In the days of King Herod, of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias of the "Abijah" division. He had a wife named Elizabeth who was a descendant of Aaron.

Then all those who lived in the area became afraid; and people were talking about all these things throughout the entire hill country of Judea.

Now it was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler of the regions of Ituraea and Trachonitus [Note: These two men were sons of Herod the Great (See Matt. 2:1) and ruled over provinces east of the Jordan River] and Lysanias was ruler of Abilene [Note: This was a province just north of the two previously mentioned ones].

[During this time], while Annas and Caiaphas [Note: This man was Annas' son-in-law. See John 18:13] were head priests, God's message came to John [the Immerser], son of Zacharias, [when he was] in the desert [of Judea].

who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Semein, who was the son of Josech, who was the son of Joda,

who was the son of Amminadab {{Some ancient manuscripts insert "who was the son of Admim"}}, who was the son of Arni, who was the son of Hezron, who was the son of Perez, who was the son of Judah,

So, He [went and] preached in the [Jewish] synagogues of Judea [also].

And it happened on one of those days [in Capernaum. See Mark 2:1], as He was teaching, that some Pharisees [i.e., a strict sect of the Jewish religion] and teachers of the law of Moses, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, were sitting around [i.e., listening to Him]. And the power of the Lord was with Him, enabling Him to heal people.

And the report of this [incident] about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the entire surrounding district.

And it happened as Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem that He passed along the border between Samaria and Galilee. [Note: These were the next two provinces north of Judea].

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

Then those [of you] in Judea are to run away into the [nearby] mountains. And those who are inside of the city are to leave it [immediately]. And those who are in the countryside should not enter the city.

It will be too bad for pregnant women and those who are nursing [babies] in those days! For there will be great distress in this land [i.e., Judea, and especially Jerusalem], and raging anger [will be shown] against these people [i.e., by the Roman armies].

But the group became more insistent, saying, "He is stirring up the people and teaching [these things] throughout all Judea. He began [doing this] in Galilee and [has continued it] even to this place [i.e., Jerusalem]."