In order that you may be able to satisfy yourself of the accuracy of the story which you have heard from the lips of others.]

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

For listen, when I heard your voice greeting me, the baby in my womb "kicked" for joy.

blessed is she that has believed; for what she has heard from the Lord, shall be accomplished."

And Mary said, "My heart extols the Lord,

He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart.

And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise (the Messiah) from on high will dawn and visit us,

And, lo, the angel of the Lord stood hard by them, and the brightness of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

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 Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;

(And a sword will go through your heart;) so that the secret thoughts of men may come to light.

And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

And when they saw him, they were struck with surprise; and his mother said to him, Son, why hast thou behaved to us in this manner? lo! thy father and I have been seeking thee in anguish of heart.

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

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].

But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,

Added to all this, Herod locked John up in prison.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because He did anoint me; To proclaim good news to the poor, Sent me to heal the broken of heart, To proclaim to captives deliverance, And to blind receiving of sight, To send away the bruised with deliverance,

he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled, as you've heard it read aloud."

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

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

And having risen up, they cast him without the city, and they brought him to the brow of the mount upon which their city was built, to hurt him down.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;

And Simon answered [and] said, "Master, [although we] worked hard through the whole night, we caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets."

Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it right on the sabbath to help or to hurt, to save life or to kill?"

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.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

And he that has heard and not done, is like a man who has built a house on the ground without a foundation, on which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the breach of that house was great.

And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Now when the Lord saw her, His heart was moved with pity for her, and so He said to her, "Stop weeping."

Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

Blessed [joyful, spiritually favored] is he who does not take offense at Me.”

And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

And those by the way side are they that have heard; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.

And those on the rock are they who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.

Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.

And Jesus said, "Who [is] the one who touched me?" And [when they] all denied [it], Peter said, "Master, the crowds are pressing you hard and crowding [you]!"

But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;

And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.

And there was a voice from the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear ye Him. And while the voice is heard, Jesus is found alone.

And as the voice was heard Jesus was found alone: and they kept silence, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

And Jesus said, O generation without faith and false in heart, how long will I have to be with you and put up with you? let your son come here.

"{You take these words to heart}, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."

And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

and nothing shall in any wise hurt you.

For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

But a Samaritan, while on a journey, came down to him, and when he saw him, his heart was moved with pity for him.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

who also sitting at the feet of Jesus, heard his discourse. But Martha was incumbered with much serving; and coming to him she said, Lord, dost thou not care, that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

but the Lord said to him. "You Pharisee do cleanse the outside of your cup or plate, but your secret heart is full of extortion and wickedness.

But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you.

But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well, because you weigh men down with burdens [man-made rules, unreasonable requirements] which are hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers [to lighten the load].

When Jesus left the house, the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to press him hard and question him closely upon many subjects,

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God.”

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

"You should try hard to enter [God's kingdom] by means of the narrow door, for I tell you, many people will try to enter it but will not be able to.

The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.

And He said to them, "Go and tell that fox [Note: This is a metaphor signifying the sly, cunning nature of King Herod], 'Look, I am driving out evil spirits and performing [miraculous] healings today and tomorrow, but on the third day I will be finished.'

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

And when he has found it, he lifts it on his shoulder, glad at heart.

I say to you that even so there will be more joy in heaven when one sinner is turned away from his wrongdoing, than for ninety-nine good men, who have no need of a change of heart.

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

Pay attention to yourselves! "If your brother sins, rebuke him [i.e., show him where he is wrong in hope of effecting a change]; and if he repents [i.e., changes his heart and life], forgive him.

Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that at all times they ought to pray and not give up and lose heart,

The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?

And when he heard the crowd passing, he inquired what this might be.

And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

So, He said, "A certain distinguished gentleman went to a distant country to receive a royal appointment [i.e., as king over a territory] and then return. [Note: This is the only parable of Jesus' that correlates with a known incident; that of Herod's son Archelaus going to Rome to receive from Caesar Augustus an appointment to rule over Judea, Samaria and Idumaea in

I was [always] afraid of you, because you are a stern man; you pick up what you did not lay down and you reap what you did not sow.’

He said to the servant, ‘I will judge and condemn you by your own words, you worthless servant! Did you [really] know that I was a stern man, picking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

For days will come upon you and your enemies will put up an embankment against you, and will surround you and press you hard from all directions.

but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were captivated by what they heard.

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

Every one who falls on that stone will be severely hurt, but on whomsoever it falls, he will be utterly crushed."

It will be hard for women who are with child, and for her with a baby at the breast, in those days. For great trouble will come on the land, and wrath on this people.

men fainting at heart from fear, and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.