And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

“And His mercy is upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.

And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,

then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.

Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.

When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.”

So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”

And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”

And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done,

and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.

And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.

While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.

Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.

For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.”

And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.

After looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.

And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.

And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof;

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd.

The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

The disciples of John reported to him about all these things.

When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’”

Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”

When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him,

When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable:

Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant.

So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd.

And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.”