As a number of attempts have been made to put together in order an account of those events which took place among us,

As they were handed down to us by those who saw them from the first and were preachers of the word,

Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God,

And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes.

And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.

And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years.

And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.

And the angel came in to her and said, Peace be with you, to whom special grace has been given; the Lord is with you.

Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.

For there is nothing which God is not able to do.

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

How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?

My spirit is glad in God my Saviour.

For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me.

For he who is strong has done great things for me; and holy is his name.

His mercy is for all generations in whom is the fear of him.

As he gave his word to our fathers.

But his mother made answer and said, No, his name is John.

And he sent for writing materials and put down: His name is John; and they were all surprised.

Lifting up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

(As he said, by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the earliest times,)

Salvation from those who are against us, and from the hands of those who have hate for us;

That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us, might give him worship,

Because of the loving mercies of our God, by which the dawn from heaven has come to us,

For on this day, in the town of David, a Saviour has come to birth, who is Christ the Lord.

And this is the sign to you: you will see a young child folded in linen, in the place where the cattle have their food.

Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace among men with whom he is well pleased.

And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us.

And all those to whose ears it came were full of wonder at the things said by the keepers of the sheep.

Then the keepers of the sheep went back, giving glory and praise to God for all the things which had come to their ears and which they had seen, as it had been said to them.

(As it says in the law of the Lord, Every mother's first male child is to be holy to the Lord),

And to make an offering, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord, of two doves or other young birds.

And there was then in Jerusalem a man whose name was Simeon; and he was an upright man, fearing God and waiting for the comfort of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was on him.

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

And when he was twelve years old, they went up, as their way was, to the feast;

And after three days they came across him in the Temple, seated among the wise men, giving ear to their words and putting questions to them.

And all to whose ears it came were full of wonder at his knowledge and the answers which he gave.

And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow.

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 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 says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight.

So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

Make clear by your acts that your hearts have been changed; and do not say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children of Abraham.

And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; and every tree which does not have good fruit will be cut down and put into the fire.

John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:

In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out.

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

And Jesus made answer to him, It has been said in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need.

And he took him to Jerusalem and put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down from here; for it is said in the Writings,

And Jesus made answer and said to him, It is said in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been as a child, and he went, as his way was, into the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and got up to give a reading.

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and, opening the book, he came on the place where it is said,

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make well those who are broken-hearted; to say that the prisoners will be let go, and the blind will see, and to make the wounded free from their chains,

To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure is come.

And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?

And he said to them, Truly I say to you, No prophet is honoured in his country.

Let us be! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? have you come to put an end to us? I have knowledge who you are, the Holy One of God.

But he said to them, I have to give the good news of the kingdom of God in other towns, because that is why I was sent.

And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken;

And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.

And he gave him orders: Say nothing to any man, but let the priest see you and give an offering so that you may be made clean, as the law of Moses says, and for a witness to them.

And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?

Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?

And Jesus said, Are you able to make the friends of the newly-married man go without food when he is with them?

And no man, having had old wine, has any desire for new, for he says, The old is better.

But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what it is not right to do on the Sabbath?

And he said, The Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath.

And it came about, on another Sabbath, that he went into the Synagogue and was teaching there. And a man was there whose right hand was dead.

But he had knowledge of their thoughts; and he said to the man whose hand was dead, Get up and come into the middle. And he got up and came forward.

And Jesus said, I put the question to you, Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? to give life or to take it away?

And turning his eyes to his disciples he said, Happy are you who are poor: for the kingdom of God is yours.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners do the same.

And if you let those have the use of your money, from whom you are hoping to get it back, what credit is it to you? even sinners do so to sinners, hoping to get back as much as they gave.

But be loving to those who are against you and do them good, and give them your money, not giving up hope, and your reward will be great and you will be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to evil men, and to those who have hard hearts.

Be full of pity, even as your Father is full of pity.

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, crushed down, full and running over, they will give to you. For in the same measure as you give, it will be given to you again.

And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, Is it possible for one blind man to be guide to another? will they not go falling together into a hole?

The disciple is not greater than his master, but everyone whose learning is complete will be like his master.

And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

For every tree is judged by its fruit. Men do not get figs from thorns, or grapes from blackberry plants.

Everyone who comes to me and gives ear to my words and does them, I will make clear to you what he is like:

He is like a man building a house, who went deep and put the base of it on a rock; and when the water came up and the river was driving against that house, it was not moved, because the building was good.

But he who gives hearing, without doing, is like a man building a house on the earth without a base for it; and when the force of the river came against it, straight away it came down; and the destruction of that house was great.

It is right for you to do this for him, because he is a friend to our nation, and himself has put up a Synagogue for us.

And fear came on all, and they gave praise to God, saying, A great prophet is among us: and, God has given thought to his people.

Then John sent two of his disciples to the Lord, saying, Are you he who is to come, or are we waiting for another?

And when the men came to him they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you he who is to come, or are we waiting for another?

At that time, he made a number of people free from their diseases and their pains, and from evil spirits; and to others who were blind he gave back the use of their eyes.

This is he of whom it has been said, See, I send my servant before your face, who will make ready your way before you.

I say to you, Among all the sons of women, not one is greater than John: but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

The Son of man came feasting, and you say, Here is a lover of food and wine, a friend of tax-farmers and sinners.

But wisdom is judged to be right by all her children.

Now when the Pharisee in whose house he was saw it, he said to himself, This man, if he was a prophet, would be conscious what sort of woman this is who has put her hands on him, that she is a sinner.

Simon, in answer, said, It seems he whose debt was greater. And he said, Your decision is right.

And those who were seated at table with him said to themselves, Who is this who even gives forgiveness of sins?

And some falling on good earth, came up and gave fruit a hundred times as much. And with these words he said in a loud voice, He who has ears, let him give ear.

And he said, To you is given knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to the others, they are given in stories, so that seeing, they may not see, and though they give hearing, the sense will not be clear to them.