The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed

The Fall

1 Now ^uthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You¹ shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ^v‘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.’” 4 ^wBut the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So 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,² she took of its fruit ^xand ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^yand he ate. 7 ^zThen the eyes of both were opened, ^aand they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool³ of the day, and the man and his wife ^bhid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”⁴ 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^cbecause I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, ^d“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^e“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

16 To the woman he said,

17 And to Adam he said,

20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.⁷ 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, ^q“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^rand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^sto work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^tcherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Descendants of David

1 ⁿThese are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, ^oDaniel, by Abigail the Carmelite, 2 the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; 3 the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah; 4 six were born to him in Hebron, ^pwhere he reigned for seven years and six months. ^qAnd he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 5 ^rThese were born to him in Jerusalem: ^sShimea, Shobab, Nathan and ^tSolomon, four by ^uBath-shua, the daughter of ^uAmmiel; 6 then Ibhar, ^vElishama, Eliphelet, 7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8 Elishama, ^wEliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9 All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines, ^xand Tamar was their sister.

10 The son of Solomon was ^yRehoboam, ^zAbijah his son, ^aAsa his son, ^bJehoshaphat his son, 11 ^cJoram his son, ^dAhaziah his son, ^eJoash his son, 12 ^fAmaziah his son, ^gAzariah his son, ^hJotham his son, 13 ⁱAhaz his son, ^jHezekiah his son, ^kManasseh his son, 14 ^lAmon his son, ^mJosiah his son. 15 The sons of Josiah: ⁿJohanan the firstborn, the second ^oJehoiakim, the third ^pZedekiah, the fourth Shallum. 16 The descendants of ^qJehoiakim: ^rJeconiah his son, ^sZedekiah his son; 17 and the sons of Jeconiah, the ^tcaptive: ^uShealtiel his son, 18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah; 19 and the sons of Pedaiah: ^vZerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of ^vZerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister; 20 and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five. 21 The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, his son¹ Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah. 22 The son² of Shecaniah: ^wShemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: ^xHattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat, six. 23 The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. 24 The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord ^shad shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And ^ton the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; ^uhe shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And ^vthey made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for ^wa writing tablet and wrote, ^u“His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 ^xAnd immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue ^yloosed, and he spoke, ^zblessing God. 65 And ^afear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all ^bthe hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them ^claid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For ^dthe hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

67 And his father Zechariah ^ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and ^fprophesied, saying,

80 ^jAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was ^kin the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.