Add parallel Print Page Options

The Birth of Jesus

(Matthew 1.18-25)

About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books.[a] These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.[b]

Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family.

Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born[c] son. She dressed him in baby clothes[d] and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2.1 names … listed in record books: This was done so that everyone could be made to pay taxes to the Emperor.
  2. 2.2 Quirinius was governor of Syria: It is known that Quirinius made a record of the people in a.d. 6 or 7. But the exact date of the record taking that Luke mentions is not known.
  3. 2.7 first-born: The Jewish people said that the first-born son in each of their families belonged to the Lord.
  4. 2.7 dressed him in baby clothes: The Greek text has “wrapped him in wide strips of cloth,” which was how young babies were dressed.

The birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Luke 2:2 Or This census took place before