Now when 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 remain there until I tell you; for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.”

and do not presume to say to yourselves [as a defense], ‘We have Abraham for our father [so our inheritance assures us of salvation]’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham.

His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom), but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”

After Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John) saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him (Jesus),

And he said [mockingly] to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command His angels concerning You [to serve, care for, protect and watch over You]’;

and

‘They will lift you up on their hands,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory [splendor, magnificence, and excellence] of them;

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.

“And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

‘And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].

For if you forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins], your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.

“Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal;

“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.

And a leper came up to Him and bowed down before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You are able to make me clean (well).”

As Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, begging Him [for help],

He touched her hand and the fever left her; and she got up and served Him.

Then [on His way to board the boat] a scribe [who was a respected and authoritative interpreter of the Law] came and said to Him, “Master, I will accompany You [as Your student] wherever You go.”

And suddenly a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus was sleeping.

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was [at once] a great and wonderful calm [a perfect peacefulness].

The men wondered in amazement, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven and the penalty paid,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? [Both are possible for God; both are impossible for man.]

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority and the power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.”

And he got up and went home [healed and forgiven].

Jesus got up and began to accompany the ruler, with His disciples.

Then a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the [tassel] fringe of His outer robe;

Beware of men [whose nature is to act in opposition to God], for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues;

But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you within that [very] hour;

“Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; and children will rise up and rebel against their parents and cause them to be put death.

And he who does not take his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] is not worthy of Me.

the blind receive [their] sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed [by healing] and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

For all the prophets and the Law prophesied up until John.

and say ‘We piped the flute for you [playing wedding], and you did not dance; we wailed sad dirges [playing funeral], and you did not mourn and cry aloud.’

And you, Capernaum, are you to be exalted to heaven [for your apathy and unresponsiveness]? You will descend to Hades (the realm of the dead); for if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment against this generation, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now, something greater than Jonah is here.

The Queen of the South (Sheba) will stand up [as a witness] at the judgment against this generation, and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and now, something greater than Solomon is here.

and as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road [between the fields], and the birds came and ate it.

Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

Other seed fell among thorns, and thorns came up and choked them out.

yet he has no [substantial] root in himself, but is only temporary, and when pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles and falls away [abandoning the One who is the source of salvation].

But he said, ‘No; because as you pull out the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.

and when it was full, they dragged it up on the beach; and they sat down and sorted out the good fish into baskets, but the worthless ones they threw away.

And John’s disciples came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people,

and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up twelve full baskets of the leftover broken pieces.

After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was there alone.

He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be torn up by the roots.

Jesus went on from there and passed along by [the eastern shore of] the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on the hillside and was sitting there.

And they all ate and were satisfied, and they gathered up seven full baskets of the broken pieces that were left over.

Now the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus [to get something to use against Him], they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven [which would support His divine authority].

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John the brother of James, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

Then Peter began to speak and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good and delightful and auspicious that we are here; if You wish, I will put up three [sacred] tents here—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

When they approached the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, kneeling before Him and saying,

When they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel [temple tax] went up to Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the half-shekel?”

However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take it and give it to them [to pay the temple tax] for you and Me.”

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

If he pays no attention to them [refusing to listen and obey], tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile (unbeliever) and a tax collector.

Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered him, “I say to you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven.

And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what [essentially] good thing shall I do to obtain eternal life [that is, eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?”

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve [disciples] aside, and along the way He said to them,

“Listen carefully: we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), and they will [judicially] condemn Him and sentence Him to death,

Then [Salome] the mother of Zebedee’s children [James and John] came up to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down [in respect], asked a favor of Him.

Seeing a lone fig tree at the roadside, He went to it and found nothing but leaves on it; and He said to it, “Never again will fruit come from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

Jesus replied to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have faith [personal trust and confidence in Me] and do not doubt or allow yourself to be drawn in two directions, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen [if God wills it].

When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what [kind of] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority [to exercise this power]?”

saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, leaving no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his widow, and raise children for his brother.’

The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The scribes and Pharisees tie up heavy loads [that are hard to bear] and place them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger [to make them lighter].

[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you swallow up widows’ houses, and to cover it up you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.]

Fill up, then, the [allotted] measure of the guilt of your fathers’ sins.

Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the [magnificent and massive] buildings of the temple.

At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another.

Many false prophets will appear and mislead many.

and will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order [trimmed the wicks and added oil and lit them].

“You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”

a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume and she poured it on Jesus’ head as He reclined at the table.

But after I am raised [to life], I will go ahead of you [leading the way] to Galilee.”

Get up, let us go. Look, My betrayer is near!”

As Jesus was still speaking, Judas [Iscariot], one of the twelve [disciples], came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, [who came as representatives] from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Greetings (rejoice), Rabbi!” And he kissed Him [in a deliberate act of betrayal].

Jesus said to Judas, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then they came and seized Jesus and arrested Him.

and testified, “This man said, ‘I am able to tear down the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

The high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Have You no answer to give? What is it that these men are testifying against You?”

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came up to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”

After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them too; for even your [Galilean] accent gives you away.”

The chief priests, picking up the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put these in the treasury [of the temple], because it is the price of blood.”

So he set Barabbas free for them; but after having Jesus severely whipped (scourged), he handed Him over to be crucified.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud [agonized] voice, and gave up His spirit [voluntarily, sovereignly dismissing and releasing His spirit from His body in submission to His Father’s plan].

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth (burial wrapping),

And as they went, suddenly, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” And they went to Him and took hold of His feet [in homage] and worshiped Him [as the Messiah].