There are therefore, in all, fourteen generations from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Removal to Babylon; and fourteen from the Removal to Babylon to the Christ.

But Joseph her husband, being a kind-hearted man and unwilling publicly to disgrace her, had determined to release her privately from the betrothal.

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to call His name JESUS for He it is who will save His People from their sins."

Now after the birth of Jesus, which took place at Bethlehem in Judaea in the reign of King Herod, excitement was produced in Jerusalem by the arrival of certain Magi from the east,

"'And thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, by no means the least honorable art thou among princely places in Judah! For from thee shall come a prince--one who shall be the Shepherd of My People Israel.'"

Thereupon Herod sent privately for the Magi and ascertained from them the exact time of the star's appearing.

Then Herod, finding that the Magi had trifled with him, was furious, and sent and massacred all the boys under two years of age, in Bethlehem and all its neighbourhood, according to the date he had so carefully ascertained from the Magi.

"Rise from sleep, and take the child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."

Then large numbers of people went out to him--people from Jerusalem and from all Judaea, and from the whole of the Jordan valley--

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he exclaimed, "O vipers' brood, who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

and do not imagine that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our forefather,' for I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.

Just at that time Jesus, coming from Galilee to the Jordan, presents Himself to John to be baptized by him.

and Jesus was baptized, and immediately went up from the water. At that moment the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him,

while a voice came from Heaven, saying, "This is My Son, the dearly loved, in whom is My delight."

There He fasted for forty days and nights; and after that He suffered from hunger.

Then the Devil took Him to the top of an exceedingly lofty mountain, from which he caused Him to see all the Kingdoms of the world and their splendour,

From that time Jesus began to preach. "Repent," He said, "for the Kingdom of the Heavens is now close at hand."

Thus His fame spread through all Syria; and they brought all the sick to Him, the people who were suffering from various diseases and pains--demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He cured them.

And great crowds followed Him, coming from Galilee, from the Ten Towns, from Jerusalem, and from beyond the district on the other side of the Jordan.

Solemnly I tell you that until Heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the Law until all has taken place.

Come to terms without delay with your opponent while you are yet with him on the way to the court; for fear he should obtain judgement from the magistrate against you, and the magistrate should give you in custody to the officer and you be thrown into prison.

But let your language be, 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no.' Anything in excess of this comes from the Evil one.

To him who asks, give: from him who would borrow, turn not away.

and bring us not into temptation, but rescue us from the Evil one.'

And why be anxious about clothing? Learn a lesson from the wild lilies. Watch their growth. They neither toil nor spin,

Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.

By their fruits you will easily recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from brambles?

"And then I will tell them plainly, "'I never knew you: begone from me, you doers of wickedness.'

Upon descending from the hill country He was followed by immense crowds.

So Jesus put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I am willing: be cleansed." Instantly he was cleansed from his leprosy;

And I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west and will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Heavens,

On His arrival at the other side, in the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him two men possessed by demons, coming from among the tombs: they were so dangerously fierce that no one was able to pass that way.

Now at some distance from them a vast herd of swine were feeding.

"Go," He replied. Then they came out from the men and went into the swine, whereupon the entire herd instantly rushed down the cliff into the Lake and perished in the water.

"Can the bridegroom's party mourn," He replied, "as long as the bridegroom is with them? But other days will come (when the Bridegroom has been taken from them)

And Jesus turned and saw her, and said, "Take courage, daughter; your faith has cured you." And the woman was restored to health from that moment.

And whoever refuses to receive you or even to listen to your Message, as you leave that house or town, shake off the very dust from your feet.

But from the time of John the Baptist till now, the Kingdom of the Heavens has been suffering violent assault, and the violent have been seizing it by force.

About that time Jesus exclaimed, "I heartily praise Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and of earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from sages and men of discernment, and hast unveiled them to babes.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

O vipers' brood, how can you speak what is good when you are evil? For it is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.

A good man from his good store produces good things, and a bad man from his bad store produces bad things.

The Queen of the south will awake at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and mark! there is One greater than Solomon here.

For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but whoever has not, from him even what he has shall be taken away.

"So the farmer's men come and ask him, "'Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed on your land? Where then does the darnel come from?'

So will it be at the Close of the Age. The angels will go forth and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

So they turned angrily away from Him. But Jesus said to them, "There is no prophet left without honour except in his own country and among his own family."

Upon receiving these tidings, Jesus went away by boat to an uninhabited and secluded district; but the people heard of it and followed Him in crowds from the towns by land.

"Come," said Jesus. Then Peter climbed down from the boat and walked upon the water to go to Him.

Then there came to Jesus a party of Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem, who inquired,

but you--this is what you say: 'If a man says to his father or mother, That is consecrated, whatever it is, which otherwise you should have received from me--

he shall be absolved from honouring his father'; and so you have abrogated God's Word for the sake of your tradition.

"'This is a People who honour Me with their lips, while their heart is far away from Me;

Do you not understand that whatever enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body?

But the things that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart, and it is these that defile the man.

"Be it so, Sir," she said, "for even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from their masters' tables."

"O woman," replied Jesus, "great is your faith: be it done to you as you desire." And from that moment her daughter was restored to health.

From this time Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer much cruelty from the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised to life again.

He was still speaking when a luminous cloud spread over them; and a voice was heard from within the cloud, which said, "This is My Son dearly beloved, in whom is My delight. Listen to Him."

As they were descending the mountain, Jesus laid a command upon them. "Tell no one," He said, "of the sight you have seen till the Son of Man has risen from among the dead."

Then Jesus reprimanded the demon, and it came out and left him; and the boy was cured from that moment.

"Because your faith is so small," He replied; "for I solemnly declare to you that if you have faith like a mustard-seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Remove from this place to that,' and it will remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.

"Yes," he replied, and then went into the house. But before he spoke a word Jesus said, "What think you, Simon? From whom do this world's kings receive customs or capitation tax? from their own children, or from others?"

"From others," he replied. "Then the children go free," said Jesus.

I also solemnly tell you that if two of you here on earth agree together concerning anything whatever that they shall ask, the boon will come to them from my Father who is in Heaven.

"In the same way my Heavenly Father will deal with you, if you do not all of you forgive one another from your hearts."

When Jesus had finished these discourses, He removed from Galilee and came into that part of Judaea which lay beyond the Jordan.

"Have you not read," He replied, "that He who made them 'made them' from the beginning 'male and female,

"Moses," He replied, "in consideration of the hardness of your nature permitted you to put away your wives, but it has not been so from the beginning.

There are men who from their birth have been disabled from marriage, others who have been so disabled by men, and others who have disabled themselves for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."

"None of you know what you are asking for," said Jesus; "can you drink out of the cup from which I am about to drink?" "We can," they replied.

and most of the crowd kept spreading their garments along the road, while others cut branches from the trees and carpeted the road with them,

"This is Jesus, the Prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee," replied the crowds.

"Have you never read in the Scriptures," said Jesus, "'The Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone: this Cornerstone came from the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes'?

"That, I tell you, is the reason why the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that will exhibit the power of it.

No one could say a word in reply, nor from that day did any one venture again to put a question to Him.

"For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town;

that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.

Afterwards He was on the Mount of Olives and was seated there when the disciples came to Him, apart from the others, and said, "Tell us when this will be; and what will be the sign of your Coming and of the Close of the Age?"

for it will be a time of great suffering, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now, and assuredly never will be again.

"But immediately after those times of distress the sun will be darkened, the moon will not shed her light, the stars will fall from the firmament, and the forces which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.

And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet-blast, and they will bring together His own People to Him from north, south, east and west--from one extremity of the world to the other.

"Now learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branches have now become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you all know that summer is near.

To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one--to each according to his individual capacity; and then started from home.

So take away the talent from him, and give it to the man who has the ten.'

(For to every one who has, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him who has nothing, even what he has shall be taken away.)

and all the nations will be gathered into His presence. And He will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

"Then will He say to those at His left, "'Begone from me, with the curse resting upon you, into the Fire of the Ages, which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.

"But he will reply, "'In solemn truth I tell you that in so far as you withheld such services from one of the humblest of these, you withheld them from me.'

and from that moment he was on the look out for an opportunity to betray Him.

And He took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, "Drink from it, all of you;

Going forward a short distance He fell on His face and prayed. "My Father," He said, "if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou willest."

For he knew that it was from envious hatred that Jesus had been brought before him.

While he was sitting on the tribunal a message came to him from his wife. "Have nothing to do with that innocent man," she said, "for during the night I have suffered terribly in a dream through him."

and said, "You who would pull down the Sanctuary and build a new one within three days, save yourself. If you are God's Son, come down from the cross."

"He saved others," they said, "himself he cannot save! He is the King of Israel! Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him.

Now from noon until three o'clock in the afternoon there was darkness over the whole land;

Immediately the curtain of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom: the earth quaked; the rocks split;

And there were a number of women there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to His necessities;

But to their amazement there had been a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord had descended from Heaven, and had come and rolled back the stone, and was sitting upon it.