They were both just in the sight of God, blameless in their obedience to all the commands and regulations of God;

And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

but the angel said to him, "Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard; your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you must call his name John.

for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, he will drink neither wine nor strong drink, he will be filled with the holy Spirit from his very birth;

Zechariah said to the angel, "But how am I to be sure of this? I am an old man myself, and my wife is advanced in years."

"The Lord has done this for me," she said, "he has now deigned to remove my reproach among men."

The angel went in and said to her, "Hail, O favoured one! the Lord be with you!"

But the angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, you have found favour with God.

"How can this be?" said Mary to the angel, "I have no husband."

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

Then Mary said "My soul magnifies the Lord,

They said to her, "None of your family is called by that name."

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.

to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our steps into the way of peace."

but the angel said to them, "Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the People.

Now when the angels had left them and gone away to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us be off to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has told us of."

then Symeon took him in his arms, blessed God, and said,

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."

When his parents saw him they were astounded, and his mother said to him, "My son, why have you behaved like this to us? Here have your father and I been looking for you anxiously!"

"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.

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?

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

He said to them, "Never exact more than your fixed rate."

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."

John said to them all, "I baptize you with water, but after me one who is mightier will come, and I am not fit to untie the string of his sandals; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.

The devil said to him, "If you are God's son, tell this stone to become a loaf."

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.

Then he brought him to Jerusalem and placing him on the pinnacle of the temple said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down from this;

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

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: for he has consecrated me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release for captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the oppressed,

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?"

So he said to them, "No doubt you will repeat to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' 'Do here in your own country all we have heard you did in Capharnahum.'"

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."

as was the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedaeus, who were partners of Simon. Then said Jesus to Simon, "Have no fear; from now your catch will be men."

One day he was teaching, and near him sat Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judaea as well as from Jerusalem. Now the power of the Lord was present for the work of healing.

When he saw their faith he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

But to let you see the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins" ??he said to the paralysed man, "Rise, I tell you, lift your mattress and go home."

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

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?

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

And he said to them, "The Son of man is Lord even over the sabbath."

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.

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

When they reached Jesus they asked him earnestly to do this. "He deserves to have this favour from you," they said,

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."

And when the Lord saw her, he felt pity for her and said to her, "Do not weep."

Then he went forward and touched the bier; the bearers stopped, and he said, "Young man, I bid you rise."

Then the corpse sat up and began to speak; and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

All were seized with awe and glorified God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said, "God has visited his people."

When the men reached Jesus they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask if you are the Coming One or if we are to look out for someone else?"

Jesus at that moment was healing many people of diseases and complaints and evil spirits; he also bestowed sight on many blind folk.

When his host the Pharisee noticed this, he said to himself, "If he was a prophet he would know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him; for she is a sinner."

Then Jesus addressed him. "Simon," he said, "I have something to say to you." "Speak, teacher," he said.

"I suppose," said Simon, "the man who had most forgiven." "Quite right," he said.

Then turning to the woman he said to Simon, "You see this woman? When I came into your house, you never gave me water for my feet, while she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair;

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

But he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the road and was trampled down, and the wild birds ate it up;

some other seed dropped on the rock, but it withered away when it sprang up because it had no moisture;

some other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up along with it and choked it;

some other seed fell on sound soil, and springing up bore a crop, a hundredfold." When he said this he called out, "He who has an ear, let him listen to this."

so he said, "It is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Reign of God, but the others get it in parables, so that for all their seeing they may not see, and for all their hearing they may not understand.

This is what the parable means. The seed is the word of God.

As for the seed that fell among thorns, that means people who hear but who go and get choked with worries and money and the pleasures of life, so that they never ripen.

As for the seed in the good soil, that means those who hear and hold fast the word in a good and sound heart and so bear fruit stedfastly.

It happened on one of these days that he embarked in a boat alone with his disciples and said to them, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake." So they set sail.

Then he said to them, "Where is your faith?" They marvelled in awe, saying to one another, "Whatever can he be? He gives orders to the very winds and water, and they obey him!"

On catching sight of Jesus he shrieked aloud and prayed him with a loud cry, "Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me? Do not torture me, I beg of you."

So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he said, for a number of daemons had entered him.

Jesus said, "Who touched me?" As everyone denied it, Peter and his companions said, "Master, the crowds are all round you pressing hard!"

Jesus said, "Somebody did touch me, for I felt power had passed from me."

"Daughter," he said to her, "your faith has made you well; depart in peace."

But when Jesus heard it he said to him, "Have no fear, only believe and she shall get well."

Everyone was weeping and bewailing her, but he said, "Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep."

Whatever house you go into, stay there and leave from there.

When Herod the tetrarch heard all that was going on, he was quite at a loss; for some said that John had risen from the dead,

Herod said, "John I beheaded. But who is this, of whom I hear such tales?" And he made efforts to see him.

Now as the day began to decline the twelve came up to him and said, "Send the crowd off to lodge in the villages and farms around and get provisions there, for here we are in a desert place."

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They said, "We have only got five loaves and two fish. Unless ??are we to go and buy food for the whole of this people?"

(There were about five thousand men of them.) He said to his disciples, "Make them lie down in rows of about fifty."

Then taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven he blessed them, broke them in pieces and handed them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

He said to them, "And who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "The Christ of God."

The Son of man, he said, has to endure great suffering, to be rejected by the elders and high priests and scribes, to be killed, and on the third day to be raised.

He said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross day after day, and so follow me;

It was about eight days after he said this, when he took Peter, John, and James, and went up the hillside to pray.

who appeared in a vision of glory and said he must go through with his death and departure at Jerusalem.

When they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is a good thing we are here; let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (not knowing what he was saying).

And all were astounded at this grand display of God. But while all marvelled at all he did, he said to his disciples,

Jesus knew the dispute that occupied their minds, so he took hold of a little child and set it by his side;

then he said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For it is the lowliest of you all who is great."

John said to him, "Master, we saw a man casting out daemons in your name, but we stopped him because he is not a follower of ours."

Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him; he who is not against you is for you."

As the time for his assumption was now due, he set his face for the journey to Jerusalem.

So when the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, will you have us bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

And as they journeyed along the road a man said to him, "I will follow you anywhere."