3A voice cries:[a]In the wilderness prepare the way of theLord;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3In those daysJohn the Baptist came preaching inthe wilderness of Judea,2Repent, forthe kingdom of heaven is at hand.[a]3For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:Prepare[b]the way of the Lord;make his paths straight.

Matthew 3:1-3

Thus says theLord:A voice is heard inRamah,lamentation and bitter weeping.Rachel is weeping for her children;she refuses to be comforted for her children,because they are no more.

Jeremiah 31:15

The Flight to Egypt

13Now when they had departed, behold,an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.14And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt15and remained there until the death of Herod.This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,Out of Egypt I called my son.

Herod Kills the Children

16Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.17Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud lamentation,Rachel weeping for her children;she refused to be comforted, because theyare no more.

The Return to Nazareth

19But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,20saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, forthose who sought the child's life are dead.21And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, andbeing warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.23And he went and lived in a city calledNazareth,so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Matthew 2:13-23

2[a]But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,who are too little to be among the clans ofJudah,from you shall come forth for meone who is to beruler in Israel,whose coming forth isfrom of old,from ancient days.

Micah 5:2

The Visit of the Wise Men

2Nowafter Jesus was born inBethlehem of Judeain the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a]fromthe east came to Jerusalem,2saying, Where is he who has been bornking of the Jews? For we sawhis star when it rose[b]and have come toworship him.3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;4and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them wherethe Christ was to be born.5They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for from you shall come a rulerwho willshepherd my people Israel.

7Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.8And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.9After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.11And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures,they offered him gifts,gold andfrankincense andmyrrh.12Andbeing warnedin a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Matthew 2:1-12

14Therefore theLord himself will give you a sign.Behold, thevirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his nameImmanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

The Birth of Jesus Christ

18Now the birth ofJesus Christ[a]took place in this way.When his mother Mary had been betrothed[b]to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with childfrom the Holy Spirit.19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwillingto put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.20But as he considered these things, behold,an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.21She will bear a son, andyou shall call his name Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins.22All this took placeto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and they shall call his nameImmanuel

(which means, Godwith us).24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. Andhe called his name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25

14TheLordGod said to the serpent,

Because you have done this,cursed are you above all livestockand above all beasts of the field;on your belly you shall go,anddust you shall eatall the days of your life.15I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring[a]andher offspring;he shall bruise your head,and you shall bruise his heel.

16To the woman he said,

I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.Your desire shall be contrary to[b]your husband,but he shallrule over you.

17And to Adam he said,

Because you have listened to the voice of your wifeand have eaten of the treeof which I commanded you,You shall not eat of it,cursed is the ground because of you;in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;and you shall eat the plants of the field.19By the sweat of your faceyou shall eat bread,till you return to the ground,for out of it you were taken;for you are dust,andto dust you shall return.

20The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.[c]21And theLordGod made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22Then theLordGod said,Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his handand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever23therefore theLordGod sent him out from the garden of Edento work the ground from which he was taken.24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed thecherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Fall

3Nowthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that theLordGod had made.

He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You[a]shall not eat of any tree in the garden?2And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,3but God said,You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.4But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b]she took of its fruitand ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her,and he ate.7Then the eyes of both were opened,and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8And they heard the sound of theLordGod walking in the garden in the cool[c]of the day, and the man and his wifehid themselves from the presence of theLordGod among the trees of the garden.9But theLordGod called to the man and said to him, Where are you?[d]10And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid,because I was naked, and I hid myself.11He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?12The man said,The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.13Then theLordGod said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said,The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

18Then theLordGod said, It is not good that the man should be alone;I will make him a helper fit for[a]him.19Now out of the ground theLordGod had formed[b]every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens andbrought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.20The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam[c]there was not found a helper fit for him.21So theLordGod caused adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.22And the rib that theLordGod had taken from the man he made[d]into a woman and brought her to the man.23Then the man said,

This at last isbone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,because she wastaken out of Man.[e]

24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4These are the generationsof the heavens and the earth when they were created,in the day that theLordGod made the earth and the heavens.

5When nobush of the field[a]was yet in the land[b]and no small plant of the field had yet sprung upfor theLordGod had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no manto work the ground,6and a mist[c]was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground7then theLordGod formed the man ofdust from the ground andbreathed into hisnostrils the breath of life, andthe man became a living creature.8And theLordGod planted agarden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.9And out of the ground theLordGod made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.11The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land ofHavilah, where there is gold.12And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.13The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.14And the name of the third river is theTigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15TheLordGod took the manand put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.16And theLordGod commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evilyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[d]of it youshall surely die.

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, andall the host of them.2Andon the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.