But the angel said, Have no fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and his name will be John.

And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years.

And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.

Now you will keep silent and be unable to speak until the day when this happens, because you have not believed what I have said, for it will all be fulfilled in due time."

After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said,

it is the Lord, said she, who has thus favour'd me, at the time when he took care to remove the reproach I was under among men.

And the angel came in to her and said, Peace be with you, to whom special grace has been given; the Lord is with you.

But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words?

And the angel said to her, Have no fear, Mary, for you have God's approval.

And Mary said to the angel, How may this be, because I have had no knowledge of a man?

And the angel in answer said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, and so that which will come to birth will be named holy, Son of God.

And consider this, your relative Elizabeth is also pregnant with a son in spite of her old age, and [even though] she was said to be unable to have children, she is now six months along.

For with God, nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.

And Mary said: I am the servant of the Lord; may it be to me as you say. And the angel went away.

And it came to pass when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant in her womb leaped; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; and she spoke with a loud voice and said;

And she said with a loud voice: May blessing be on you among women, and a blessing on the child of your body.

Happy will she be who had faith that the things which the Lord has said to her will be done.

And Mary said: My soul gives glory to God;

(As He said to our forefathers), He has helped His servants, the Israelites, [showing] that He remembered to be merciful

as he said to our fathers, to Abraham and his posterity forever.

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

And they said, Not one of your relations has that name.

And all who had word of them kept them in their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

And his father, Zacharias, was full of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice of a prophet said these words:

"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel," he said, "Because He has not forgotten His people but has effected redemption for them,

(As he said, by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the earliest times,)

When suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them; and they feared with a great fear. The angel said to them.

And the angel said, Have no fear; for truly, I give you good news of great joy which will be for all the people:

And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us.

And when they saw it, they gave them an account of the things which had been said to them about the child.

And all those to whose ears it came were full of wonder at the things said by the keepers of the sheep.

but Mary treasured up all they had said, and pondered over it.

Then the keepers of the sheep went back, giving glory and praise to God for all the things which had come to their ears and which they had seen, as it had been said to them.

and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord: A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.

Then he took him in his arms and gave praise to God and said,

Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said;

And his father and mother were full of wonder at the things which were said about him.

And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;

And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow.

And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? was it not clear to you that my right place was in my Father's house?

And they understood not the thing that he said to them.

However he went down with them to Nazareth, and submitted himself to their control; and his mother treasured all that was said in her heart.

This was in fulfillment of what is said in the writings of the Prophet Isaiah--'The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness: "Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight.

Then said he to the multitudes,

So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

And the crowd began to ask him questions. "What shall we do then?" they asked. In reply he said to them.

And he made answer and said to them, He who has two coats, let him give to him who has not even one; and he who has food, let him do the same.

Then tax-farmers came to him for baptism and said to him, Master, what have we to do?

And he said to them, Do not make an attempt to get more money than the right amount.

And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you.

John answered and said to them all, "I baptise you with water, but a stronger than I cometh after me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose: he will baptise you with the holy ghost, and with fire,

And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

And the Evil One said to him, If you are the Son of God, give orders to this stone to become bread.

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

And the devil led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time, and the devil said to him.

And the Evil One said, I will give you authority over all these, and the glory of them, for it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone at my pleasure.

And Jesus in answer said to him, It has been said in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God, and be his servant only.

And he took him to Jerusalem and put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down from here; for it is said in the Writings,

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 the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and, opening the book, he came on the place where it is said,

Then he said to them, Today this word has come true in your hearing.

And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?

And he said to them, Without doubt you will say to me, Let the medical man make himself well: the things which to our knowledge were done at Capernaum, do them here in your country.

And he said to them, Truly I say to you, No prophet is honoured in his country.

And all who were in the Synagogue were very angry when these things were said to them.

And there was a man in the Synagogue who had an unclean spirit; and he gave a loud cry and said,

And Jesus said to him, Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the evil spirit had put him down on the earth in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no damage.

And wonder came on them all and they said to one another, What are these words? for with authority and power he gives orders to the evil spirits and they come out.

But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent.

And having gone into one of the ships, which was Simon's, he asked him to sail out a little from land. And having sat down, he taught the crowds out of the ship.

And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets.

But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner.

and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Another time when he was in one of their cities, there was a man there full of leprosy. And he, upon seeing Jesus, fell on his face and implored him. "Lord," he said, "if only you choose you can make me clean."

And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.

Then He warned him not to tell anybody, but rather He said, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and, to prove it to the people, make the offering for your purification, just as Moses prescribed."

And seeing their faith, he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

But Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered and said unto them, Why reason ye in your hearts?

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (he said unto him that was palsied), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thy house.

Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today!”

And after these things he went forth, and beheld a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, Follow me.

but the Scribes and Pharisees of that place reproach'd his disciples, and said, why do ye eat and drink with publicans and scandalous people?

And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a physician; but they that are sick.

And they said unto him, The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink.

And Jesus said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old.

But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day?

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and they that were with him;

And he said unto them, The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.

But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man that had his hand withered, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.

And Jesus said unto them, I ask you, Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to destroy it?

And he looked round about on them all, and said unto him, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did'so : and his hand was restored.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

It is too bad for you people when everyone speaks well about you, because the forefathers said the same thing about the false prophets.

And by way of comparison he said to them, can the blind lead the blind without tumbling both into the ditch?

And they went to Jesus and urged him strongly to do it, and said, "He deserves to have you do this for him,

for, they said, He loves our nation, and he has built us a synagogue.

And Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, and said to him: Lord, give thyself no trouble; for I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof.

And when Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned and said unto the multitude that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.