Chapter One
JANUARY 1
GENESIS 1:1-2:25
In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. 2 The earth was
formless and empty, and darkness covered
the deep waters. And the Spirit of
God was hovering over the surface of
the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light,"
and there was light. 4 And God saw
that the light was good. Then he
separated the light from the
darkness. 5 God called the light
"day" and the darkness "night."
And evening passed and morning
came, marking the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a space
between the waters, to separate the
waters of the heavens from the
waters of the earth." 7 And that is
what happened. God made this
space to separate the waters of
the earth from the waters of the
heavens. 8 God called the space
"sky."
And evening passed and morning
came, marking the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters
beneath the sky flow together into
one place, so dry ground may
appear." And that is what happened.
10 God called the dry ground "land"
and the waters "seas." And God
saw that it was good. 11 Then God
said, "Let the land sprout with
vegetation-every sort of seed-bearing
plant, and trees that grow
seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will
then produce the kinds of plants
and trees from which they came."
And that is what happened. 12 The
land produced vegetation-all sorts
of seed-bearing plants, and trees
with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds
produced plants and trees of the
same kind. And God saw that it was
good.
13 And evening passed and
morning came, marking the third
day.
14 Then God said, "Let great lights
appear in the sky to separate the day
from the night. Let them mark off
the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let
these lights in the sky shine down
on the earth." And that is what
happened. 16 God made two great
lights, the sun and the moon-the
larger one to govern the day, and the
smaller one to govern the night. He
also made the stars. 17 God set these
lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to
govern the day and night, and to
separate the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good.
19 And evening passed and
morning came, marking the fourth
day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters
swarm with fish and other life. Let
the skies be filled with birds of every
kind." 21 So God created great sea
creatures and every living thing that
scurries and swarms in the water,
and every sort of bird-each
producing offspring of the same
kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 Then God blessed them, saying,
"Be fruitful and multiply. Let the
fish fill the seas, and let the birds
multiply on the earth."
23 And evening passed and morning
came, marking the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth produce
every sort of animal, each producing
offspring of the same kind-livestock,
small animals that scurry
along the ground, and wild animals."
And that is what happened. 25 God
made all sorts of wild animals,
livestock, and small animals, each
able to produce offspring of the
same kind. And God saw that it
was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make
human beings in our image, to
be like ourselves. They will reign
over the fish in the sea, the birds
in the sky, the livestock, all the wild
animals on the earth, and the small
animals that scurry along the
ground."
27 So God created human beings
in his own image.
In the image of God he
created them;
male and female he created
them.
28 Then God blessed them and
said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill
the earth and govern it. Reign over
the fish in the sea, the birds in the
sky, and all the animals that scurry
along the ground."
29 Then God said, "Look! I have
given you every seed-bearing plant
throughout the earth and all the
fruit trees for your food. 30 And I
have given every green plant as food
for all the wild animals, the birds in
the sky, and the small animals that
scurry along the ground-everything
that has life." And that is what
happened.
31 Then God looked over all he had
made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning
came, marking the sixth day.
2:1 So the creation of the heavens and
the earth and everything in them
was completed. 2 On the seventh
day God had finished his work of
creation, so he rested from all his
work. 3 And God blessed the seventh
day and declared it holy, because it
was the day when he rested from all
his work of creation.
4 This is the account of the creation of
the heavens and the earth.
When the Lord God made the earth
and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants
nor grains were growing on the earth.
The Lord God had not yet sent rain to
water the earth, and there were no
people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead,
springs came up from the ground and
watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord
God formed the man from the dust of
the ground. He breathed the breath of
life into the man's nostrils, and the man
became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden
in Eden in the east, and there he placed
the man he had made. 9 The Lord God
made all sorts of trees grow up from the
ground-trees that were beautiful and
that produced delicious fruit. In the
middle of the garden he placed the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil.
10 A river watered the garden and
then flowed out of Eden and divided
into four branches. 11 The first branch,
called the Pishon, flowed around the
entire land of Havilah, where gold is
found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally
pure; aromatic resin and onyx
stone are also found there. 13 The second
branch, called the Gihon, flowed
around the entire land of Cush. 14 The
third branch, called the Tigris, flowed
east of the land of Asshur. The fourth
branch is called the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in
the Garden of Eden to tend and watch
over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him,
"You may freely eat the fruit of every
tree in the garden-17 except the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. If you
eat its fruit, you are sure to die."
18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not
good for the man to be alone. I will
make a helper who is just right for him."
19 So the Lord God formed from the
ground all the wild animals and all
the birds of the sky. He brought them to
the man to see what he would call
them, and the man chose a name for
each one. 20 He gave names to all the
livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all
the wild animals. But still there was no
helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to
fall into a deep sleep. While the man
slept, the Lord God took out one of the
man's ribs and closed up the opening.
22 Then the Lord God made a woman
from the rib, and he brought her to the
man.
23 "At last!" the man exclaimed.
"This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called 'woman,'
because she was taken from
'man.'"
24 This explains why a man leaves his
father and mother and is joined to his
wife, and the two are united into one.
25 Now the man and his wife were
both naked, but they felt no shame.
MATTHEW 1:1-2:12
This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus
the Messiah, a descendant of David
and of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and
his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and
Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of
Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz
(whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose
mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon
(whose mother was Bathsheba,
the widow of Uriah).
7 Solomon was the father of
Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.
8 Asa was the father of
Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father
of Jehoram.
Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of
Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin
and his brothers (born at the time
of the exile to Babylon).
12 After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of
Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the
husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is
called the Messiah.
17 All those listed above include fourteen
generations from Abraham to David,
fourteen from David to the Babylonian
exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian
exile to the Messiah.
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was
born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to
be married to Joseph. But before the
marriage took place, while she was still
a virgin, she became pregnant through
the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph,
her fiancé, was a good man and did not
want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided
to break the engagement quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
"Joseph, son of David," the angel said,
"do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife. For the child within her was conceived
by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will
have a son, and you are to name him
Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins."
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the
Lord's message through his prophet:
23 "Look! The virgin will conceive
a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means 'God is with us.'"
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as
the angel of the Lord commanded and
took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not
have sexual relations with her until her
son was born. And Joseph named him
Jesus.
2:1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
Judea, during the reign of King Herod.
About that time some wise men from
eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,
2 "Where is the newborn king of the
Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we
have come to worship him."
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed
when he heard this, as was everyone in
Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the
leading priests and teachers of religious
law and asked, "Where is the Messiah
supposed to be born?"
5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they said,
"for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 'And you, O Bethlehem in the land
of Judah,
are not least among the ruling
cities of Judah,
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!"
9 After 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.
PSALM 1:1-6
Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law
of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along
the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
and they prosper in all they do.
4 But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff,
scattered by the wind.
5 They will be condemned at the time
of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among
the godly.
6 For the Lord watches over the path
of the godly,
but the path of the wicked leads
to destruction.
PROVERBS 1:1-6
These are the proverbs of Solomon, David's
son, king of Israel. Their purpose
is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of
the wise. Their purpose is to teach people
to live disciplined and successful lives, to
help them do what is right, just, and fair.
These proverbs will give insight to the
simple, knowledge and discernment to
the young. Let the wise listen to these
proverbs and become even wiser. Let
those with understanding receive guidance
by exploring the meaning in these
proverbs and parables, the words of the
wise and their riddles.
JANUARY 2
GENESIS 3:1-4:26
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the
wild animals the Lord God had made.
One day he asked the woman, "Did God
really say you must not eat the fruit
from any of the trees in the garden?"
2 "Of course we may eat fruit from the
trees in the garden," the woman replied.
3 "It's only the fruit from the tree in the
middle of the garden that we are not allowed
to eat. God said, 'You must not eat
it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'"
4 "You won't die!" the serpent replied
to the woman. 5 "God knows that your
eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it,
and you will be like God, knowing both
good and evil."
6 The woman was convinced. She saw
that the tree was beautiful and its fruit
looked delicious, and she wanted the
wisdom it would give her. So she took
some of the fruit and ate it.
Continues.
