Study Desk

"Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against the oppressors of the hired worker with his wages, the widow and the orphan, and the abusers of the alien, and yet do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God! What is the gain if we keep his requirements, and if we walk as mourners before Yahweh of hosts?

Then those who revered Yahweh spoke with one another. And Yahweh listened attentively and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before him of those who revere Yahweh and ponder his name.

"They will be mine," says Yahweh of hosts, "on the day that I am acting, my treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers,

and Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

And she will give birth to a son, and you will call his name ‘Jesus,' because he will save his people from their sins."

"Behold, the virgin will become pregnant and will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

And Joseph, when he woke up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his wife

and did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

saying, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him."

And when they came into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. And opening their treasure boxes, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Now after they had gone away, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to seek the child to destroy him."

So he got up and took the child and his mother during the night and went away to Egypt.

saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the life of the child are dead."

So he got up and took the child and his mother and entered the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream, he took refuge in the regions of Galilee.

For this is the one who was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

Now John himself had his clothing made from camel's hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.