlehem and were two years old and younger. This was based on what he had learned from the wise men.
17 So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet Jeremiah had said,
18 (H) “In Ramah a voice was heard
crying and weeping loudly.
Rachel was mourning
for her children,
and she refused
to be comforted,
because they were dead.”
The Return from Egypt
19 After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph while he was still in Egypt. 20 The angel said, “Get up and take the child and his mother back to Israel. The people who wanted to kill him are now dead.”
21 Joseph got up and left with them for Israel. 22 But when he heard that Herod's son Archelaus was now ruler of Judea, he was afraid to go there. Then in a dream he was told to go to Galilee, 23 (I) and they went to live there in the town of Nazareth. So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “He will be called a Nazarene.”[f]
The Preaching of John the Baptist
(Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.1-18; John 1.19-28)
3 Years later, John the Baptist started preaching in the desert of Judea. 2 (J) He said, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven[g] will soon be here.”[h]
3 (K) John was the one the prophet Isaiah was talking about, when he said,
“In the desert someone
is shouting,
‘Get the road ready
for the Lord!
Make a straight path
for him.’ ”
4 (L) John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
5 From Jerusalem and all Judea and from the Jordan River Valley crowds of people went to John. 6 They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the river.
7 (M) Many Pharisees and Sadducees also came to be baptized. But John said to them:
You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? 8 Do something to show you have really given up your sins. 9 (N) And don't start telling yourselves that you belong to Abraham's family. I tell you that God can turn these stones into children for Abraham. 10 (O) An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into a fire.
11 I baptize you with water so you will give up your sins.[i] But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals.[j] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 (P) His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks.[k] He will store the wheat in a barn and burn the husks in a fire that never goes out.
The Baptism of Jesus
(Mark 1.9-11; Luke 3.21,22)
13 Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John kept objecting and said, “I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me?”
15 Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.
16 So Jesus was baptized. And as soon as he came out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him like a dove. 17 (Q) Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.”
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