And consider this, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son and you will name Him Jesus.

And everyone who heard about this incident remembered it [i.e., for some time]. They were saying, "What will this child become? For the hand of the Lord was [surely] with him."

Every valley will be filled up and every mountain and hill will be leveled. And crooked [roads] will become straight and rough ones smoothed out.

And all mankind will see the salvation of God [i.e., become available to them]."

to proclaim the year of the Lord's acceptance [i.e., the time when people would become His obedient followers]."

Then after these things happened, Jesus went out [i.e., probably walking along a street] and saw a publican [Note: This was a person with a bad reputation for dishonest tax collecting activities] named Matthew [i.e., the same as Levi. See Mark 2:14] sitting at the toll booth [collecting taxes] and said, "Become my follower."

And no one puts freshly squeezed grape juice into previously used bottles made of animal skins. [If he does], the newly squeezed juice will [crack and] burst the [dried out] animal skins and [all the juice will] spill out, and the animal skin bottles will [also] become useless.

The disciple is not more important than his teacher, but when every person becomes complete, [then] he will be like his teacher.

And those people [represented by the seed] that fell among thorns are the ones who have heard [the word], and as they go about their business, they become choked by worry, by money and by worldly pleasures, and produce no mature crop.

For there is nothing done in obscurity that will not be made known [openly], and nothing done secretly that will not [eventually] become known and be revealed.

Then He said to everyone, "If anyone wants to be my follower, he should deny self [i.e., of always having its own way] and accept his cross [i.e., his responsibilities, with all their difficulties] everyday, and [then he can] become my follower.

And [then] He said to another person, "Become my follower." But he replied, "Lord, allow me to go and bury my father first."

Then another person said [to Jesus], "Lord, I will become your follower, but first let me say goodbye to my family." [Note: There was the likelihood that family members might try to dissuade him from his commitment to follow the Lord].

And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up [as high] as heaven? [Certainly not], you will be brought down to the unseen place of departed spirits [i.e., you will become obscure or obliterated as a city].

Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they reenter [the body] and [begin] to live there, so that the latter state of that person becomes worse than the former state."

But if that slave should think to himself, 'My master will not be back soon,' and then becomes physically abusive to his men and women servants, and eats and drinks and gets drunk,

"Every person who divorces his wife and marries another woman becomes sexually unfaithful to her [i.e., because he is still regarded by God as married to his first wife. See Matt. 19:9]. And the person who marries someone who has been divorced by her husband commits sexual sin with her [i.e., because she is still rightfully married to her first husband].

Then Jesus told His disciples a parable for the purpose of showing them that they should pray continually and not become discouraged.

When Jesus heard this He said to him, " [There is] one thing you still lack. Sell all your possessions and distribute [the money] to poor people; become my follower, [then] you will have treasure in heaven."

And Jesus said to the disciples, "Truly I tell you, there is no person who has left his house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God [i.e., to become a servant of the Lord],

Men will become despondent from fear, and from dreading the [terrible] things which will come upon the earth, for the forces of the heavens will be shaken.

"But pay attention to yourselves so that your hearts do not become overburdened by carousing, and drunkenness, and the worries of life. [If you do], that 'day' [i.e., Jesus' second coming and judgment] will arrive suddenly, like a trap [i.e., which catches an animal by surprise].

But it will not be that way among you, for the person who is the most important among you should become [like] the youngest [i.e., least important]. And the person who is the leader should become like the servant.