Now the birth of Christ Jesus occurred under these conditions: After His mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, but before they had lived together, she was found to be an expectant mother through the influence of the Holy Spirit.

"The virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and they will call Him Immanuel" -- which means "God with us."

They told him, "At Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

After listening to the king, they started on their journey, and the star which they had seen rise led them on until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were thrilled with ecstatic joy,

and went into the house and saw the child with His mother, Mary; and they fell at His feet and worshiped Him. They opened up their treasure sacks and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they set out to their own country by another route.

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Wake up! Tenderly take the child and His mother, and escape to Egypt; stay there until I further direct you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy Him."

"A sob was heard in Ramah, weeping and great wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they were gone."

and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, as one by one they continued to confess their sins.

and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for the Scripture says: "'He will give His angels directions about you, And they will bear you up on their hands, so you will never strike your foot against a stone.'"

As He was walking by the shore of the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was summed Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And at once they left the nets and followed Him.

And at once they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

"Blessed are the mourners, for they will be comforted.

"Blessed are the lowly in mind, for they will possess the land.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for being and doing right, for they will be completely satisfied.

"Blessed are those who show mercy, for they will have mercy shown them.

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

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called God's sons.

Keep on rejoicing and leaping for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way they persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

Let your light shine before people in such a way that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in heaven.

So whenever you do your deeds of charity, never blow your own horn in public, as the hypocrites are in the habit of doing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be praised by the people. I solemnly say to you, they already have their reward.

"Also, whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to attract the attention of people. I solemnly say to you, they already have their reward.

And whenever you pray, you must not keep on repeating set phrases, as the heathen do, for they suppose that they will be heard in accordance with the length of their prayers,

"Also whenever you fast, you must not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they put on a gloomy countenance, to let people see them fasting. I solemnly say to you, they already have their reward.

Take a good look at the wild birds, for they do not sow or reap, or store up food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps on feeding them. Are you not worth more than they?

And why should you worry about clothes? Look at the wild lilies and learn how they grow. They do not toil or spin;

"You must never give the things that are sacred to dogs, and you must never throw your pearls before hogs, for fear they might trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

But narrow is the gate and hard is the road that leads to life, and few are they that find it.

"Look out for false prophets, who come to you under the guise of sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves.

You must recognize them by their fruits. People do not pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they?

while the heirs of the kingdom will be turned out into the darkness outside, where they will be weeping and grinding their teeth."

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and at a mere word He drove the spirits out, and cured all who were sick,

So they went to Him and woke Him up, and said, "Lord, save us; we are going down!"

When He reached the other side, in the district of Gadara, there faced Him two men, who were under the power of demons, who were just coming out from the tombs. They were such terrors that nobody could pass that way.

And they suddenly screamed, "What do you want of us, you Son of God? Have you come here before the appointed time to torture us?"

And He said to them, "Be gone!" And they went out of the men and got into the hogs, and suddenly the whole drove, in a stampede, rushed over the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.

And suddenly all the town turned out to meet Jesus, and as soon as they saw Him, they begged Him to move on and leave their neighborhood.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax-collectors and notorious sinners?"

Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn, can they, as long as they have the bridegroom with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Nobody pours new wine into old wine-bottles; or, if they do, the bottles burst, the wine runs out, and the bottles are ruined. But people pour new wine into new wine-bottles, and so both are preserved."

said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead, but is sleeping." And they began to laugh in His face.

After He had gone into the house, and the blind men had gone up to Him, Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe that I can do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

But they went out and spread the news about Him all over that country.

But at the very time they were going out, some people brought to Him a dumb man, who was under the power of a demon,

When He saw the crowds, His heart was moved with pity for them, because they were tired and scattered like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive them out, and so that they could cure any disease or ailment.

Be on your guard against men, for they will turn you over to the courts and will flog you in their synagogues,

But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak.

But whenever they persecute you in one town, flee to a different one. For I solemnly say to you, you will not cover all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man returns.

The pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and the slave should be satisfied to become like his master. If men have called the Head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they heap upon the members of His family!

But as they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the desert to gaze at? A reed that is tossed to and fro by the wind?

"But to what can I compare the leaders of this age? They are like little children sitting in the market places and calling to their fellows in the game,

For John came neither eating nor drinking with others, and yet they said, 'He has a demon.'

The Son of Man came eating and drinking with others, and they say, 'Just look at Him! A glutton and a wine-drinker, a chum of tax-collectors and notorious sinners!' And yet wisdom is vindicated by her doings!"

Then He began to censure the cities in which His many, many wonder-works had been done, because they did not repent.

"A curse on you, Chorazin! A curse on you, Bethsaida! For if the wonder-works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, long ago they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Just look! Your disciples are doing something that it is against the law to do on the sabbath!"

How he went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred loaves, which it was against the law for him or his soldiers to eat, or for anyone except the priests?

Now there was a man there with one hand withered. And, to get a charge against Him, they asked Him, "Is it right to cure people on the sabbath?"

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man is not driving out demons except by the help of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."

And if I am driving out demons by the help of Beelzebub, by whose help are your sons driving them out? So they must be your judges.

So I tell you, for every worthless word that men utter they will have to give account on the day of judgment;

The men of Nineveh will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for they turned to the message preached by Jonah, and there is more than Jonah here!

"Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there, and so the end of that man is worse than the beginning. This is the way it will be with the wicked leaders of this age."

and some fell upon rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and at once they sprang up, because there was no depth of soil,

and when the sun was up they were scorched and dried up, because they had no root.

He answered: "It is you and not they who are granted the privilege of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.

This is why I am speaking to them in stories, because they look but do not see, they listen but do not really hear or understand.

For this people's soul has grown dull, and with their ears they can scarcely hear, and they have shut tight their eyes, so that they will never see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn to me, so that I may cure them!'

"But blessed are your eyes, for they are beginning to see, and your ears, for they are beginning to hear.

He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' Then they said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them?'

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all those who cause wrongdoing, and the wrongdoers,

and will throw them into the furnace of torturing punishment; there they will wail and grind their teeth.

and will throw them into the furnace of torturing punishment. There they will wail and grind their teeth.

"Do you understand all these stories?" They answered Him, "Yes."

He went to His own home town, and kept teaching in their synagogue in such a way that they were dumbfounded, and said, "Where did He get this wisdom and this power to do such wonder-works?

And so they found a cause for stumbling over Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet never fails to be honored except in his native neighborhood and in his own home." And so

Although he wanted to have him killed, he was afraid of the people, for they regarded him as a prophet.

When Jesus heard it, He left there in a boat for a quiet place, to be alone. And when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him on foot from the towns.

But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to leave here; give them something to eat yourselves."

They said to Him, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."

After ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed them; then He broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people.

And they all ate and had aplenty. Then they took up the pieces left over, which made twelve basketfuls.

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they screamed with fright.

And when they got into the boat, the wind lulled,

And they crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret.

and they continued to beg Him to let them touch just the tassel on His coat, and all who barely touched it were completely cured.

"Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our forefathers? For they do not practice washing their hands when they take their meals."

Their worship of me is an empty show; the things they teach are only men's precepts.'"

Let them alone. They are blind teachers! And if one blind man guides another, they will both fall into the ditch."

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they make the man foul.

and great crowds came up to Him bringing with them the lame, the crippled, the blind, the deaf, and many others. They laid them at His feet, and He cured them,

so that the crowd was astonished to see the dumb talking, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. So they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for it is now three days they have been staying with me, and they have nothing at all left to eat, and I fear they might give out on the way home."

Then Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you on hand?" They answered, "Seven and a few small fish."

and He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks; then He broke them in pieces, and kept giving the pieces to the disciples, and they to the crowds.

And they all ate and had aplenty, and they took up the pieces left over, which made seven hamper-basketfuls.

When the disciples crossed the sea, they forgot to take any bread.