So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

so that you may know for certain the things you were taught.

And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

So the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!

So Mary said, "Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

and entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

So they made signs to the baby's father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son.

Immediately Zechariah's mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, blessing God.

All who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the Lord's hand was indeed with him.

Because of our God's tender mercy the dawn will break upon us from on high

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David.

When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us."

So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger.

When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child,

So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

So Simeon, directed by the Spirit, came into the temple courts, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law,

So the child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him.

So when Joseph and Mary had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day's journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."

But he replied, "Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?"

and all humanity will see the salvation of God.'"

So John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, and don't begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

So the crowds were asking him, "What then should we do?"

But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the evil deeds that he had done,

So Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years old. He was the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

So then, if you will worship me, all this will be yours."

and 'with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time.

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

All were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"

Jesus said to them, "No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself!' and say, 'What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.'"

But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years, and there was a great famine over all the land.

They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

So he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he began to teach the people.

They were all amazed and began to say to one another, "What's happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"

So the news about him spread into all areas of the region.

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.

So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.

So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.

He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear.

So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's business partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came to him who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

So he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.

When Jesus saw their faith he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and walk'?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralyzed man -- "I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher and go home."

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him.

Then they said to him, "John's disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours continue to eat and drink."

So Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

The experts in the law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they could find a reason to accuse him.

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Get up and stand here." So he rose and stood there.

After looking around at them all, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man did so, and his hand was restored.

"But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may be repaid in full.

Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,' while you yourself don't see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

So Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

That is why I did not presume to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed.

For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."

So when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep."

Then he came up and touched the bier, and those who carried it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"

So the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

John's disciples informed him about all these things. So John called two of his disciples

So he answered them, "Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.

When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury are in kings' courts!

What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

(Now all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God's justice, because they had been baptized with John's baptism.

However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!'

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

Now one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

Then when a woman of that town, who was a sinner, learned that Jesus was dining at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfumed oil.

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 kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."

So Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." He replied, "Say it, Teacher."

Then, 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.

But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"

and Joanna the wife of Cuza (Herod's household manager), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds devoured it.

He said, "You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand.

Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

"No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in can see the light.

So listen carefully, for whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."

So he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."

One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, "Let's go across to the other side of the lake." So they set out,

They came and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are about to die!" So he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they died down, and it was calm.

So they sailed over to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.