Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

that, as touching the matters which thou hadst been taught by word of mouth, thou mightest obtain full knowledge, of the certainty.

and they had no child, inasmuch as Elizabeth was barren, and, both, had become, advanced in their days.

And it came to pass, as he fulfilled his priestly service before God in the order of his course,

as was the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense [on the altar of incense].

And, as it was the Hour of Incense, the people were all praying outside.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to him as he was standing on the right of the altar of incense.

And as he saw him Zachariah was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the messenger said unto him - Do not fear, Zachariah! Inasmuch as thy supplication hath been hearkened to, - and, thy wife Elizabeth, shall bring forth a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name, John;

he shall appear as a divine messenger. he shall drink neither wine, nor any other strong liquor: he shall be filled with the holy spirit, even from his infancy:

And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him."

Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well."

And the messenger, answering, said unto him - I, am Gabriel, - he that standeth near before God; and have been sent forth to speak unto thee, and to deliver the joyful message unto thee, as touching these things.

And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

But she was troubled at the saying, and was deliberating as to what kind of salutation this might be.

Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man?”

even your cousin Elizabeth, as old as she is, is become pregnant with a son: she, who was stiled barren, is now in her sixth month;

And Mary said: I am the servant of the Lord; may it be to me as you say. And the angel went away.

And it came to pass, as Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

Then she spoke out in a loud voice and said, " [Mary], you are [truly] blessed [from] among [all] women, and the child you will bear [i.e., Jesus] is blessed [as well].

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

(As He said to our forefathers), He has helped His servants, the Israelites, [showing] that He remembered to be merciful

As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

And they made signs to his father as to what he might wish it to be called.

And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished.

As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.

through the bowels of mercy of our God; with which he hath visited us, as the dawn of the morning from on high,

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.

and as Joseph belonged to the house and family of David he went up from Galilee to Judaea, from the town of Nazaret to David's town called Bethlehem,

to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him as his wife, she being great with child.

she gave birth to her firstborn son, and as there was no room for them inside the khan she wrapped him up and laid him in a stall for cattle.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.

Now, when they beheld, they made known concerning the thing which had been told them as to this child.

and as for Mary, she treasured it all up and mused upon it.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

And when eight days were completed for circumcising him, his name was called Jesus, as it had been called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb.

Now when the period of their purification ended, in accordance with the law of Moses, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, to do as it is written in the law of the Lord,

(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

And they also offered a sacrifice as commanded in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons."

And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and as the parents brought in the child Jesus that they might do for him according to the custom of the law,

Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said;

but Symeon blessed them, and to his mother Mary he said, "This child is destined for the downfall as well as for the rise of many a one in Israel; destined to be a Sign for man's attack ??35 to bring out the secret aims of many a heart. And your own soul will be pierced by a spear."

Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed -- and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!"

and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the [area of the] temple, but was serving and worshiping night and day with fastings and prayers.

Then, as soon as they had accomplished all that the Law required, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the Feast;

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

And then, as they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching everywhere for him.

And all of them who heard Him were amazed at His understanding [i.e., of spiritual matters] and His answers [to questions they would ask Him].

And He answered, “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and did as he was ordered: and his mother kept all these words in her heart.

And as Jesus grew older He gained in both wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.

As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Therefore produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]. And do not even begin to say to yourselves [as a defense], ‘We have Abraham for our father [and so our heritage assures us of salvation]’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham [for God can replace the unrepentant, regardless of their heritage, with those who are obedient].

The crowds would ask him, "Then what ought we to do?"

Some soldiers asked him, “And what about us, what are we to do?” And he replied to them, “Do not extort money from anyone or harass or blackmail anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

he answered the question by saying to them all, "As for me, I am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose very sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So then indeed, as to many things and various, he exhorted, and continued telling his glad-message unto the people.

But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him as to Herodias, the wife of his brother, and as to all the wicked things which Herod had done,

When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As He was praying, heaven opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

And as soon as the devil had ended all his temptations, he departed from him for a season.

And He was honored by everyone [as] He taught in their [Jewish] synagogues.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah),
Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy),

then he closed the book, and returning it to the minister, he sat down: and as the eyes of the whole synagogue were fix'd with attention upon him,

He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

And he said unto them, 'Certainly ye will say to me this simile, Physician, heal thyself; as great things as we heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country;'

And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things;

And, rising up, they thrust him forth outside the city, and led him as far as a brow of the hill on which their city was built, - so that they might throw him down headlong.

All were amazed, and began to ask one another, saying. "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out."

And having risen out of the synagogue, he entered into the house of Simon, and the mother-in-law of Simon was pressed with a great fever, and they did ask him about her,

And when the sun went down, all, as many as had persons sick with divers diseases, brought them to him, and having laid his hands on every one of them, he healed them;

From many people daemons were also driven out, clamouring aloud, "You are God's son!" But he checked them and refused to let them say anything, as they knew he was the Christ.

As soon as it was day, he departed and went away into a desert place, and the people sought him and came to him, and kept him that he should not depart from them.

He answered them, "I must preach the glad news of the Reign of God to the other towns as well, for that is what I was sent to do."

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

And as He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a haul.

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were [at the point of] breaking;

and they beckoned to their comrades in another ship, having come to assist them, And they came, and filled both ships, so as to sink them.

at sight of this, Simon Peter fell on his knees before Jesus, and said, Lord, withdraw from such a sinful man as I:

as was the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedaeus, who were partners of Simon. Then said Jesus to Simon, "Have no fear; from now your catch will be men."

After they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].

And it came to pass as he was in one of the cities, that behold, there was a man full of leprosy, and seeing Jesus, falling upon his face, he besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me.

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

And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

And as they could find no way to get him in, on account of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his mat through the tiles, among the people in front of Jesus.

After this Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].”

This led the Pharisees and Scribes of their party to expostulate with His disciples and ask, "Why are you eating and drinking with these tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"

I came not to call saints, but sinners to repentance. Then they ask'd him, how comes it that John's disciples,

Again they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and pray, as do also those of the pharisees; but yours eat and drink."