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

It seemed good to me, having made observation, with great care, of the direction of events in their order, to put the facts in writing for you, most noble Theophilus;

that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

And he will go on before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready."

And consider this, you will [have to] remain a mute and be unable to speak until the day when these things happen because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in due time."

When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.

And the messenger, having come in to her said, Hail, thou made acceptable; the Lord with thee: praised thou among women.

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be.

And Mary said, 'Lo, the maid-servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to thy saying,' and the messenger went away from her.

About that time Mary made a hurried trip to a Judean town in the hill country. [Note: This was be the same province in which Jerusalem was located].

And when the voice of Mary came to the ears of Elisabeth, the baby made a sudden move inside her; then Elisabeth was full of the Holy Spirit,

and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord might come unto me?

For, truly, when the sound of your voice came to my ears, the baby in my body made a sudden move for joy.

And she who [has] believed [the promises made by the Lord] is [truly] blessed, for the things which have been spoken to her [i.e., to Mary] by the Lord will [indeed] be fulfilled."

Because He looked on the lowliness of His maid-servant, For, lo, henceforth call me happy shall all the generations,

“He has done mighty deeds with His [powerful] arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.

Those who had no food he made full of good things; the men of wealth he sent away with nothing in their hands;

He hath given help to Israel his servant, That he might remember mercy

according to the promise he made to our ancestors to Abraham and his descendants forever."

A week later they met to circumcise the child, and were about to call him 'Zechariah' after his father,

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

And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

then he made signs for a writing-book, and writ these words, "his name is John:" at which they were all surprized.

and made an impression upon all that heard of them. what a child will this be? said they, for the divine influence does attend him.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and made them free,

and He has made a mighty Saviour for us in the house of His servant David,

according to the antient promise he made by the mouth of the holy prophets,

To show mercy [as He promised] to our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant [the promised blessing],

The oath which he made to Abraham, our father,

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

And the child grew, he became strong in the Spirit and remained in the desert till the day when he made his appearance before Israel.

But it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census should be made of all the habitable world.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

So they made haste and came and found Mary and Joseph, with the babe lying in the manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen in accordance with the announcement made to them.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, that they might do concerning him after the custom of the law,

Which Thou hast made ready in the sight of all nations--

Indeed, a sword will pierce your own soul, too, so that the inner thoughts of many people might be revealed."

And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual to the festival and made their customary stay.

and everyone who heard him was astonished at his intelligence and at the answers he made.

"What made you search for me?" he answered. "Did not you know that I must be in my Father's House?"

Yet his parents did not understand the remark he made to them.

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].

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

the soldiers too made the same demand, how are we to act? he answer'd them, injure no man either by violence or by fraud, and be content with your pay.

But as the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ,

John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

But Herod the king, because John had made a protest on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and other evil things which Herod had done,

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River [i.e., where He had been immersed. See 3:21] and was led by the Holy Spirit [See Matt. 4:1] into the desert.

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

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

Then he led Him up [i.e., to a high mountain. See Matt. 4:8] and showed Him all the world's kingdoms in a fleeting instant.

and the devil said to him, "I will give you all their power and grandeur, for it has been made over to me and I can give it to anyone I choose.

And he took him to Jerusalem, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down from here,

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 there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was made clean except Naaman the Syrian."

And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he made his way through them and went off.

And, rising up, from the synagogue, he went into the house of Simon. Now, the mother-in-law of Simon, was in distress with a great fever; and they made request to him concerning her.

And at sundown all those who had anyone ill with any sort of disease, took them to him, and he put his hands on every one of them and made them well.

When it was day, He went out and made His way to a deserted place. But the crowds were searching for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat.

And when he had made an end of speaking, he said to Simon: Push out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a draught.

And they made signs to their friends in the other boat to come to their help. And they came, and the two boats were so full that they were going down.

For he and all his companions were completely astounded at the catch of fish which they had taken;

As he was going to one of the cities in that country, a man cover'd all over with leprosy happen'd to meet Jesus, and prostrating himself before him, thus address'd him, Lord, if you will, you can cure me.

And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him.

Jesus ordered him to tell no one [that he might happen to meet], “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony (witness) to them [that this is a work of Messiah].”

But news of him went out all the more, in every direction, and great numbers of people came together to give hearing to his words and to be made well from their diseases.

And it came to pass, on one of the days, that, he, was teaching, and there were sitting Pharisees and Teachers of the law, who had come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem; and, the power of the Lord, was there, that he might heal.

And some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus.

And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"??urning to the man who was paralyzed he said to him??"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners?

And no one puts freshly squeezed grape juice into previously used bottles made of animal skins. [If he does], the newly squeezed juice will [crack and] burst the [dried out] animal skins and [all the juice will] spill out, and the animal skin bottles will [also] become useless.

But freshly squeezed grape juice must be put into newly made animal skins.

And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.

And looking round on all of them, he said to him, Put out your hand. And he did so: and his hand was made well.

And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

And the day came and, turning to his disciples, he made a selection from among them of twelve, to whom he gave the name of Apostles;

Matthew [i.e., the same as Levi. See Mark 2:14], Thomas [i.e., the same as Didymus. See John 11:16], James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, called the Zealot [i.e., the same as the Cananean. See Matt. 10:4],

Judas, the son of James [i.e., the same as Thaddaeus. See Matt. 10:3] and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor [to Jesus].

And he came down with them to a level place, and a great band of his disciples, and a very great number of people from all Judaea and Jerusalem and from the parts of Tyre and Sidon by the sea, came to give hearing to him, and to be made well from their diseases;

They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well.

And all the people were desiring to be touched by him, for power came from him and made them all well.

Happy are you who are in need of food now: for you will be made full. Happy are you who are weeping now; for you will be glad.

And if ye lend of whom ye hope to receive back, what grace is to you? for also the sinful lend to the sinful, that they might receive back the like things.

Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged: do not give punishment to others, and you will not get punishment yourselves: make others free, and you will be made free:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

The disciple is not above his teacher; but every one having been made perfect shall be as his teacher.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

And the servant of a certain Centurion was sick, and ready to die, whom he made much of.

and having heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, begging him that he might come and save his bondman.

And they, when they came to Jesus, made their request warmly, saying,