so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah,

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.”

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.

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.

“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

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

And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”

Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ,

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

“Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

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.

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.

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 so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”

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, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.”

And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.

But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.

But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.

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.”

Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.

I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

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

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.”

Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet.

Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.

And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.

Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.

The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

“Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out.

Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain; and the demons implored Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission.

Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.”

Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place.”

But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.”

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.

And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

“No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.

But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.

“I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.

the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,

but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;

for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’

And they could make no reply to this.

and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.