He had been dwelling upon this, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to take Mary for your wife, for her child has been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

She shall give birth to a son; and you shall give him the name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."

All this happened in fulfillment of these words of the Lord in the Prophet, where he says--

When Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him.

He made Mary his wife, but did not live with her as her husband until after the birth of her son; and to this son he gave the name Jesus.

When King Herod heard of this, he was much troubled, and so, too, was all Jerusalem.

He called together all the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law in the nation, and questioned them as to where the Christ was to be born.

And, sending them to Bethlehem, he said: "Go and make careful inquiries about the child, and, as soon as you have found him, bring me word, that I, too, may go and do homage to him."

And there he stayed until Herod's death; in fulfillment of these words of the Lord in the Prophet, where he says--'Out of Egypt I called my Son.'

When Herod found that he had been trifled with by the Astrologers, he was very angry. He sent and put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and the whole of that neighborhood, who were two years old or under, guided by the date which he had ascertained from the Astrologers.

Then were fulfilled these words spoken in the Prophet Jeremiah, where he says--

And he awoke, and taking the child and his mother, went into the Land of Israel.

But, hearing that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as King of Judea, he was afraid to go back there; and having been warned in a dream, he went into the part of the country called Galilee.

And there he settled in the town of Nazareth, in fulfillment of these words in the Prophets--'He will be called a Nazarene.'

This is he who was spoken of in the Prophet Isaiah, where he says--'The voice of one crying aloud in the Wilderness: "Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight."'

When, however, John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to receive his baptism, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who has prompted you to seek refuge from the coming judgment?

I, indeed, baptize you with water to teach repentance; but He who is Coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

His winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, and store his grain in the barn, but the chaff he will burn with inextinguishable fire."

But John tried to prevent him. "It is I," he said, "who need to be baptized by you; why then do you come to me?"

After the baptism of Jesus, and just as he came up from the water, the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove, and alighting upon him,

And, after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he became hungry.

"If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for Scripture says- -'He will give his angels commands about thee, And on their hands they will upbear thee, Lest ever thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.'"

The third time, the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain, and, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, said to him:

When Jesus heard that John had been committed to prison, he retired to Galilee.

Afterwards, leaving Nazareth, he went and settled at Capernaum, which is by the side of the Sea, within the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali;

As Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers--Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew--casting a net into the Sea; for they were fishermen.

Going further on, he saw two other men who were also brothers, James, Zebediah's son, and his brother John, in their boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus called them,

And his fame spread all through Syria. They brought to him all who were ill with any form of disease, or who were suffering pain--any who were either possessed by demons, or were lunatic, or paralyzed; and he cured them.

And he was followed by large crowds from Galilee, the district of the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

On seeing the crowds of People, Jesus went up the hill; and, when he had taken his seat, his disciples came up to him;

And he began to teach them as follows:

I, however, say to you that any one who cherishes anger against his brother shall be liable to answer for it to the Court; and whoever pours contempt upon his brother shall be liable to answer for it to the High Council, while whoever calls down curses upon him shall be liable to answer for it in the fiery Pit.

Be ready to make friends with your opponent, even when you meet him on your way to the court; for fear that he should hand you over to the judge, and the judge to his officer, and you should be thrown into prison.

That you may become Sons of your Father who is in Heaven; for he causes his sun to rise upon bad and good alike, and sends rain upon the righteous and upon the unrighteous.

That he may not be seen by men to be fasting, but by his Father who dwells in secret; and his Father, who sees what is secret, will recompense him.

But, if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkened. And, if the inner light is darkness, how intense must that darkness be!

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will attach himself to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

And why be anxious about clothing? Study the wild lilies, and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin;

If God so clothes even the grass of the field, which is living to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, will not he much more clothe you, O men of little faith?

But first seek his Kingdom and the righteousness that he requires, and then all these things shall be added for you.

How will you say to your brother 'Let me take out the straw from your eye,' when all the time there is a beam in your own?

Hypocrite! Take out the beam from your own eye first, and then you will see clearly how to take out the straw from your brother's.

For he that asks receives, he that searches finds, and to him that knocks the door shall be opened.

Or when he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

If you, then, wicked though you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give what is good to those that ask him!

Not every one who says to me 'Master! Master!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.

For he taught them like one who had authority, and not like their Teachers of the Law.

And he saw a leper who came up, and bowed to the ground before him, and said: "Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so: "I am willing; become clean." Instantly he was made clean from his leprosy;

"Sir," he said, "my manservant is lying ill at my house with a stroke of paralysis, and is suffering terribly."

For I myself am a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me; and, if I say to one of them 'Go,' he goes, and to another 'Come,' he comes, and to my slave 'Do this,' he does it."

When Jesus went into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in- law prostrated with fever.

In the evening the people brought to Jesus many who were possessed by demons; and he drove out the spirits with a word, And cured all who were ill,

In fulfillment of these words in the Prophet Isaiah--'He took our infirmities on himself, and bore the burden of our diseases.'

Then he got into the boat, followed by his disciples.

"Why are you so timid?" he said. "O men of little faith!" Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm followed.

"Go," he said. The spirits came out, and entered the pigs; and the whole drove rushed down the steep slope into the Sea, and died in the water.

And there some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man: "Courage, Child! Your sins are forgiven."

But, that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--then he said to the paralyzed man-- "Get up, take up your bed, and return to your home."

As Jesus went along, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: "Follow me." Matthew got up and followed him.

And, later on, when he was at table in the house, a number of tax-gatherers and outcasts came in and took their places at table with Jesus and his disciples.

While Jesus was saying this, a President of a Synagogue came up and bowed to the ground before him. "My daughter," he said, "Has just died; but come and place your hand on her, and she will be restored to life."

He said: "Go away, the little girl is not dead; she is asleep." They began to laugh at him;

As Jesus was passing on from there, he was followed by two blind men, who kept calling out: "Take pity on us, Son of David!"

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came up to him; and Jesus asked them: "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Master!" they answered.

Upon that he touched their eyes, and said: "It shall be according to your faith."

Then their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly cautioned them. "See that no one knows of it," he said.

But the Pharisees said: "He drives out the demons by the help of the chief of the demons."

But, when he saw the crowds, his heart was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and harassed, 'like sheep without a shepherd';

And he said to his disciples: "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.

Whenever they betray you, do not be anxious as to how you shall speak or what you shall say, for what you shall say will be given you at the moment;

It is enough for a scholar to be treated like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Baal-zebub, how much more the members of his household!

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

He who has found his life will lose it, while he who, for my sake, has lost his life shall find it.

He who welcomes you is welcoming me; and he who welcomes me is welcoming him who sent me as his Messenger.

He who welcomes a Prophet, because he is a Prophet, shall receive a Prophet's reward; and he who welcomes a good man, because he is a good man, shall receive a good man's reward.

And, if any one gives but a cup of cold water to one of these lowly ones because he is a disciple, I tell you that he shall assuredly not lose his reward."

After Jesus had finished giving directions to his twelve Disciples, he left that place in order to teach and preach in their towns.

Now John had heard in prison what the Christ was doing, and he sent a message by his disciples,

This is the man of whom Scripture says--'Behold, I am myself sending my Messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.'

I tell you, no one born of a woman has yet appeared who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the lowliest in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

For, when John came, neither eating nor drinking, men said 'He has a demon in him';

"Have not you read," replied Jesus, "what David did, when he and his companions were hungry--

How he went into the House of God, and how they ate the consecrated bread, through it was not allowable for him or his companions to eat it, but only for the priests?

And there he saw a man with a withered hand. Some people asked Jesus whether it was allowable to work a cure on the Sabbath- -so that they might have a charge to bring against him.

But Jesus said to them: "Which of you, if he had only one sheep, and that sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath, would not lay hold of it and pull it out?

And how much more precious a man is than a sheep! Therefore it is allowable to do good on the Sabbath."

Then he said to the man. "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out; and it had become as sound as the other.

Jesus, however, became aware of it, and went away from that place. A number of people followed him, and he cured them all;

but he warned them not to make him known,

'Behold! the Servant of my Choice, My Beloved, in whom my heart delights! I will breathe my spirit upon him, And he shall announce a time of judgment to the Gentiles.

He shall not contend, nor cry aloud, Neither shall any one hear his voice in the streets;

A bruised reed he will not break, And a smoldering wick he will not quench, Till he has brought the judgment to a victorious issue,

Then some people brought to Jesus a possessed man, who was blind and dumb; and he cured him, so that the man who had been dumb both talked and saw.

But the Pharisees heard of it and said: "He drives out demons only by the help of Baal-zebub the chief of the demons."

So, if Satan drives Satan out, he must be divided against himself; and how, then, can his kingdom last?

How, again, can any one get into a strong man's house and carry off his goods, without first securing him? And not till then will he plunder his house.

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not help me to gather is scattering.

You brood of vipers! how can you, evil as you are, say anything good? For what fills the heart will rise to the lips.

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside, asking to speak to him.