But just as this thought occurred to him, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for it is through the influence of the Holy Spirit that she has become an expectant mother.

Now all this occurred to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

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."

he stayed there until Herod's death, so as to fulfill what the Lord had said by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my Son."

and said, "Wake up, tenderly take the child and His mother, and make the trip to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."

But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there; and because he was divinely warned in a dream, he set out for the region of Galilee.

This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, when he said: "Here is a voice of one who shouts in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; Make the paths straight for him.'"

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?

and a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am delighted!"

And the tempter came up and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn to bread."

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.'"

Jesus said to him, "Again the Scripture says, 'You must not try the Lord your God.'"

and said to Him, "Every bit of this I will give to you, if you will fall on your knees and worship me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For the Scripture says, 'You must worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone.'"

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He set out for Galilee.

He said to them, "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men."

So great crowds followed Him, from Galilee and Decapolis, from Jerusalem and Judea, and from the other side of Jordan.

When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. After He had taken His seat, His disciples came up to Him.

"Do not suppose that I have come to set aside the law or the prophets.

I have not come to set them aside but to fill them up to the brim. For I solemnly say to you, heaven and earth would sooner pass away than the dotting of an 'i' or the crossing of a 't' from the law, until it all becomes in force.

"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will have to answer to the court.'

"You have heard it was said, 'You must not commit adultery.'

"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not swear falsely, but you must perform your oaths as a religious duty.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

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,

And a leper came up to Him, and prostrated himself before Him, and said, "Lord, if you choose to, you can cure me."

Then He put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I do choose to; be cured." And at once his leprosy was cured.

Then Jesus said to him, "See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and, to testify to the people, make the offering that Moses prescribed."

He said to him, "I will come and cure him."

When Jesus heard it, He was astounded, and said to His followers, "I solemnly say to you, I have not found, in a single case among the Jews, so great faith as this.

Then Jesus said to the captain, "Go; it must be done for you as you have believed." And his servant-boy was cured that very hour.

Now Jesus, because He saw a crowd about Him, gave orders to cross to the other side.

And a scribe came up and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you may go."

And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, even wild birds have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go back and bury my father."

And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

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

And He said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you with little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

And the men were dumbfounded, and said, "What sort of man is this, for even the winds and the sea obey Him!"

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 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 He got into a boat and crossed to the other side, and went into His home town.

And all at once some men were bringing to Him a paralyzed man, lying on a couch. And because He saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Cheer up, my child, your sins are forgiven."

Then some of the scribes said to themselves, "He is a blasphemer."

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said, "Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the paralyzed man, He said to Him -- "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home."

And as He was passing along from there, He saw a man named Matthew in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Him.

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

And when He heard it, He said, "It is not well, but sick people that have to send for a doctor.

Then John's disciples went up to Him, and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees practice fasting, but your disciples do not?"

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.

And just as He was saying these things to them, an official came up and fell on his knees before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand upon her and she will come to life."

And Jesus, on turning and seeing her, said, "Cheer up, my daughter! Your faith has cured you." And from that moment the woman was well.

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."

Then He touched their eyes, and said, "In accordance with your faith it must be done for you."

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the reapers are scarce.

Into whatever town or village you go, inquire for some deserving person, and stay at his house until you leave the place.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,

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

At that time Jesus said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing these matters from wise and learned men, and for revealing them to little children.

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!"

But He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he and his soldiers became hungry?

But He said to them, "What man is there among you, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a ditch on the sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?

Then He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and it was cured so that it became like the other.

On His name the heathen will set their hopes."

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."

But because He knew their thoughts, He said to them, "Any kingdom that is not united is in the process of destruction, and any city or family that is not united cannot last.

And with a gesture toward His disciples He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.

and as he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up,

When anyone hears the message of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and carries off the seed that was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

He told them another story, as follows: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field.

But while the world was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed wild wheat seed in the midst of the good seed, and went away.

And the farmer's slaves came up to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where did the wild wheat plants come from?'

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

And he said, 'No, never, for while you are gathering the wild wheat plants you might root up the good ones with them.

He told them this story, as follows: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.

Then He left the crowds and went into His house. And His disciples came up to Him and said, "Explain to us the story of the wild wheat in the field."

And He answered: "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man;

the field is the world; the good seed are the members of the kingdom; the wild wheat seed are the followers of the wicked one.

which, when it was full, the fishermen drew up on the shore, and sat down and picked out the good fish for their baskets and threw the bad away.

He said to them, "Every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who can bring out of his storeroom new furnishings as well as old."

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

and said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and that is why the powers are at work through him."

for John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have her as wife."

And she, prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head right here on a platter."

But when it was evening, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a destitute place, and the day is over; send the crowds off to the villages to buy themselves food."

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."

He said, "Bring them here to me."

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 He at once had the disciples get into the boat and cross to the other side ahead of Him, while He dismissed the crowds.

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 He said, "Come." And Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water, and he went toward Jesus.

Jesus at once put out His hand and caught hold of him, and said to him, "O you of little faith! Why did you waver so?"

And the men in the boat worshiped Him, and said, "You are certainly God's Son."