My Beautiful Princess Bible - Flipbook - Page 22
MATTHEW 3
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page 598
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people
Israel.’*”
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with
the wise men, and he learned from them the time
when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them,
“Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the
child. And when you find him, come back and tell
me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
9After this interview the wise men went their way.
And the star they had seen in the east guided them
to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped
over the place where the child was. 10 When they
saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother,
Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Then they opened their treasure chests and gave
him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 When it was time to leave, they returned to
their own country by another route, for God had
warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
The Escape to Egypt
13After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to
Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said.
“Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is
going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child
and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had
spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out
of Egypt.”*
16 Herod was furious when he realized that the
wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to
kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were
two years old and under, based on the wise men’s
report of the star’s first appearance. 17Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through
the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead.”*
The Return to Nazareth
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared
in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20“Get up!” the angel
said. “Take the child and his mother back to the
land of Israel, because those who were trying to
kill the child are dead.”
21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of
Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But when he
learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s
son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region
of Galilee. 23So the family went and lived in a town
called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets
had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In those days John the Baptist came to the
Judean wilderness and began preaching. His
message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to
God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.*” 3 The
prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when
he said,
3
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!’”*
4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel
hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist.
For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People
from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over
the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John.
6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized
them in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize,* he denounced
them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who
warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8Prove by
the way you live that you have repented of your
sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each
other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can
create children of Abraham from these very stones.
10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised,
ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree
that does not produce good fruit will be chopped
down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize with* water those who repent of their
sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon
who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m
not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
with fire.* 12He is ready to separate the chaff from the
wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean
up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his
barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River
to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to talk him
out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized
by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”
15But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must
carry out all that God requires.*” So John agreed to
baptize him.
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the
water, the heavens were opened* and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling
on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my
dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
The Temptation of Jesus
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2For forty
days and forty nights he fasted and became very
hungry.
3 During that time the devil* came and said to
him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become loaves of bread.”
4But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth
of God.’*”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6and said,
“If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’*”
7Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You
must not test the Lord your God.’*”
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