Christmas Bible Verses About the Birth of Jesus

The best-known Christmas Bible verses are Luke 2:10-11, where an angel tells shepherds near Bethlehem, “there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The full story of Jesus’ birth sits in four chapters, Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2, and the prophets Isaiah and Micah point to it hundreds of years earlier. The verses below follow that story in order, from the promise to the manger, with a line of context for each, so you can use them for a card, a table reading or a family devotion.

All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible (WEB). To hear the whole story told as a bedtime reading, press play above to hear former NFL quarterback Drew Brees read the birth of Jesus (47 minutes, from the Bedtime Bible Stories series).

Old Testament verses that promise a child

Christians have read these three prophecies as Christmas verses since the first century, because Matthew quotes two of them directly. Isaiah wrote in the 700s BC, when King Ahaz of Judah was threatened by the armies of Aram and Israel and was looking to Assyria for help.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”Isaiah 7:14, WEB

“For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”Isaiah 9:6, WEB

Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, names the town. When Herod later asks where the Messiah will be born, the chief priests answer with this verse (Matthew 2:4-6).

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.”Micah 5:2, WEB

Verses about the announcement to Mary and Joseph

Luke tells the story from Mary’s side and Matthew from Joseph’s. Each of them hears from an angel, and in both accounts the first thing the angel gives is the child’s name.

“The angel said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and shall name him ‘Jesus.’”Luke 1:30-31, WEB

“She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”Matthew 1:21, WEB

Two verses later Matthew connects the birth to Isaiah 7:14 and translates the Hebrew name Immanuel for his readers.

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”Matthew 1:23, WEB

Verses about the birth in Bethlehem

Luke sets the scene with a census ordered by Caesar Augustus, which is why a carpenter from Nazareth and his pregnant wife were on the road to Bethlehem, roughly 80 to 90 miles to the south by road, at the worst possible time (Luke 2:1-4). The birth itself takes two sentences.

“While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.”Luke 2:6-7, WEB

The WEB says “feeding trough” where older translations say “manger”, and they mean the same thing: the child’s first bed was the place where animals ate.

Verses about the angels and the shepherds

The first people to hear the news were shepherds working a night shift. Shepherds were ordinary laborers with little standing, and the angel’s message to them is the passage most people mean when they ask for “the Christmas verse”.

“The angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”Luke 2:10-11, WEB

“Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.”Luke 2:14, WEB

The shepherds went “with haste” to find the baby and then went back to their flocks praising God (Luke 2:15-20). Near the end of the Bedtime Bible Stories episode, Drew Brees puts their response this way: “When you encounter the presence of God and behold his glory, the only response is worship.” In the same closing reflection, Brees calls the birth “the fulfillment of a promise made long ago, and God always keeps his promises.” That is a fair summary of why Luke keeps returning to joy.

Verses about the wise men and the star

Matthew alone tells of visitors from the east who followed a star. They arrived later than the shepherds, since Matthew says they came to “the house” and found “the young child” there.

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”Matthew 2:10-11, WEB

For what that star may have been, and why Matthew’s account is hard to fit to any single sky event, read What Was the Star of Bethlehem?

Verses that explain what Christmas means

John’s Gospel has no manger and no shepherds. It opens before creation and then says, in one sentence, what happened in Bethlehem. Paul gives the same news in a letter to the churches of Galatia, one of his earliest, written around AD 50.

“The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”John 1:14, WEB

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children.”Galatians 4:4-5, WEB

Short Christmas verses for cards

If you need a line that fits inside a card or on a place setting, these four work well on their own:

• “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14, WEB)
• “They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23, WEB)
• “For a child is born to us. A son is given to us.” (Isaiah 9:6, WEB)
• “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.” (John 1:5, WEB)

How churches read these verses at Christmas

Catholic and Protestant churches use many of the same passages, though they arrange them differently. At the Catholic Mass during the Night on Christmas Eve, the readings are Isaiah 9, Psalm 96, Titus 2 and Luke 2:1-14, so a Catholic family hears the prophecy, the psalm, the letter and the Gospel in a single service. Many Protestant churches hold a service of lessons and carols instead, which alternates Scripture readings with hymns; King’s College, Cambridge, has held its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve since 1918.

Either pattern works at home. Read one passage a night from December 17 to Christmas Eve, starting with Isaiah 7:14 and ending with Luke 2:14, and you will have walked through the whole story by the time the presents are opened. A short prayer to close each reading is enough: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to us in Bethlehem. Help us receive you this Christmas with the joy of the shepherds. Amen.

Keep reading and listening

• More Bedtime Bible Stories
• The Meaning of Christmas and Its True Significance
• Advent Prayers to Prepare for Christmas
• The Christian History of the Advent Wreath

AI-assisted from Pray.com episode transcripts, then reviewed and approved by Michael Lynn.