and inasmuch as I have gone carefully over them all myself from the very beginning, I have decided, O Theophilus, to write them out in order for your excellency,

to let you know the solid truth of what you have been taught.

it fell to him by lot, as was the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense,

the mass of the people all remaining in prayer outside at the hour of incense.

It will be joy and gladness for you, and many will rejoice over his birth:

But you will be silent and unable to speak till the day this happens, because you have not believed what I told you; it will be accomplished, for all that, in due time."

When he did come out he could not speak to them, so they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary; he made signs to them and remained dumb.

At this she was startled; she thought to herself, whatever can this greeting mean?

The angel answered her, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence what is born will be called holy, Son of God.

Mary said, "I am here to serve the Lord. Let it be as you have said." Then the angel went away.

she called out with a loud cry, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

What have I done to have the mother of my Lord come to me?

and on the eighth day came to circumcise the child. They were going to call it by the name of its father Zechariah,

Then they made signs to the father, to find out what he wanted the child to be called,

Instantly his mouth was opened, his tongue loosed, and he spoke out blessing God.

All who heard of it bore it in mind; they said, "Whatever will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was indeed with him.

(This was the first census, and it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

So everyone went to be registered, each at his own town,

There were some shepherds in the district who were out in the fields keeping guard over their flocks by night;

all who heard it were astonished at the story of the shepherds,

and as for Mary, she treasured it all up and mused upon it.

When the eight days had passed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus ??the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb.

(as it is written in the law of the Lord: every male that opens the womb must be considered consecrated to the Lord)

indeed it had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he had seen the Lord messiah.

His father and mother were astonished at these words about him,

but Symeon blessed them, and to his mother Mary he said, "This child is destined for the downfall as well as for the rise of many a one in Israel; destined to be a Sign for man's attack ??35 to bring out the secret aims of many a heart. And your own soul will be pierced by a spear."

and having been a widow for eighty-four years. She was never away from the temple; night and day she worshipped, fasting and praying.

Now at that very hour she came up, and she offered praise to God and spoke of him to all who were on the outlook for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Every year his parents used to travel to Jerusalem at the passover festival;

till all his hearers were amazed at the intelligence of his own answers.

"Why did you look for me?" he said, "Did you not know I had to be at my Father's house?"

But they did not understand what he said.

and he went into all the Jordan-district preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ??4 as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah, The voice of one who cries in the desert, 'Make the way ready for the Lord, level the paths for him.

To the crowds who came out to get baptized by him John said, "You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the coming Wrath?

The axe is lying all ready at the root of the trees; any tree that is not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

The crowds asked him, "Then what are we to do?"

Taxgatherers also came to get baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what are we to do?"

Soldiers also asked him, "And what are we to do?" He said to them, "Never extort money, never lay a false charge, but be content with your pay."

His winnowing-fan is in his hand to purge his threshing-floor, to gather the wheat into his granary and burn the straw with fire unquenchable."

At the outset Jesus was about thirty years of age; he was the son, as people supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli,

the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

and for forty days he was led by the Spirit in the desert, while the devil tempted him. During these days he ate nothing, and when they were over he felt hungry.

Jesus replied to him, "It is written, Man is not to live on bread alone."

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.

If you will worship before me, then it shall all be yours."

Jesus answered him, "It is written, You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone."

for it is written, He will give his angels charge of you,

Jesus answered him, "It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God."

and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah; on opening the book he came upon the place where it was written,

Then, folding up the book, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him,

All spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that came from his lips; they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"

yet Elijah was not sent to any of these, but only to a widow woman at Zarephath in Sidon.

And in Israel there were many lepers in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of these was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

they rose up, put him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, in order to hurl him down.

they were astounded at his teaching, for his word came with authority.

"Ha! Jesus of Nazaret, what business have you with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are God's holy One!"

But Jesus checked it, saying, "Be quiet, come out of him." And after throwing him down before them the daemon did come out of him without doing him any harm.

Then amazement came over them all; they talked it over among themselves, saying, "What does this mean? He orders the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!"

he stood over her and checked the fever, and it left her. Then she instantly got up and ministered to them.

At sunset all who had any people ill with any sort of disease brought them to him; he laid his hands on everyone and healed them.

From many people daemons were also driven out, clamouring aloud, "You are God's son!" But he checked them and refused to let them say anything, as they knew he was the Christ.

When day broke he went away out to a lonely spot, but the crowds made inquiries about him, came to where he was, and tried to keep him from leaving them.

He answered them, "I must preach the glad news of the Reign of God to the other towns as well, for that is what I was sent to do."

So he entered one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the land. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he stopped speaking, he said to Simon, "Push out to the deep water and lower your nets for a take."

Simon replied, "Master, we worked all night and got nothing! However, I will lower the nets at your command."

But when Simon Peter saw it he fell at the knees of Jesus, crying, "Lord, leave me; I am a sinful man."

For amazement had seized him and all his companions at the take of fish they had caught;

So he stretched his hand out and touched him, with the words, "I do choose, be cleansed." And the leprosy at once left him.

Instantly he got up before them, lifted what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

On going outside after this he noticed a taxgatherer called Levi sitting at the tax-office and said to him, "Follow me";

But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with taxgatherers and sinners?"

They said to him, "The disciples of John fast frequently and offer prayers, as do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your adherents eat and drink."

Jesus said to them, "Can you make friends at a wedding fast while the bride groom is beside them?

A time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast at that time."

He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new cloak and sews it on an old cloak; otherwise he will tear the new cloak, and the new piece will not match with the old.

One sabbath it happened that as he was crossing the cornfields his disciples pulled some ears of corn and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

Some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not allowed on the sabbath?"

But Jesus answered them, "And have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry?

He went into the house of God, took the loaves of the Presence and ate them, giving them to his men as well ??bread that no one is allowed to eat except the priests."

He knew what was in their minds; so he told the man with the withered hand, "Rise and stand forward." He rose and stood before them.

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?"

And glancing round at them all in anger he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was quite restored.

This filled them with fury, and they discussed what they could do to Jesus.

It was in these days that he went off to the hillside to pray. He spent the whole night in prayer to God,

Then, raising his eyes he looked at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you poor! the Realm of God is yours.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you! that is just what their fathers did to the false prophets.

If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Why, even sinful men love those who love them.

If you help only those who help you, what merit is that to you? Why, even sinful men do that.

If you only lend to those from whom you hope to get something, what credit is that to you? Even sinful men lend to one another, so as to get a fair return.

give, and you will have ample measure given you ??they will pour into your lap measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over; for the measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to yourselves."

How dare you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,' and you never notice the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see properly to take out the splinter in your brother's eye.

The good man produces good from the good stored in his heart, and the evil man evil from his evil: for a man's mouth utters what his heart is full of.

He is like a man engaged in building a house, who dug deep down and laid his foundation on the rock; when a flood came, the river dashed against that house but could not shake it, for it had been well built.

He who has listened and has not obeyed is like a man who built a house on the earth with no foundation; the river dashed against it and it collapsed at once, and the ruin of that house was great."

When he had finished what he had to say in the hearing of the people, he went into Capharnahum.

Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death;

"for he is a lover of our nation; it was he who built our synagogue."

For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed he said, "I tell you, I have never met faith like this anywhere even in Israel."