Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

"Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel," which means "God with us."

"In Bethlehem of Judea," they said, "for it is written this way by the prophet:

After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was.

When they saw the star they shouted joyfully.

As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.

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

"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone."

and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you' and 'with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen).

They left their nets immediately and followed him.

They immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don't they?

And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don't they?

Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, they have their reward.

"Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

"When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward.

Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable than they are?

Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin.

Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.

You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?

So they came and woke him up saying, "Lord, save us! We are about to die!"

When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.

They cried out, "Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?"

And he said, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned in the water.

Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

When the crowd saw this, they were afraid and honored God who had given such authority to men.

When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved."

he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep." And they began making fun of him.

When he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord."

But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that entire region.

As they were going away, a man who could not talk and was demon-possessed was brought to him.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness.

Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues.

Whenever they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, for what you should say will be given to you at that time.

Whenever they persecute you in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house 'Beelzebul,' how much more will they defame the members of his household!

While they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

"To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon!'

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities in which he had done many of his miracles, because they did not repent.

"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them.

But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath."

how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?

A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" so that they could accuse him.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.

Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see.

But when the Pharisees heard this they said, "He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!"

Now when Jesus realized what they were thinking, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand.

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak.

The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them -- and now, something greater than Jonah is here!

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!"

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep.

But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered.

Other seeds fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked them.

He replied, "You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.

For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

"But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When it was full, they pulled it ashore, sat down, and put the good fish into containers and threw the bad away.

"Have you understood all these things?" They replied, "Yes."

Then he came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?

And so they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own house."

Although Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd because they accepted John as a prophet.

Now when Jesus heard this he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place. But when the crowd heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, "This is an isolated place and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

But he replied, "They don't need to go. You give them something to eat."

They said to him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."

They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, twelve baskets full.

When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, "It's a ghost!" and cried out with fear.

When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased.

After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

When the people there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him.

They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

"Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat."

and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?"

Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit."

Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them.

As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called the disciples and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way."