After he had thought about it, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," he said, "don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

which means, "God with us." When Joseph got up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as his wife.

He did not have marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men arrived in Jerusalem from the east

Then Herod secretly called together the wise men, found out from them the time the star had appeared,

After listening to the king, they set out, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt," he said. "Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him."

Herod flew into a rage when he learned that he had been tricked by the wise men, so he ordered the execution of all the male children in Bethlehem and all its neighboring regions, who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had determined from the wise men.

John had clothing made of camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of grasshoppers and wild honey.

At this, he permitted him to be baptized. When Jesus had been baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Suddenly, the heavens opened up for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

Then the Devil took him to the Holy City and had him stand on the highest point of the Temple.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he went back to Galilee.

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, the crowds were utterly amazed at his teaching,

because he was teaching them like a person who had authority, and not like their scribes.

Now when those who had been taking care of the pigs ran away, they came into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

Just then a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel of his garment,

because she had been saying to herself, "If I just touch his robe, I will get well."

When the crowd had been driven outside, he went in, took her by the hand, and the young lady got up.

When he had gone into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I can do this?" They told him, "Yes, Lord!"

As soon as the demon had been driven out, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!"

These were the Twelve whom Jesus sent out after he had given them these instructions: "Don't turn on to the road that leads to the unbelievers, and don't enter Samaritan towns.

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he left there to teach and preach in their home towns.

Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had taken place, because they didn't repent.

"How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

"And you, Capernaum! You won't be lifted up to heaven, will you? You'll go down to Hell! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

If you had known what "I want mercy and not sacrifice' means, you would not have condemned the innocent,

But he asked them, "Is there a man among you who, if he had one sheep and it fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn't take hold of it and pull it out?

"The kingdom from heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and hid. In his excitement he went and sold everything he had and bought that field."

When he found a very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it."

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

Herod had arrested John, bound him with chains, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

John had been telling him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

So he sent word and had John beheaded in prison.

When he got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them and healed their sick.

When evening had come, the disciples went to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and it's already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

Now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.

Jesus immediately had the disciples get into a boat and cross to the other side ahead of him, while he sent the crowds away.

Now those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.

When his disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to take any bread along.

When Jesus had come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

Then the disciples understood that he had been speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Calling a little child forward, he had him stand among them.

When he had begun to settle the accounts, a person who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him.

The master of that servant had compassion and released him, canceling his debt.

But he refused and had him thrown into prison until he could repay the debt.

"When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were very disturbed and went and reported to their master everything that had occurred.

Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the territory of Judea on the other side of the Jordan.

When he had laid his hands on them, he went on from there.

But when the young man heard this statement he went away sad, because he had many possessions.

When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead and

Now this happened to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet when he said,

So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

But when the high priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he had done and the children shouting in the Temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became furious

"But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come.

Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother.

Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?"

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they met together in the same place.

Then you say, "If we had been living in the days of our ancestors, we would have had no part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

If those days hadn't been limited, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be limited.

But be sure of this: if the owner of the house had known when during the night the thief would be coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into.

In the same way, the one who had two talents earned two more.

The one who had received five talents came up and brought five more talents. "Master,' he said, "you gave me five talents. See, I've earned five more talents.'

"Then the one who had received one talent came forward and said, "Master, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you haven't planted and gathering where you haven't scattered any seed.

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he told his disciples,

So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

The Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him. How terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

Now the betrayer personally had given them a signal, saying, "The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him."

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had assembled.

But they couldn't find any, even though many false witnesses had come forward. At last two men came forward

Then Judas, who had betrayed him, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 pieces of silver back to the high priests and elders,

Then what had been declared through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled when he said, "They took the 30 pieces of silver, the value of the man on whom a price had been set by the Israelis,

At every festival the governor had a custom of releasing to the crowd any prisoner whom they wanted.

So when the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which man do you want me to release for you Barabbas, or Jesus who is called "the Messiah'?"

He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy.

While he was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message that said, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, because today I have suffered terribly due to a dream I had about him."

Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him.

After they had crucified him, they determined who would get his clothes by throwing dice for them.

tombs were opened, and many saints who had died were brought back to life.

Now many women were also there, watching from a distance. They had accompanied Jesus from Galilee and had ministered to him.

Later that evening, a rich man arrived from Arimathea. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus.

Then he placed it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out of the rock. After rolling a large stone across the door of the tomb, he left,

Suddenly, there was a powerful earthquake, because an angel of the Lord had come down from heaven, approached the stone, rolled it away, and was sitting on top of it.

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the high priests everything that had happened.

The eleven disciples went into Galilee to the hillside to which Jesus had directed them.

When they saw him, they worshipped him, though some had doubts.