The Story of Christmas in 50 Bible Verses
This collection of verses follows the key events of the Christmas story, from ancient prophecies about the Messiah to the birth of Jesus and the visit of the Wise Men.
Old Testament Prophecies
Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Micah 5:2 - But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
Jeremiah 23:5 - "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land."
Isaiah 11:1 - A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Annunciation
Luke 1:26-27 - In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Luke 1:28 - The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Luke 1:30-31 - But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus."
Luke 1:32-33 - He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.
Luke 1:34 - "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
Luke 1:35 - The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
Luke 1:37 - For no word from God will ever fail.
Luke 1:38 - "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.
Joseph's Dream and Journey to Bethlehem
Matthew 1:19-20 - Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream...
Matthew 1:21 - The angel said, "...You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1:22-23 - All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").
Matthew 1:24 - When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Luke 2:1 - In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
Luke 2:4-5 - So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
The Birth of Jesus
Luke 2:6 - While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born.
Luke 2:7 - And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:11 - "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."
The Shepherds and the Angels
Luke 2:8 - And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
Luke 2:9 - An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
Luke 2:10 - But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people."
Luke 2:12 - "This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke 2:13-14 - Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2:15 - When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
Luke 2:16 - So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Luke 2:17-18 - When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Luke 2:20 - The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The Wise Men
Matthew 2:1-2 - After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."
Matthew 2:9-10 - After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
Matthew 2:11 - On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Flight to Egypt and Return
Matthew 2:13 - When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
Matthew 2:14 - So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.
Matthew 2:19-20 - After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead."
Matthew 2:23 - And he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
The Significance of Jesus's Birth
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Titus 3:4-5 - But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Galatians 4:4-5 - But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
1 John 4:9 - This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-2 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Luke 1:68-69 - "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David."
Philippians 2:6-7 - Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
2 Corinthians 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Hebrews 2:14-15 - Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Isaiah 64:8 - Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
John 1:12 - Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.