In the Bible
Does Joseph ever speak in the Bible?
No words of his are recorded. What we know of him is what he did.
Around Jesus
Who was Joseph, the husband of Mary?
Joseph was a builder in Nazareth, from the family of King David, engaged to Mary. When he learned she was pregnant, he planned to end it quietly, until an angel told him in a dream that the child was from God. He married her, named the boy Jesus, took the family to Egypt to escape Herod, and raised Jesus in Nazareth.
- When
- Jesus was born about 6 to 4 BC. Joseph is last seen when Jesus is 12.
- Read
- Matthew 1–2, Luke 2
5 moments
Joseph of Nazareth’s life, in order
See where Joseph of Nazareth fits on the Bible timeline
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The dream
Joseph means to divorce Mary quietly. An angel tells him not to be afraid to take her as his wife.
To Bethlehem
A Roman census sends him to Bethlehem, the town of David, with Mary.
To Egypt by night
Warned that Herod wants the child dead, Joseph gets up in the night and takes them to Egypt.
Home to Nazareth
After Herod dies, another dream sends them home, and they settle in Nazareth.
Jesus at 12
On the way home from Passover they lose Jesus and find him in the temple. This is the last time Joseph appears.
Read these first
Key verses about Joseph of Nazareth
Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and had no wish to make a public spectacle of her, so he resolved to divorce her in private.
Matthew 1:19A righteous man
But while he was turning this over in his mind, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary as your wife, because it is by the Holy Spirit that the child has been conceived in her.
Matthew 1:20Do not be afraid
When Joseph rose from sleep, he followed the instructions the angel of the Lord had given him and took his wife home…
Matthew 1:24He did as the angel commanded
Questions people ask
What the Bible says, and what tradition adds
Each answer is marked: in the Bible, tradition, readers disagree, or not known.
Readers disagree
Was Joseph a carpenter?
Matthew calls him a tekton, a Greek word for a builder or craftsman who worked in wood or stone. “Carpenter” is the usual English word, but he may have built more than furniture.
See Matthew 13:55
Not known
When did Joseph die?
The Bible does not say. He is missing from Jesus’ adult life, and at the cross Jesus gives Mary into John’s care, so most assume Joseph had died by then.
Tradition, not the Bible
Was Joseph an old man?
Paintings often show him old. That comes from the Protoevangelium of James, a 2nd-century writing, not from the Bible.
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