In the days of Herod king of Judaea there was a priest called Zechariah, who belonged to the division of Abijah; he had a wife who belonged to the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

but they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren. Both of them were advanced in years.

When he did come out he could not speak to them, so they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary; he made signs to them and remained dumb.

Then, after his term of service had elapsed, he went home.

Now the time for Elizabeth's delivery had elapsed, and she gave birth to a son.

Now when the angels had left them and gone away to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us be off to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has told us of."

When they saw this they told people about the word which had been spoken to them about the child;

Then the shepherds went away back, glorifying and extolling God for all they had heard and seen as they had been told they would.

When the eight days had passed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus ??the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb.

When the days for their purification in terms of the Mosaic law had elapsed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

indeed it had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he had seen the Lord messiah.

When they had finished all the regulations of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazaret.

"Why did you look for me?" he said, "Did you not know I had to be at my Father's house?"

But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife as well as for all the wickedness that he, Herod, had committed,

Now when all the people had been baptized and when Jesus had been baptized and was praying, heaven opened

Then he came to Nazaret, where he had been brought up, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue as was his custom. He stood up to read the lesson

At sunset all who had any people ill with any sort of disease brought them to him; he laid his hands on everyone and healed them.

two boats on the shore of the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

For amazement had seized him and all his companions at the take of fish they had caught;

One day he was teaching, and near him sat Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judaea as well as from Jerusalem. Now the power of the Lord was present for the work of healing.

Instantly he got up before them, lifted what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

Another sabbath he happened to go into the synagogue and teach. Now a man was there who had his right hand withered,

With them he came down the hill and stood on a level spot. There was a great company of his disciples with him, and a large multitude of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to get cured of their diseases.

He is like a man engaged in building a house, who dug deep down and laid his foundation on the rock; when a flood came, the river dashed against that house but could not shake it, for it had been well built.

When he had finished what he had to say in the hearing of the people, he went into Capharnahum.

Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death;

When John's messengers had gone, he proceeded to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

(On hearing this all the people and the taxgatherers acknowledged the justice of God, as they had been baptized with the baptism of John;

but the Pharisees and jurists, who had refused his baptism, frustrated God's purpose for themselves.)

"There was a moneylender who had two debtors; one owed him fifty pounds, the other five.

"I suppose," said Simon, "the man who had most forgiven." "Quite right," he said.

and by some women who had been healed of evil spirits and illnesses, Mary called Magdalene (out of whom seven daemons had been driven),

some other seed dropped on the rock, but it withered away when it sprang up because it had no moisture;

As he stepped out on land he was met by a man from the town who had daemons in him; for a long while he had worn no clothing, and he stayed not in a house but among the tombs.

(For he had charged the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many a time when it had seized hold of him, he had been fastened secure in fetters and chains, but he would snap his bonds and be driven by the daemon into the desert.)

So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he said, for a number of daemons had entered him.

When the herdsmen saw what had occurred they fled and reported it to the town and the hamlets.

The people came out to see what had occurred and when they reached Jesus they discovered the man whom the daemons had left, seated at the feet of Jesus, clothed and sane. That frightened them.

They got a report from those who had seen how the lunatic was cured,

The man whom the daemons had left begged that he might accompany him. Jesus, however, sent him away, saying,

"Go home and describe all that God has done for you." So he went off to proclaim through the whole town all that Jesus had done for him.

for he had an only daughter about twelve years old and she was dying. As Jesus went the crowds kept crushing him,

and a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years which no one could cure,

Jesus said, "Somebody did touch me, for I felt power had passed from me."

So when the woman saw she had not escaped notice, she came trembling, and falling down before him she told before all the people why she had touched him and how she had been instantly cured.

Her parents were amazed, but he charged them not to tell anyone what had happened.

When Herod the tetrarch heard all that was going on, he was quite at a loss; for some said that John had risen from the dead,

some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

Then the apostles came back and described all they had done to Jesus. He took them and retired in private to a town called Bethsaida,

And they all ate and had enough. What they had left over was picked up, twelve baskets full of fragments.

Now Peter and his companions had been overpowered with sleep, but on waking up they saw his glory and the two men who were standing beside him.

When the voice ceased, they found themselves alone with Jesus. And in those days they kept silence and told nobody anything of what they had seen.

Woe to you, Khorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! Had the miracles performed in you been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have been sitting penitent in sackcloth and ashes.

She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the feet of the Lord to listen to his talk.

He was casting out a dumb daemon, and when the daemon had gone out the dumb man spoke. The crowds marvelled,

The Pharisee was astonished to see that he had not washed before the meal,

After he had gone away, the scribes and Pharisees commenced to follow him up closely and cross-question him on many points,

Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

It was at this time that some people came to tell him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And he told this parable. "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; he came in search of fruit on it but he found none.

there was a woman who for eighteen years had suffered weakness from an evil spirit; indeed she was bent double and quite unable to raise herself.

In front of him there was a man who had dropsy;

Jesus said to him, "There was a man who was giving a large supper, to which he had invited a number of guests.

He also said: "There was a man who had two sons,

After he had spent his all, a severe famine set in throughout that land, and he began to feel in want;

He also said to the disciples: "There was a rich man who had a factor, and this factor, he found, was accused of misapplying his property.

The Lord said, "If you had faith the size of a grain of mustard-seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"In a certain town," he said, "there was a judge who had no reverence for God and no respect even for man.

But when they saw this, everyone began to mutter that he had gone to be the guest of a sinner.

However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done.

The messengers went off and found the colt exactly as he had told them.

and as he was now close to the descent from the Hill of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples started joyfully to praise God with a loud voice for all they had seen,

At that hour the scribes and high priests tried to lay hands on him, but they were afraid of the people. They knew he had meant this parable for them.

Then came the day of unleavened bread when the paschal lamb had to be sacrificed.

They went off and found it was as he had told them. So they prepared the passover,

Then he said to the high priests and commanders of the temple and elders who had appeared to take him, "Have you sallied out to arrest me like a robber, with swords and cudgels?

and sat down among some people who had lit a fire in the courtyard and were sitting round it.

About an hour had passed when another man insisted, "That fellow really was with him. Why, he is a Galilean!"

the Lord turned round and looked at Peter, and then Peter remembered what the Lord had told him, that 'Before cock-crow to-day you will disown me three times.'

Meantime the men who had Jesus in custody flogged him and made fun of him;

When day broke, the elders of the people all met along with the high priests and scribes, and had him brought before their Sanhedrin. They said to him,

Herod was greatly delighted to see Jesus; he had long wanted to see him, because he had heard about him and also because he hoped to see him perform some miracle.

Herod and Pilate became friends that day ??previously they had been at enmity.

(This was a man who had been put into prison on account of a riot which had taken place in the city and also on a charge of murder.)

he released the man they wanted, the man who had been imprisoned for riot and murder, and Jesus he handed over to their will.

One of the criminals who had been hung also abused him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well."

When the army-captain saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, "This man was really innocent."

And when all the crowds who had collected for the sight saw what had happened, they turned away beating their breasts.

As for his acquaintances, they were all standing at a distance to look on, with the women who had accompanied him from Galilee.

who had not voted for their plan of action; he belonged to Arimathaea, a Jewish town, and he was on the outlook for the Reign of God.

He then took it down, wrapped it in linen, and put it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried.

So the women who had accompanied him from Galilee and who had followed Joseph, noted the tomb and the position of the body;

On the sabbath they rested in obedience to God's command, but on the first day of the week at early dawn they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

that the Son of man had to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and rise on the third day."

Then they remembered what he had said,

Peter did get up and run to the tomb, but when he looked in he saw nothing except the linen bandages; so he went away home wondering what had happened.

and could not find his body, but they came to tell us they had actually seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive.

Some of our company did go to the tomb and found things exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him."

Had not the Christ to suffer thus and so enter his glory?"

who told them that the Lord had really risen and that he had appeared to Simon.