so that you may be reliably informed about the things you have been taught.

They were both upright in the sight of God, blamelessly observing all the Lord's commands and requirements.

When Zechariah saw him he was startled and overcome with fear.

and he will turn many of Israel's descendants to the Lord their God.

Zechariah said to the angel, "How am I to know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in life."

The people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondering that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.

to a maiden there who was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The maiden's name was Mary.

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have gained God's approval.

and he will reign over Jacob's house forever; his reign will have no end."

And Mary said, "I am the Lord's slave. Let it be as you say." Then the angel left her.

and she went to Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe stirred within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the holy Spirit

So Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned home.

Now the time came for Elizabeth's child to be born, and she gave birth to a son.

But they made signs to the child's father and asked him what he wished to have the child named.

and everyone who heard them kept them in mind, and said, "What is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

"Because the heart of our God is merciful, And so the day will dawn upon us from on high,

So everyone went to his own town to register.

When the angels left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Come! Let us go over to Bethlehem, and see this thing that has happened, that the Lord has told us of!"

When they saw this, they told what had been said to them about this child.

It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not die without seeing the Lord's Messiah.

And under the Spirit's influence he went into the Temple, and when Jesus' parents brought him there to do for him what the Law required,

The child's father and mother were astonished at what Symeon said.

And he gave them his blessing, and said to Mary, the child's mother, "This child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a portent that will be much debated??35 you yourself will be pierced to the heart??nd so the thoughts of many minds will be revealed."

And the child grew up and became strong and thoughtful, with God's blessing resting on him.

They supposed that he was somewhere in the party, and traveled until the end of the first day's journey, and then they looked everywhere for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

When his parents saw him they were amazed, and his mother said to him. "My child, why did you treat us like this? Here your father and I have been looking for you, and have been very anxious."

He said to them, "How did you come to look for me? Did you not know that I must be at my Father's house?"

in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, a message from God came to Zechariah's son John in the desert.

as the book of the sermons of the prophet Isaiah says, "Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert, Get the Lord's way ready! Make his paths straight.

And all mankind is to see how God can save!"

So he would say to the crowds that came out there to be baptized by him, "You brood of snakes! Who warned you to fly from the wrath that is coming?

Then produce fruit that will be consistent with your professed repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can produce descendants for Abraham right out of these stones!

As all this aroused people's expectations, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether John was the Christ,

So with many varied exhortations he would preach the good news to the people,

but Herod the governor, whom he condemned because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the wicked things Herod had done,

And the devil said to him, "If you are God's son, tell this stone to turn into bread!"

And he took him to Jerusalem, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down from here,

and, 'They will lift you up with their hands, so that you may never strike your foot against a stone.' "

To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor!"

And they all spoke well of him and were astonished at the winning words that fell from his lips, and they said, "Is he not Joseph's son?"

But, I tell you, there were plenty of widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine all over the land,

"Ha! What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God's Holy One!"

When he got up and left the synagogue, he went to Simon's house. And Simon's mother-in-law was suffering with a severe attack of fever, and they asked him about her.

So he went about Judea, preaching in the synagogues.

Once as the crowd was pressing about him to hear God's message, he happened to be standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,

and he saw two boats on the shore of the lake, for the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

So they did so, and inclosed such a shoal of fish that their nets began to break.

And they signaled to their comrades in the other boat to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Leave me, Master, for I am a sinful man."

and so were Zebedee's sons, James and John, who were Simon's partners. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you are to catch men!"

When he was in one of the towns, he came upon a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus he fell down on his face, and begged him, saying, "If you only choose, sir, you can cure me!"

One day as he was teaching, there were some Pharisees and experts in the Law sitting near by, who had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there, so that he might cure people.

When he saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven!"

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to debate and say, "Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

But Jesus saw what they were discussing, and said to them, "What are you pondering over in your minds?

Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

After this he went out, and he saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me!"

They said to him, "John's disciples observe frequent fasts and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples eat and drink."

And the scribes and the Pharisees were on the watch to see whether he would cure people on the Sabbath, in order to find a charge to bring against him.

And he looked around at them all and said to the man, "Hold out your hand!" And he did so, and his hand was restored.

Why do you keep looking at the speck in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own?

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, just let me get that speck out of your eye,' when you cannot see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First get the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see to get out the speck in your brother's eye.

When the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and save his slave's life.

So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the captain sent some friends to him, to say to him, "Master, do not take any more trouble, for I am not a suitable person to have you under my roof.

That is why I did not think I was fit to come to you. But simply say the word, and have my servant cured.

As he came up to the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out; he was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A crowd of the townspeople was with her.

And when the Master saw her, he pitied her, and said to her, "Do not weep."

John's disciples told him of all this,

When John's messengers were gone, he began to speak to the crowds about John. "What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind?

Then what did you go out there to see? A man luxuriously dressed? Men who wear fine clothes and live in luxury you find in palaces.

Then what did you go out there to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet!

And all the people, even the tax-collectors, when they heard him, acknowledged the justice of God's demands, by accepting baptism from John,

but the Pharisees and experts in the Law thwarted God's purpose for themselves, by refusing to be baptized by him.

So what is there to which I can compare the men of this age? What are they like?

Now that the Son of Man has come, he does eat and drink, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drinker, the companion of tax-collectors and irreligious people!'

So wisdom is vindicated by all who are really wise."

One of the Pharisees asked him to have dinner with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

Now there was a woman in the town who was leading a sinful life, and when she learned that he was having dinner at the Pharisee's house, she got an alabaster flask of perfume,

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were really a prophet, he would know who and what the woman is who is touching him, for she leads a wicked life."

Jesus answered him, and said to him, "Simon, there is something I want to say to you." He said, "Proceed, Master."

And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little."

The men at table with him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man, who even forgives sins?"

and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them with their means.

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the path and was trodden on, and the wild birds ate it up.

And he said, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but they are given to others in the form of figures, so that they may look and yet not see, and hear and yet not understand.

This is what the figure means. The seed is God's message.

The ones by the path are those who hear, and then the devil comes and carries off the message from their hearts, so that they may not believe it and be saved.

"Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a dish or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

So take care how you listen. For people who have will have more given to them, and from people who have nothing, even what they think they have will be taken away."

And the word came to him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you."

He answered, "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's message and obey it!"

So they set sail. As they sailed along, he fell asleep. And a squall of wind came down upon the lake, and they were being swamped and were in peril.

When he saw Jesus he cried out and threw himself down before him, and said in a loud voice, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to torture me!"

Now there was a large drove of pigs feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to give them leave to go into them. And he did so.

When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around.

And the people came out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting there, at Jesus' feet, with his clothes on and in his right mind, and they were frightened.

Jesus said, "Who was it who touched me?" And as everyone denied having done so, Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and they are crowding you."

When the woman saw that she had not escaped his notice, she came forward trembling, and fell down before him, and before all the people told why she had touched him, and how she had been cured at once.