And the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.

You are to become a mother and you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus.

and she gave a great cry, and said, "You are the most favored of women, And blessed is your child!

Every hollow must be filled up, And every mountain and hill leveled. What is crooked is to be made straight, And the rough roads are to be made smooth,

He said to them, "Do not collect any more than you are authorized to."

and the holy Spirit came down upon him in the material shape of a dove, and there came a voice from heaven, "You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!"

And the devil said to him, "If you are God's son, tell this stone to turn into bread!"

And he took him to Jerusalem, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down from here,

"Ha! What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God's Holy One!"

And demons came out of many people, crying out, "You are the Son of God!" But he reproved them and forbade them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

and so were Zebedee's sons, James and John, who were Simon's partners. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you are to catch men!"

When he saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven!"

But Jesus saw what they were discussing, and said to them, "What are you pondering over in your minds?

Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

Then he fixed his eyes on his disciples, and said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours!

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied! "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh!

"Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and denounce you and spurn the name you bear as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

"But alas for you who are rich, for you have had your comfort!

and he called two of them to him, and sent them to the Master to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?"

And the men went to him and said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?' "

And he answered them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind are regaining their sight, the lame can walk, the lepers are being cured and the deaf can hear, the dead are being raised and good news is being preached to the poor.

"I tell you, among men born of women there is none greater than John; and yet those who are of little importance in the Kingdom of God are greater than he.

So what is there to which I can compare the men of this age? What are they like?

They are like children sitting about in the bazaar and calling out to one another, " 'We have played the flute for you, and you would not dance! We have wailed and you would not weep!'

So wisdom is vindicated by all who are really wise."

Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled most." "You are right," he said.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little."

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven!"

And he said, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but they are given to others in the form of figures, so that they may look and yet not see, and hear and yet not understand.

The ones by the path are those who hear, and then the devil comes and carries off the message from their hearts, so that they may not believe it and be saved.

The ones on the rock are those who receive the message joyfully when they first hear it, but it takes no real root. They believe for a little while, and then in the time of trial they draw back.

And the word came to him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you."

He answered, "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's message and obey it!"

And they went to him and woke him up, and said to him, "Master! Master! We are lost!" Then he awoke and reproved the wind and the rough water, and they ceased, and there was a calm.

Jesus said, "Who was it who touched me?" And as everyone denied having done so, Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and they are crowding you."

When the day began to decline, the Twelve came up and said to him, "Send the crowd away to the villages and farms around to find food and shelter, for we are in a lonely place here."

Just as they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, how good it is that we are here! Let us put up three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah!" For he did not know what he was saying.

And he said to them, "The harvest is abundant enough, but the reapers are few. So pray to the owner of the harvest to send reapers to gather it.

And you, Capernaum! Are you to be exalted to the skies? You will go down among the dead!

But do not be glad that the spirits submit to you, but be glad that your names are enrolled in heaven."

And he turned to his disciples when they were alone, and said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!

Jesus said to him, "You are right. Do that, and you will live."

The Master answered, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and anxious about many things, but our wants are few,

So if you, bad as you are, know enough to give your children what is good, how much more surely will your Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him for it!"

But he said, "You might better say, 'Blessed are those who hear God's message and observe it!' "

But the Master said to him, "You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

Alas for you! For you are like unmarked graves which men tread upon without knowing it."

I tell you, who are my friends, have no fear of those who kill the body, and after that can do no more.

But the very hairs on your heads are all counted! You must not be afraid, you are worth more than a great many sparrows!

Think of the crows! They do not sow or reap, and they have no storehouses or barns, and God feeds them. How much more you are worth than the birds!

So you must not ask what you are to have to eat or drink, and you must not be anxious about it.

For these are all things the nations of the world are in pursuit of, and your Father knows well that you need them.

Blessed are the slaves whom their master will find on the watch when he comes. I tell you, he will gird up his robe and make them take their places at table, and go around and wait on them.

Whether he comes late at night or early in the morning and finds them on the watch, they are blessed.

For from now on if there are five people in a house they will be divided three against two and two against three.

For when you are going before the magistrate with your opponent, do your best on the way to get rid of him, or he may hurry you off to the judge and the judge hand you over to the constable and the constable throw you into prison.

When Jesus saw her he called to her, "You are freed from your sickness!"

But the leader of the synagogue, in his vexation because Jesus had cured her on the Sabbath, spoke out and said to the crowd, "There are six days on which it is right to work. Come on them and be cured, but not on the Sabbath day."

And someone said to him, "Are only a few to be saved, Master?" He said to them,

There you will weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, while you are put outside.

There are those now last who will then be first, and there are those now first who will be last."

O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!

"When someone invites you to a wedding supper, do not take the best place, for someone more distinguished than you are may have been invited,

But when you are invited anywhere, go and take the poorest place, so that when your host comes in, he will say to you, 'My friend, come to a better place.' So you will be shown consideration before all the other guests.

But when you give an entertainment, invite people who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.

and get the calf we are fattening, and kill it, and let us feast and celebrate,

And his master praised the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are shrewder in their relation to their own age than the sons of the light.

And he said to them, "You are the men who parade your uprightness before people, but God knows your hearts. For what men consider great is detestable in the sight of God.

And Abraham said, 'My child, remember that you received your blessings in your lifetime, and Lazarus had his misfortunes in his; and now he is being comforted here, while you are in anguish.

So you also, when you do all you have been ordered to do, must say, 'We are good-for-nothing slaves! We have done only what we ought to have done!' "

And Jesus said, "Were not all ten cured? Where are the other nine?

And he said, "The things that are impossible for men are possible for God!"

And he took the Twelve aside and said to them, "See! we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

for I was afraid of you, for you are a stern man. You pick up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.'

And if anyone asks you why you are untying it, you are to say, 'The Master needs it.'

And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"

and said, "If you yourself only knew today the conditions of peace! But as it is, they are hidden from you.

But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet."

And they asked him, "Master, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and that you show no favor, but teach the way of God in sincerity.

Jesus said to them, "The people of this world marry and are married,

but those who are thought worthy to attain that other world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are married.

For they cannot die again; they are like the angels, and through sharing in the resurrection, they are sons of God.

But that the dead are raised to life, even Moses indicated in the passage about the bush, when he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

He is not the God of dead men but of living, for all men are alive to him."

"As for all this that you are looking at, the time is coming when not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be torn down!"

Then those who are in Judea must fly to the hills, those who are in the city must get out of it, and those who are in the country must not go into it,

for those are the days of vengeance, when all that is written in the Scriptures will be fulfilled.

But alas for women who are with child at that time, or who have babies, for there will be great misery in the land and anger at this people.

But take care that your hearts are not loaded down with self-indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that day takes you by surprise, like a trap.

For it will come on all who are living anywhere on the face of the earth.

But he said to them, "The kings of the heathen lord it over them, and their authorities are given the title of Benefactor.

But you are not to do so, but whoever is greatest among you must be like the youngest, and the leader like a servant.

But they said, "See, Master, here are two swords!" And he said to them, "Enough of this!"

and said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. But not my will but yours be done!"

And he said to them, "Why are you asleep? Get up, and pray that you may not be subjected to trial!"

Shortly after, a man saw him and said, "You are one of them too!" But Peter said, "I am not!"

and they blindfolded him, and asked him, "Show that you are a prophet! Who was it that struck you?"

"If you are the Christ, tell us so." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe me,

And they all said, "Are you the Son of God then?" And he said to them, "I am, as you say!"

And Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "Yes."