They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

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.”

The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

And Mary said:
“My soul exalts the Lord,

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.”

To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—

When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.”

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?”

And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

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

Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

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.

But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

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 some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him.

Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

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.”

After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

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.

And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”

After looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.

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.”

When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.”

And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’”

At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.

And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

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.”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

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.

Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

“The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up.

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

Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.

Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

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.

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.

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

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.

And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.”

And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.

And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.”

But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.”

And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

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

And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.

Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city.

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,

Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see Him.

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.”

(For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each.”

They did so, and had them all sit down.

Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people.

They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”

And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying.

And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,

But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side,

and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.”

But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”