Matthew 1:18-25 Acts 1:12-26 Psalms 2 Genesis 3-4

Matthew 1:18-25
Mat 1:18 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.)
Mat 1:19 Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
Mat 1:20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant.
Mat 1:21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus--'God saves'--because he will save his people from their sins."
Mat 1:22 This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term:
Mat 1:23 Watch for this--a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").
Mat 1:24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary.
Mat 1:25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

Acts 1:12-26
Act 1:12 So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a little over half a mile.
Act 1:13 They went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas, son of James.
Act 1:14 They agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer, the women included. Also Jesus' mother, Mary, and his brothers.
Act 1:15 During this time, Peter stood up in the company--there were about one hundred twenty of them in the room at the time--
Act 1:16 and said, "Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been.
Act 1:17 Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.
Act 1:18 "As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts.
Act 1:19 Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow.
Act 1:20 It's exactly what we find written in the Psalms: Let his farm become haunted So no one can ever live there. "And also what was written later: Let someone else take over his post.
Act 1:21 "Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us
Act 1:22 from the time Jesus was baptized by John up to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to his resurrection."
Act 1:23 They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias.
Act 1:24 Then they prayed, "You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose
Act 1:25 to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way."
Act 1:26 They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.

Psalms 2
Psa 2:1 Why the big noise, nations? Why the mean plots, peoples?
Psa 2:2 Earth-leaders push for position, Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks, The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:
Psa 2:3 "Let's get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!"
Psa 2:4 Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he's amused at their presumption;
Psa 2:5 Then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up:
Psa 2:6 "Don't you know there's a King in Zion? A coronation banquet Is spread for him on the holy summit."
Psa 2:7 Let me tell you what GOD said next. He said, "You're my son, And today is your birthday.
Psa 2:8 What do you want? Name it: Nations as a present? continents as a prize?
Psa 2:9 You can command them all to dance for you, Or throw them out with tomorrow's trash."
Psa 2:10 So, rebel-kings, use your heads; Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Psa 2:11 Worship GOD in adoring embrace, Celebrate in trembling awe.
Psa 2:12 Kiss Messiah! Your very lives are in danger, you know; His anger is about to explode, But if you make a run for God--you won't regret it! A David psalm, when he escaped for his life from Absalom, his son.

Genesis 3-4
Gen 3:1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"
Gen 3:2 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden.
Gen 3:3 It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"
Gen 3:4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die.
Gen 3:5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."
Gen 3:6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it--she'd know everything!--she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Gen 3:7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on"--saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
Gen 3:8 When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.
Gen 3:9 GOD called to the Man: "Where are you?"
Gen 3:10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
Gen 3:11 GOD said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
Gen 3:12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."
Gen 3:13 GOD said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?" "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
Gen 3:14 GOD told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life.
Gen 3:15 I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."
Gen 3:16 He told the Woman: "I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."
Gen 3:17 He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long.
Gen 3:18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting,
Gen 3:19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
Gen 3:20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
Gen 3:21 GOD made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
Gen 3:22 GOD said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never--this cannot happen!"
Gen 3:23 So GOD expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made.
Gen 3:24 He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.
Gen 4:1 Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, "I've gotten a man, with GOD's help!"
Gen 4:2 Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.
Gen 4:3 Time passed. Cain brought an offering to GOD from the produce of his farm.
Gen 4:4 Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. GOD liked Abel and his offering,
Gen 4:5 but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
Gen 4:6 GOD spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking?
Gen 4:7 If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."
Gen 4:8 Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.
Gen 4:9 GOD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
Gen 4:10 GOD said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground.
Gen 4:11 From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother.
Gen 4:12 You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."
Gen 4:13 Cain said to GOD, "My punishment is too much. I can't take it!
Gen 4:14 You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."
Gen 4:15 GOD told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." GOD put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.
Gen 4:16 Cain left the presence of GOD and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.
Gen 4:17 Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch.
Gen 4:18 Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.
Gen 4:19 Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah.
Gen 4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle.
Gen 4:21 His brother's name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute.
Gen 4:22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
Gen 4:23 Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me; you wives of Lamech, hear me out: I killed a man for wounding me, a young man who attacked me.
Gen 4:24 If Cain is avenged seven times, for Lamech it's seventy-seven!
Gen 4:25 Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She said, "God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed."
Gen 4:26 And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. That's when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of GOD.