"By what proof," asked Zechariah, "shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far advanced in years."

"Thus has the Lord dealt with me," she said, "now that He has graciously taken away my reproach among men."

to a maiden betrothed to a man of the name of Joseph, a descendant of David. The maiden's name was Mary.

He has cast monarchs down from their thrones, And exalted men of low estate.

"Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace among men who please Him!"

Now there was a man in Jerusalem of the name of Symeon, an upright and God-fearing man, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,

And as Jesus grew older He gained in both wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

"Let the man who has two coats," he answered, "give one to the man who has none; and let the man who has food share it with others."

Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David,

"It is written," replied Jesus, "'It is not on bread alone that a man shall live.'"

But in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of a foul demon. In a loud voice he cried out,

But Jesus rebuked the demon. "Silence!" He exclaimed; "come out of him." Upon this, the demon hurled the man into the midst of them, and came out of him without doing him any harm.

He, however, saw two fishing-boats drawn up on the beach (for the men had gone away from them and were washing the nets)

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master, leave my boat, for I am a sinful man."

On another occasion, when He was in one of the towns, there was a man there covered with leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, threw himself at His feet and implored Him, saying, "Sir, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

And a party of men came carrying a palsied man on a bed, and they endeavoured to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.

But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --Turning to the paralytic He said, "I bid you, Rise, take up your bed, and go home."

But Jesus replied to them, "It is not men in good health who require a physician, but the sick.

"The Son of Man," He added, "is Lord of the Sabbath also."

On another Sabbath He had gone to the synagogue and was teaching there; and in the congregation was a man whose right arm was withered.

He knew their thoughts, and said to the man with the withered arm, "Rise, and stand there in the middle." And he rose and stood there.

And looking round upon them all He said to the man, "Stretch out your arm." He did so, and the arm was restored.

"Blessed are you when men shall hate you and exclude you from their society and insult you, and spurn your very names as evil things, for the Son of Man's sake.

"But alas for you rich men, because you already have your consolation!

"Alas for you when men shall all have spoken well of you; for that is just the way their forefathers behaved to the false Prophets!

And behave to your fellow men just as you would have them behave to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is it to you? Why, even bad men love those who love them.

And if you are kind to those who are kind to you, what credit is it to you? Even bad men act thus.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is it to you? Even bad men lend to their fellows so as to receive back an equal amount.

He also spoke to them in figurative language. "Can a blind man lead a blind man?" He asked; "would not both fall into the ditch?

Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is not from thorns that men gather figs, nor from the bramble that they can get a bunch of grapes.

A good man from the good stored up in his heart brings out what is good; and an evil man from the evil stored up brings out what is evil; for from the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

He is like a man building a house, who digs and goes deep, and lays the foundation on the rock; and when a flood comes, the torrent bursts upon that house, but is unable to shake it, because it is securely built.

But he who has heard and not practised is like a man who has built a house upon the soft soil without a foundation, against which the torrent bursts, and immediately it collapses, and terrible is the wreck and ruin of that house."

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

and therefore I did not deem myself worthy to come to you. Only speak the word, and let my young man be cured.

For I too am a man obedient to authority, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this or that,' and he does it."

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.

Then He went close and touched the bier, and the bearers halted. "Young man," He said, "I command you, wake!"

The dead man sat up and began to speak; and He restored him to his mother.

The men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this question: 'Are you the Coming One, or is there another that we are to expect?'"

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.

But what did you go out to see? A man wearing luxurious clothes? People who are gorgeously dressed and live in luxury are found in palaces.

John is the man about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending My messenger before thy face, and he shall make ready thy way before thee.'

"To what then shall I compare the men of the present generation, and what do they resemble?

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, there is a man who is overfond of eating and drinking--he is a friend of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners!'

Noticing this, the Pharisee, His host, said to himself, "This man, if he were really a Prophet, would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him--and would know that she is an immoral woman."

"There were once two men in debt to one money-lender," said Jesus; "one owed him five hundred shillings and the other fifty.

Then the other guests began to say to themselves, "Who can this man be who even forgives sins?"

For already He had been commanding the foul spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized and held him, and they had repeatedly put him in chains and fetters and kept guard over him, but he used to break the chains to pieces, and, impelled by the demon, to escape into the Desert.

The demons came out of the man and left him, and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed violently over the cliff into the Lake and were drowned.

whereupon the people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were terrified.

But the man from whom the demons had gone out earnestly asked permission to go with Him; but He sent him away.

Just then there came a man named Jair, a Warden of the Synagogue, who threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and entreated Him to come to his house;

And He commanded them, "Take nothing for your journey; neither stick nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have an extra under garment.

and He said, "The Son of Man must suffer much cruelty, be rejected by the Elders and High Priests and Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised to life again."

Why, what benefit is it to a man to have gained the whole world, but to have lost or forfeited his own self.

For whoever shall have been ashamed of me and my teachings, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own and the Father's glory and in that of the holy angels.

And suddenly there were two men conversing with Him, who were Moses and Elijah.

Now Peter and the others were weighed down with sleep; but, keeping themselves awake all through, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him.

and a man from the crowd called out, "Rabbi, I beg you to pity my son, for he is my only child.

"As for you, store these my sayings in your memory; for, before long, the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men."

"Rabbi," replied John, "we have seen a man making use of your name to expel demons; and we forbad him, because he does not come with us."

And, as they proceeded on their way, a man came to Him and said, "I will follow you wherever you go."

"The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

"Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied, "allow me first to go and bury my father."

On that same occasion Jesus was filled by the Holy Spirit with rapturous joy. "I give Thee fervent thanks," He exclaimed, "O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from sages and men of understanding, and hast revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for such has been Thy gracious will.

"'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,'" he replied, "'with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole strength, and thy whole mind; and thy fellow man as much as thyself.'"

But he, desiring to justify himself, said, "But what is meant by my 'fellow man'?"

Jesus replied, "A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among robbers, who after both stripping and beating him went away, leaving him half dead.

"Which of those three seems to you to have acted like a fellow man to him who fell among the robbers?"

for a friend of mine has just come to my house from a distance, and I have nothing for him to eat'?

On once occasion He was expelling a dumb demon; and when the demon was gone out the dumb man could speak, and the people were astonished.

"Whenever a strong man, fully armed and equipped, is guarding his own castle, he enjoys peaceful possession of his property;

"When a foul spirit has left a man, it roams about in the Desert, seeking a resting-place; but, unable to find any, it says, 'I will return to the house I have left;"

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more malignant than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and in the end that man's condition becomes worse than it was at first.

For just as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a token to the present generation.

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.

Foolish men! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

"Alas too for you expounders of the Law!" replied Jesus, "for you load men with cumbrous burdens which you yourselves will not touch with one of your fingers.

"And I tell you that every man who shall have acknowledged me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.

But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

"Moreover every one who shall speak against the Son of Man, may obtain forgiveness; but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never obtain forgiveness.

Just then a man in the crowd appealed to Him. "Rabbi," he said, "tell my brother to give me a share of the inheritance."

"Man," He replied, "who has constituted me a judge or arbitrator over you?"

And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops,

"But God said to him, "'Foolish man, this night your life is demanded from you; and these preparations--for whom shall they be?'

But if God so clothes the vegetation in the fields, that blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, how much more certainly will He clothe you, you men of feeble faith!

and be yourselves like men waiting for their master--on the look-out till he shall return from the wedding feast--that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door instantly.

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

And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said, "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none.

It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost."

As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say, "'Sir, open the door for us' --"'I do not know you,' He answers; 'you are no friends of mine.'

"But He will reply, "'I tell you that you are no friends of mine. Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'

In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.

They gave Him no answer; so He took hold of the man, cured him, and sent him away.

and the man who invited you both will come and will say to you, 'Make room for this guest,' and then you, ashamed, will move to the lowest place.

"A man once gave a great dinner," replied Jesus, "to which he invited a large number of guests.