Study Desk

I will stop the insects so they won't eat your crops. The grapes won't fall from your vines before they are ready to pick," says the Lord All-Powerful.

So we say that proud people are happy. Evil people succeed. They challenge God and get away with it.'"

"There is a day coming that will burn like a hot furnace, and all the proud and evil people will be like straw. On that day they will be completely burned up so that not a root or branch will be left," says the Lord All-Powerful.

So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. And there were fourteen generations from David until the people were taken to Babylon. And there were fourteen generations from the time when the people were taken to Babylon until Christ was born.

Because Mary's husband, Joseph, was a good man, he did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to divorce her secretly.

He sent the wise men to Bethlehem, saying, "Look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me so I can worship him too."

But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.

After they left, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, because Herod is starting to look for the child so he can kill him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to return."

So Joseph got up and left for Egypt during the night with the child and his mother.

When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he was furious. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area who were two years old or younger. This was in keeping with the time he learned from the wise men.

So what God had said through the prophet Jeremiah came true:

So Joseph took the child and his mother and went to Israel.

But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea since his father Herod had died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee,

to a town called Nazareth, and lived there. And so what God had said through the prophets came true: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Jesus answered, "Let it be this way for now. We should do all things that are God's will." So John agreed to baptize Jesus.

The devil said, "If you are the Son of God, jump down, because it is written in the Scriptures: ‘He has put his angels in charge of you. They will catch you in their hands so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.'" Psalm 91:11–12

So the devil left Jesus, and angels came and took care of him.

So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.

And people don't hide a light under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand so the light shines for all the people in the house.

In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.