There was in the time of Herod, the king of Judaea, a priest of the name of Zechariah, belonging to the class of Abijah. He had a wife who was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

and the whole multitude of the people were outside praying, at the hour of incense.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; no wine or fermented drink shall he ever drink; but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the very hour of his birth.

So Gabriel went into the house and said to her, "Joy be to you, favoured one! the Lord is with you."

And see, your relative Elizabeth--she also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

"I am the Lord's maidservant," Mary replied; "may it be with me in accordance with your words!" And then the angel left her.

Here she came to the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth;

and as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe leapt within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

And blessed is she who has believed, for the word spoken to her from the Lord shall be fulfilled."

Because He has not turned from His maidservant in her lowly position; For from this time forward all generations will account me happy,

and her neighbours and relatives heard how the Lord had had great compassion on her; and they rejoiced with her.

But while they were there, her full time came,

and she gave birth to her first-born son, and wrapped Him round, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

But Mary treasured up all these things, often dwelling on them in her mind.

There was also Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, belonging to the tribe of Asher. She was of a very great age, having had after her maidenhood seven years of married life,

Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was always obedient to them; but His mother carefully treasured up all these incidents in her memory.

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem and caused Him to stand on the roof of the Temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here; for it is written,

"Doubtless," said He, "you will quote to me the proverb, 'Physician, cure yourself: all that we hear that you have done at Capernaum, do here also in your native place.'"

Now when He rose and left the synagogue He went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from an acute attack of fever; and they consulted Him about her.

Then standing over her He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she at once rose and waited on them.

But all the more the report about Him spread abroad, and great multitudes crowded to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases;

With these He came down till He reached a level place, where there was a great crowd of His disciples, and a multitude of people from every part of Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the sea-side district of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases;

Here the servant of a certain Captain, a man dear to his master, was ill and at the point of death;

And just as He reached the gate of the town, they happened to be bringing out for burial a dead man who was his mother's only son; and she was a widow; and a great number of the townspeople were with her.

The Lord saw her, was moved with pity for her, and said to her, "Do not weep."

Then He answered the messengers, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. Blind men receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are purified, deaf persons hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them.

and, standing behind close to His feet, weeping, began to wet His feet with her tears; and with her hair she wiped the tears away again, while she lovingly kissed His feet and poured the perfume over them.

Then turning towards the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house: you gave me no water for my feet; but she has made my feet wet with her tears, and then wiped the tears away with her hair.

This is the reason why I tell you that her sins, her many sins, are forgiven--because she has loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."

And He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

"To you," He replied, "it is granted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but all others are taught by parables, in order that they may see and yet not see, and may hear and yet not understand.

Be careful, therefore, how you hear; for whoever has anything, to him more shall be given, and whoever has nothing, even that which he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."

"My mother and my brothers," He replied, "are these who hear God's Message and obey it."

Here, on landing, He was met by one of the townsmen who was possessed by demons--for a long time he had not put on any garment, nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs.

And a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with haemorrhage--and had spent on doctors all she had, but none of them had been able to cure her--

came close behind Him and touched the tassel of His robe; and instantly her flow of blood stopped.

The people were all weeping aloud and beating their breasts for her; but He said, "Leave off wailing; for she is not dead, but asleep."

He, however, took her by the hand and called aloud, "Child, awake!"

And her spirit returned, and instantly she stood up; and He directed them to give her some food.

Her parents were astounded; but He forbad them to mention the matter to any one.

And Herod said, "John I have beheaded; but who is this, of whom I hear such reports?" And he sought for an opportunity of seeing Jesus.

Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve came to Him and said, "Send the people away, that they may go to the villages and farms round about and find lodging and a supply of food; because here we are in an uninhabited district."

I tell you truly that there are some of those who stand here who will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Kingdom of God."

And when they were preparing to depart from Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, we are thankful to you that we are here. Let us put up three tents--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what he was saying.

"O unbelieving and perverse generation!" replied Jesus; "how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here to me."

For I tell you that many Prophets and kings have desired to see the things you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things you hear, and have not heard them."

As they pursued their journey He came to a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house.

Martha meanwhile was busy and distracted in waiting at table, and she came and said, "Master, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do all the waiting? Tell her to assist me."

"And he from indoors shall answer, "'Do not pester me. The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children. I cannot get up and give you bread.'

"Nay rather," He replied, "they are blessed who hear God's Message and carefully keep it."

The Queen of the South will awake at the Judgement together with the men of the present generation, and will condemn them; because she came from the extremity of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but mark! One greater than Solomon is here.

There will stand up men of Nineveh at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and mark! One greater than Jonah is here.

The Master however said to him, "Here we see how you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup or plate, while your secret hearts are full of greed and selfishness.

Be you also ready, for at an hour when you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come."

that servant's Master will come on a day when he is not expecting Him and at an hour that he knows not of, and will punish him severely, and make him share the lot of the unfaithful.

father against son and son against father; mother attacking daughter and daughter her mother, mother-in-law her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law her mother-in-law."

where a woman was present who for eighteen years had been a confirmed invalid: she was bent double, and was unable to lift herself to her full height.

But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her, "Woman, you are free from your weakness."

And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to God.

Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in the week on which people ought to work. On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured, and not on the Sabbath day."

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

On the contrary, when you are invited go and take the lowest place, that when your host comes round he may say to you, 'My friend, come up higher.' This will be doing you honour in the presence of all the other guests.

"So the servant came and brought these answers to his master, and they stirred his anger. "'Go out quickly,' he said, 'into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow. You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them all in here.'

And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, and says, "'Congratulate me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.'

"But on coming to himself he said, "'How many of my father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here am dying of hunger!

for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he was lost and has been found.' "And they began to be merry.

He called him and said, "'What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, for I cannot let you hold it any longer.'

"'A hundred firkins of oil,' he replied. "'Here is your account,' said the steward: 'sit down quickly and change it into fifty firkins.'

"To a second he said, "'And how much do you owe?' "'A hundred quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "'Here is your account,' said he: 'change it into eighty quarters.'

Every man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries her when so divorced from her husband commits adultery.

"'Remember, my child,' said Abraham, 'that you had all your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving consolation and you are in agony.

"'They have Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; 'let them hear them.'

Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' --for the Kingdom of God is within you."

And they will say to you, 'See there!' 'See here!' Do not start off and go in pursuit.

yet because she annoys me I will give her justice, to prevent her from constantly coming to pester me.'"

And the Lord said, "Hear those words of the unjust judge.

Zacchaeus however stood up, and addressing the Lord said, "Here and now, Master, I give half my property to the poor, and if I have unjustly exacted money from any man, I pledge myself to repay to him four times the amount."

"The next came. "'Sir,' he said, 'here is your pound, which I have kept wrapt up in a cloth.

But as for those enemies of mine who were unwilling that I should become their king, bring them here, and cut them to pieces in my presence.'"

saying to them, "Go into the village facing you. On entering it you will find an ass's foal tied up which no one has ever yet ridden: untie it, and bring it here.

"But when the vine-dressers saw him, they discussed the matter with one another, and said, "'This is the heir: let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'

There was nothing here that they could lay hold of before the people, and marvelling at His answer they said no more.

The second and the third also took her;

The woman, then--at the Resurrection--whose wife shall she be? for they all seven married her."

For from what they could well spare they have all of them contributed to the offerings, but she in her need has thrown in all she had to live on."

"As to these things which you now admire, the time is coming when there will not be one stone left here upon another which will not be pulled down."

But when you hear of wars and turmoils, be not afraid; for these things must happen first, but the end does not come immediately."

and yet not a hair of your heads shall perish.

"But when you see Jerusalem with armies encamping round her on every side, then be certain that her overthrow is close at hand.

"Master, here are two swords," they exclaimed. "That is enough," He replied.

While day after day I was with you in the Temple, you did not lay hands upon me; but to you belongs this hour--and the power of darkness."

After an interval of about an hour some one else stoutly maintained: "Certainly this fellow also was with him, for in fact he is a Galilaean."

He is not here. He has come back to life. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

So they rose and without an hour's delay returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven and the rest met together, who said to them,

But, while they still could not believe it for joy and were full of astonishment, He asked them, "Have you any food here?"