1 This is the genealogy of Yeshua (Grk: Yaysous) the messiah (Grk: Christ) the descendant of King David the descendant of Abraham (Grk: Abraam).

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Yacob (Grk: Yakob), Yacob the father of Yudah (Grk: Youdas) and his brothers. 3 Yudah was the father of Perez (Grk: Fares) and Zerah (Grk: Zara) through Tamar (Grk: Thamar), Perez the father of Hezron (Grk: Hezrom), Hezron the father of Aram, 4 Aram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nahshon (Grk: Naasson), Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz (Grk: Boes) through Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed (Grk: Yobed) through Ruth (Grk: Routh), and Obed the father of Jesse (Grk: Yessai), 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon (Grk: Solomona) through Uriah’s (Grk: Ourias) wife, 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam (Grk: Roboam), Rehoboam the father of Abijah (Grk: Abia), Abijah the father of Asa (Grk: Asaf), 8 Asa the father of Jehoshapat (Grk: Yosafat). Jehoshapat the father of Joram (Grk: Yoram), Joram the father of Uzziah (Grk: Ozias), 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham (Grk: Yoatham), Jotham the father of Ahaz (Grk: Achaz), Ahaz the father of Hezekiah (Grk: Hezekias), 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh (Grk: Manasse), Manasseh the father of Amon (Grk: Amos), Amos the father of Josiah (Grk: Yosias), 11 [ref]Josiah was the father of Jechoniah (Grk: Yechonias) and his brothers, when they were deported to Babylon (Grk: Babulonos).

12 And after the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel (Grk: Salathiel), Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel (Grk: Zorobabel), 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud (Grk: Abioud), Abiud was the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud (Grk: Elioud), 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Yacob (Grk: Yakob), 16 Yacob the father of Yosef (Grk: Yosef), the husband of Maria (Grk: Marias) who Yeshua (Grk: Yesous), the one called the messiah was born to.

17 So the generations from Abraham to David numbered fourteen, from David to the deportation to Babylon there were fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the messiah there were fourteen generations.

18 [ref]Now this is how the birth of Yeshua came about: Maria his mother was engaged to Yosef. But before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the work of the holy spirit. 19 But Yosef, her husband to be was a good man, and not wishing to disgrace Maria, he decided to quietly divorce her. 20 But as he was pondering this, one of God’s messengers appeared to him in a dream and told him, “Yosef, descendant of King David, don’t to be afraid to marry Maria because the baby in her has been conceived by the holy spirit. 21 [ref]In due course she will have a son and you’ll name him Yeshua, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 Now all this happened in fulfilment of what the God had said through the prophet, 23 [ref]“Listen, the virgin will get pregnant and she will have a son, and they will call him Immanuel (in Hebrew) which means ‘God with us.’ ”

24 Then Yosef got up and did what God’s messenger had commanded him and he went ahead and married Maria 25 [ref]but he didn’t sleep with her until after she gave birth. And Yosef named the boy Yeshua.

2 After Yeshua had been born in Bethlehem in the province of Yudea during the time of King Herod, watchers of signs arrived in Yerusalem from the east 2 and asked, “Where is the one born as king of the Jews, because we saw his star in the east and we came to worship him.”

3 Now when King Herod heard this, he was upset and all of Yerusalem as well. 4 He gathered together all of the chief priests and those who teach the religious law to the people and asked them where the Messiah was expected to be born.

5 And they told him, “It’ll be in Bethlehem in Yudea because the prophet wrote:[ref]

6 ‘You Bethlehem in the land of Yudah,

are not the most insignificant of the leaders of Yudah.

For a leader will come from you

who will guide my people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod sent for the watchers of signs and met secretly with them to determine when the star had first appeared. 8 Then he sent them on to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go on and carefully investigate about the child and when you find him, report back to me so that I can also come and worship him.”

9 So when the king had finished speaking, they departed and the star which they could see in the east went ahead of them and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 Seeing this, the watchers of signs were very happy indeed. 11 As they entered the house, the saw the child with his mother Maria. They bowed low and worshipped him, then they opened their chests and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 But because they had been warned in a dream not to return to King Herod, they went home again to their own country.

13 After they had departed, a messenger of the Lord appeared to Yosef in a dream and said, “Get up and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Remain there until I tell you because King Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill him.”

14 So Yosef got up during the night and took the child and his mother and departed for Egypt. 15 [ref]They stayed there until the death of Herod, in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “I called my son out of Egypt.”

16 When King Herod realised that he had been tricked by the watchers of signs, he got very angry and gave orders that all the sons in Bethlehem and its districts that were two years old and younger be killed, because that was the period that he had found out from the watchers of signs.

17 That fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah which said:

18 [ref]The sound of great weeping and mourning was heard in Ramah;

Rachel weeping for her children and she didn’t want to be comforted

because her children were no more.

19 After King Herod died, a messenger of the Lord appeared to Yosef in Egypt in a dream 20 and said, “Get up and take the child and his mother and go back to the land of Israel, because the ones wanting to kill him have died.” 21 So Yosef got up and took the child and his mother and went back to Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Yudea instead of his father Herod, and also having been warning in a dream, he left Yudea and went to the Galilee area. 23 [ref]Once they got there, he settled into the town of Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

3 That was the time when Yohan-the-Immerser started preaching in the Yudean wilderness 2 telling everyone,[ref] “Turn from your sins because the kingdom of heavens is close. 3 This is the man that the prophet Isayah was talking about when he wrote:[ref]

‘The voice of one shouting in the wilderness

prepare the road for the master;

straighten his paths.’

4 [ref]Yohan himself wore clothes made from coarse camel hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Yerusalem and all Yudea and all of the regions surrounding the Yordan River went out into the wilderness to listen to Yohan 6 and many confessed their sins and asked him to immerse them in the river.

7 [ref]But when Yohan saw many from the party of the Pharisees and from the Sadducee sect coming for immersion, he told them, “You brood of snakes, who warned you all to flee from God’s severe anger that’s coming? 8 Turning from your sins should be accompanied by evidence that you’ve changed. 9 [ref]And don’t think that you can just tell yourselves that you’re descendants of Abraham, because I can tell you that God could turn these stones into descendants of Abraham. 10 [ref]The axe has already been placed at the base of the trees ready to cut down any tree that’s not producing good fruit and then it’ll be thrown into the fire. 11 I’m immersing people in water as a sign that they’re turning away from their sins, but there’s another one coming after me who’s greater than me—so much so that I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals. He’ll immerse you in the holy spirit and fire. 12 He’s already holding his fork so that he can clear his threshing floor—he’ll work through the pile throwing it into the air where the breeze will carry the chaff away and he’ll burn that with unquenchable fire, while the (heavier) grains of wheat will land in the pile to be brought into the barn.

13 Then Yeshua came down from Galilee to Yohan at the Yordan River to be immersed by him. 14 But Yohan refused, saying, “It’s me who needs to be immersed by you, and yet you’re coming to me?”

15 “Just allow it,” answered Yeshua, “because we need to do what righteousness requires.” So Yohan immersed him.

16 As Yeshua came up out of the water after being immersed, the sky was opened up and he saw God’s spirit coming down like a dove and landing on him. 17 [ref]Then, wow, a voice came from the sky and said, “This is my son that I love and I’m pleased with.”

4 [ref]Then Yeshua was taken by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 As he’d been fasting for forty days (and nights), he was getting hungry, 3 and the tempter approached him and asked, “If you’re God’s son, command some of these stones to turn into buns.”

4 [ref]But Yeshua answered, “It’s written in the scriptures that it’s not just food that a person needs to live, but also all of God’s message.”

5 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and stood him on the highest point of the temple 6 [ref]and told him, “Throw yourself down if you’re God’s son, because it’s written in the scriptures that God will command his messengers to look after you and to carry you in their arms so that you won’t bash your foot on a rock.”

7 [ref]“But it’s also written,” Yeshua answered, “that you shouldn’t test God your master.”

8 Then the devil took him to a very high mountains and showed him all the countries of the world with all their splendour, 9 then told him, “I’ll give all of these to you if you get down and prostrate yourself to me.”

10 [ref]“Go away, Satan,” Yeshua replied, “because it’s written in the scriptures that you should worship God your master and should only serve him.”

11 Then the devil left him and God’s messengers came and looked after him.

12 [ref]When Yeshua heard that Yohan had been arrested, he withdrew up to Galilee. 13 [ref]He moved from Nazareth across to Capernaum beside the lake in the region that had been given to the tribes of Zebulun and Naftali 14 so that what had been written by the prophet Isayah would come true,

15 [ref]‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naftali,

the way of the sea beyond the Yordan;

Galilee of the non-Jews.

16 The people sitting in darkness

saw a powerful light,

and those sitting in a land under the shadow of death

had a light rise over them.’

17 [ref]From then onwards, Yeshua started preaching and telling people to turn from their sins because the kingdom of heavens is close.

18 As he walked beside Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (later nicknamed Peter) and Andrew, throwing their net into the sea because they were fishermen. 19 “Come and follow me,” Yeshua told them, “and I’ll make you fishers of people.” 20 So they left their nets immediately and followed after him.

21 Going on a bit further, he saw two other brothers, Yacob and Yohan, in the boat getting their nets ready along with their father Zebedee, and Yeshua also called the two of them. 22 So they too immediately left the boat and their father and followed after him.

23 [ref]Then Yeshua went around all of Galilee, teaching in their Jewish meeting halls and proclaiming the good message about the kingdom, and healing all the diseases and sicknesses of the people 24 and the news about this went all the way up to Syria. 25 Large crowds from Galilee and Decapolis and Yerusalem, and from all of Yudea and even beyond the Yordan River, followed after Yeshua.

5 After seeing all the crowds, Yeshua climbed up a hill, and when he sat down, his apprentices approached him 2 and he taught them:

3 “Those who are poor in the spirit are blessed, because the kingdom of the heavens is theirs.

4 [ref]“Those who are mourning are blessed, because they will be comforted.

5 [ref]“Those who are gentle are blessed, because they will inherit the earth.

6 [ref]“Those who are hungry and thirsty to obey God are blessed, because they will be satisfied.

7 “Those who are merciful are blessed, because they will receive mercy.

8 [ref]“Those who have pure hearts are blessed, because they will see God.

9 “Those who are peacemakers are blessed, because they will be called children of God.

10 [ref]“Those who are persecuted for being godly are blessed, because the kingdom of heavens belongs to them.

11 [ref]“Everyone who is derided or chased or lied about is blessed, along with those who have evil things said about them just because they follow me. 12 [ref]Be happy and praising God because you’ll all have a wonderful reward in the heavens, because in the past they also persecuted the prophets like that.

13 [ref]“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt is made tasteless, what would you all use to salt your food? The salt wouldn’t be useful for anything anymore and would just get thrown out and trampled on by the people.

14 [ref]“You are the light of the world. A city up on a hill can’t be hidden. 15 [ref]No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket—you put it on a lampstand and it lightens up the house. 16 [ref]In the same way, let your light shine in front of everyone, so that they can see your good behaviour and then might praise your father in the heavens.

17 “Don’t imagine that I came to criticise the prophets or Moses’ law. I didn’t come to oppose the scriptures, but to fulfill them, 18 [ref]because I can assure you all that until heaven and earth reach their end, not one letter or mark will be taken away from the law until everything is fulfilled. 19 Therefore anyone who breaks even a minor commandment and teaches others to do the same, will be seen as one of the least in the kingdom of the heavens, but anyone who practices and teaches the law will be considered outstanding in the kingdom. 20 Let me tell all of you, unless you’re more godly than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, there’s no way that you’ll get to enter the kingdom of the heavens.

21 [ref]“You all heard that your ancestors were told not to murder because any murderer will be sentenced. 22 But I’m telling you that anyone who gets angry at another will be liable for judgement, and anyone who calls another person a numbskull will have to face the court, and if you call them a fool, you’re liable for hellfire. 23 So if you’re there at the altar to offer your gift and remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your gift there at the altar and go and sort that out first, before coming back to offer your gift.

25 “Resolve things with your opponent as soon as you can, hopefully while you’re still on the way to the court, in case your opponent turns you in to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and then you’ll end up in prison. 26 I can assure you that you won’t get out of prison until the fine is completely paid.

27 [ref]“You all know that the scriptures say not to commit adultery, 28 but I’m telling you that if you look at a woman lustfully then you’ve already committed adultery in your mind. 29 [ref]If your right eye is causing you to stumble, then pluck it out and throw it away 30 [ref]

31 [ref]“It’s said that any man can divorce his wife just by sending her away. 32 [ref]But I’m telling you all that anyone who sends his wife away, except in the case where she’s committed sexual immorality, is causing her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a wife that’s been sent away, is causing her to be committing adultery.

33 [ref]“Also you’ve heard that it was said to our ancestors that you shouldn’t break your oath, but you must do whatever you promised to the master. 34 [ref]But I’m telling you not to make oaths in the first place—don’t swear by heaven because it’s God’s throne, 35 [ref]nor by the earth because it’s God’s footrest, nor by Jerusalem because it’s the supreme king’s city. 36 And don’t swear by your own strength because you can’t even make one strand of hair grow a different colour. 37 Just say ‘yes’ when you commit to doing something, and ‘no’ when you don’t, because going beyond that is actually evil.

38 [ref]“You’ve all heard it said that it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, 39 but I’m telling you not to resist those who want to hurt you. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn your left cheek towards them, 40 and to the person suing you in court and claiming your robe, let them have your coat as well. 41 And if someone forces you to walk a mile, walk two miles with them. 42 Give whatever others request from you and don’t turn away from anyone who wants to borrow from you.

43 “You’ve all heard it said it said that you should love your neighbour and hate your enemy, 44 but I’m telling you all to love your enemies and to pray for anyone who’s persecuting you, 45 so that all of you might become children of your father in the heavens, because he causes his sun to rise on both evil and good people and sends the rain for both godly and ungodly people. 46 If you all just love people who love you, what reward would you expect for that? Don’t the tax collectors even do that? 47 And if you’re only polite to your own circle, how is that achieving anything? Aren’t non-Jews just the same? 48 [ref]Instead you all should aim to be perfect just like your heavenly father is perfect.

6 [ref]“Take care not to only be obeying God in front of others so they’ll think well of you, because if you do, you’ll all certainly get no reward from your father in the heavens.

2 “So when you’re giving to the poor, don’t make a big display of it like the hypocrites do in the meeting halls and in the streets so they’ll get the people’s praises. I can assure you that they’ve already received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be private, yet your father who sees everything you do will give back to you.

5 [ref]“Whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray in the meeting halls and on street corners so everyone will notice them. I can assure you that they’ve already received their reward in full. 6 Instead when you pray, go into a private room and shut the door, then pray to your father who’s not visible to you. Then your father who sees everything will reward you.

7 “And when you do pray, don’t babble away like other religions who think they’ll be listened to just because of the number of their prayers. 8 There’s no need to be like them because God your father already knows your needs before you even ask him. 9 So pray like this:

‘Our father in the heavens

May we always honour your name.

10 We want your kingdom to come,

and for your plans to be fulfilled here on earth just like they are in heaven.

11 Give us everything we need today

12 and write-off what we owe you

as we also write-off what others owe us.

13 Don’t bring us to the point of being tempted

but keep us away from doing evil things.

14 [ref]“Because if you all forgive other people’s wrongs, then your heavenly father will also forgive your wrongs. 15 But if you all don’t forgive other people’s wrongs, then your father won’t forgive your wrongs either.

16 “Whenever you all are abstaining from food, don’t look miserable like the hypocrites because they intentionally try to look awful so that everyone will notice that they’re fasting. I can assure you that they’ve already received their reward in full. 17 Instead when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face 18 so that no one will realise that you’re fasting other than your father who’s not visible to you. Then your father who sees everything will reward you.