Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

“This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah,

“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”

When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—

When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.”

Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”

But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;

The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

This is the one about whom it is written,
‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’

When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant.

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.

The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”

Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see Him.

But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,

While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”

But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’

‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

One of the lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.”

For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,

so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”

You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?

And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

And they could make no reply to this.

and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.

When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So He told them this parable, saying,

for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions.

And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.

And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’

for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.

Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”

And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:

The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”