Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar; Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Aram,

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab; Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth; Obed the father of Jesse,

Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife;

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus who is called the Christ.

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.

But her husband, Joseph, because he was an upright man and did not want to disgrace her, decided to break the engagement by secretly divorcing her.

Now when Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judea in the days of King Herod, stargazers came from the East to Jerusalem

Now when King Herod heard of it, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

So he called together all the high priests and scribes of the people, and anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.

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.

Then Herod, because he saw that a trick had been played on him by the stargazers, was very angry, and sent and slaughtered all the boy babies in Bethlehem and in all that neighborhood, from two years down, in accordance with the time which he had found out from the stargazers.

Then the saying was fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

"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."

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.

He went to a town called Nazareth and made his home there, so that the saying of the prophet was fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

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.'"

This very John had his clothing made of camel's hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist; his food was dried locusts and wild honey.

And as soon as Jesus was baptized, He at once went up out of the water, and look! the heavens opened, and John saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove upon Him,

Then Jesus was guided by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.

to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

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 as He was going on from that point, He saw two others, brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, getting their nets in order; and He called them.

"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.'

But whenever you, follower of mine, fast, perfume your head and wash your face,

but I tell you, not even Solomon, in all his gorgeous splendor, was ever dressed up like a single one of these.

Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, was it not in your name that we prophesied, and in your name that we drove out demons, and in your name that we did many wonder-works?'

And the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed, and the wreck of it was complete."

When Jesus had closed this address, the result was that the crowds were dumbfounded at His teaching,

for He was teaching them as one who had authority to teach, and not as their scribes did.

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

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.

and so fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, "He took our sicknesses and bore away our diseases."

And suddenly a furious storm came up, so that the boat was being covered over by the bursting billows, but He kept on sleeping.

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.

Now there was not far from there a large drove of hogs feeding.

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.

While He was at table in the house many tax-collectors and notorious sinners came in and took their seats at table with Jesus and His disciples.

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.

As Jesus was passing along from there, two blind men followed Him, shouting, "Do pity us, O Son of David!"

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,

and after the demon had been driven out, the dumb man could talk. So the crowds were dumbfounded, saying, "Never before among the Jews was anything like this?

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

Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who was named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John,

"Are you the One who was to come, or should we keep on looking for a different one?"

and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is the Elijah who was to come.

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?"

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.

At that time some people brought to Him a man under the power of demons, who was blind and dumb, and He cured him, so that the dumb man could talk and see.

For as Jonah was in the whale's stomach for three days and nights, the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the heart of the earth.

While He was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers had taken their stand outside, trying hard to get to speak to Him.

That same day Jesus went out of His house and was sitting on the seashore.

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

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.

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.

And what was sown upon the thin rocky soil illustrates the man who hears the message and bubbling over with joy at once accepts it,

And what was sown among the thorns illustrates the man who hears the message, and the worries of the times and the pleasures of being rich choke the truth out, and he yields no fruit.

And what was sown in rich soil illustrates the man who hears the message and understands it, and yields fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, another thirty-fold."

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

to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in stories, I will utter truths concealed since creation."

"The kingdom of heaven is like a pot of gold which was buried in a field, which a man found and buried again; and for joy over it he went and sold all he had and bought that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a gem-dealer who was looking for beautiful pearls.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was let down into the sea, and gathered fish of every kind,

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.

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

But when Herod's birthday came, Herodias' daughter danced before the guests. Herod was fascinated by her,

And the king was sorry, but on account of his oath and his guests, he ordered it to be given her.

And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.

So when He got out of the boat and saw a great crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, and He cured their sick people.

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."

After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up the hill alone to pray. And after the evening came on, He was there alone,

but the boat was already a long way from shore, and was being tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.

But when he felt the wind, he was frightened, and as he began to go down, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, wonderful is your faith! You must have what you want." And her daughter was cured at that very moment.

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 He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

It was just after that that Jesus Christ for the first time clearly taught His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem and submit to many forms of suffering at the hands of the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be killed, but be raised to life on the third day.

And in their presence His appearance was changed and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes turned as white as light.

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud cast its shadow over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am delighted. Keep on listening to Him!"

And Jesus reproved the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured that very moment.

And when he began, a man was brought to him who owed him ten million dollars.

And his master's heart was moved with pity, and he let the slave go free with his debt cancelled.

And the master was enraged and turned him over to the official torturers, until he should pay the whole debt.

He answered them, "It was because of your moral perversity that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not so from the beginning.

And as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside, and said to them while on the road,

And two blind men sitting by the roadside heard that Jesus was passing and cried out, "Do pity us, Lord, you Son of David!"

Then Jesus' heart was moved with pity, and He touched their blinded eyes, and at once they could see again, and followed Him.

Now this occurred to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

When He came into Jerusalem, the whole city was trembling with excitement, and asking, "Who is He?"

And when He had come into the temple, the high priests and elders of the people came up to Him while He was teaching, and asked, "What sort of authority have you for doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

"But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons, He came to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in my vineyard today.'