1 Here are the names of the people in the family line from which Jesus Christ came. He came from Davids family. He came from Abrahams family.

2 Jesus family line: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez (his mother was Tamar), Zezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, David the king, Solomon (whose mother was Uriahs wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jeconiah and his brothers (at the time the people of Israel were carried away to Babylon), Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazor, Matthan, Jacob and Joseph who was the husband of Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Christ.

17 There were fourteen families from Abraham to David. There were fourteen families from David to the time the people were taken to Babylon. And there were fourteen families after that until Christ was born.

18 This is the way Jesus Christ was born. Mary, his mother, was promised to Joseph to be his wife. But before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby. It was by the Holy Spirit.

19 Joseph, the man she was to marry, was a good man. He did not want her to be made ashamed. So he planned to leave her without telling people about it.

20 While he was thinking about this, he had a dream. An angel of the Lord came to him. He said, Joseph, Davids son, do not fear to take Mary to be your wife. Her baby is by the Holy Spirit.

21 She will have a baby son. Name him Jesus, because he will save his people from the wrong things they have done.

22 All of this had been told long before by the Lord through his prophet. It came true.

23 The prophet said, A young woman who has not slept with a man is going to have a baby son. His name will be Emmanuel. That means "God is with us."

24 Joseph woke up and did what the angel of the Lord told him to do. He took Mary to be his wife.

25 But he did not make love with her until her first son had been born. He named him Jesus.