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.

And now you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when this takes place, because you did not believe what I said, though my words will be fulfilled in due course."

After this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and remained in seclusion for five months. She said,

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to take away the reproach under which I have been living."

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.

While Mary treasured up all that they said, and dwelt upon it in her thoughts.

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 that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, 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?

But they did not understand what he said.

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 indeed baptize you with water; but a mightier than I is coming, whose shoes I am not worthy to untie: He will baptize you with the holy Spirit, and with fire;

and the Holy Spirit descended upon him, in a bodily form, like a dove; and there came a voice from heaven, which said: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I delight.

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 Jesus up, and showing him in a single moment all the kingdoms of the earth, 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 to them, I have to give the good news of the kingdom of God in other towns, because that is why I was sent.

And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish.

And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your 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 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of 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.

And He charged him to tell no one: but go, said He, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins.

but Jesus knowing their thoughts, answered and said unto them, What are ye disputing in your hearts?

But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house.

The people, one and all, were lost in amazement, and praised God; and in great awe they said: "We have seen marvelous things to-day!"

After these things He went out and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the custom-house, and said to 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 answered and said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I am not come to call the righteous,

And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John frequently fast and pray, and likewise those of the pharisees; but thine eat and drink?

And He said unto them, Can ye make those 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.

And some of the pharisees said to them, Why do ye do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath-days?

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read what David did, when he himself was hungry and those that were with him? how he went into the house of God,

And He said unto them, the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.

But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man that had the withered hand, Rise, and stand in the midst: and he rose up and stood forth.

Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing, Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to let it be lost?

And looking round upon them all, He said to the man, Stretch out thine hand: and he did so, and his hand was made as sound as the other.

And lifting up his eyes on his disciples He said, Blessed are ye though poor; for the kingdom of God is yours.

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 He said to them by way of parable, Can a blind man guide a blind man? will they not both fall into a ditch?

When they found Jesus, they earnestly implored him to do so. "He is a man who deserves that you should show him this favor," they said,

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, and turning about, said to the multitude that followed Him, I declare unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.

And when the Lord saw her, He was moved with compassion for her, and said to her, Do not weep.