Seeing that many have attempted to draw up a narrative of the facts which are received with full assurance among us

And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree which fails to yield good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire."

son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor,

With these He came down till He reached a level place, where there was a great crowd of His disciples, and a multitude of people from every part of Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the sea-side district of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases;

"There is no good tree that yields unsound fruit, nor again any unsound tree that yields good fruit.

Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is not from thorns that men gather figs, nor from the bramble that they can get a bunch of grapes.

Here the servant of a certain Captain, a man dear to his master, was ill and at the point of death;

Now when the time drew near for Him to be received up again into Heaven, He proceeded with fixed purpose towards Jerusalem, and sent messengers before Him.

Cure the sick in that town, and tell them, "'The Kingdom of God is now at your door.'

"Alas for thee, Chorazin! Alas for thee, Bethsaida! For had the miracles been performed in Tyre and Sidon which have been performed in you, long ere now they would have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

However, for Tyre and Sidon it will be more endurable at the Judgement than for you.

"And he from indoors shall answer, "'Do not pester me. The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children. I cannot get up and give you bread.'

"So I say to you, 'Ask, and what you ask for shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.'

For every one who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.

and be yourselves like men waiting for their master--on the look-out till he shall return from the wedding feast--that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door instantly.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, do you suppose they had failed in their duty more than all the rest of the people who live in Jerusalem?

And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said, "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none.

So he said to the gardener, "'See, this is the third year I have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find any. Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually wasted?'

It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost."

As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say, "'Sir, open the door for us' --"'I do not know you,' He answers; 'you are no friends of mine.'

"Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means to finish it? --

"'You my dear son,' said the father, 'are always with me, and all that is mine is also yours.

If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the wealth that is tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?

while at his outer door there lay a beggar, Lazarus by name,

"If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed, you might command this black-mulberry-tree, 'Tear up your roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey you.

The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building;

Then He drew the Twelve to Him and said, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the Prophets which refers to the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

So he ran on in front and climbed up a mulberry tree to see Him; for He was about to pass that way.

And He spoke a parable to them. "See," He said, "the fig-tree and all the trees.

But *I* have prayed for *you* that your faith may not fail, and you, when at last you have come back to your true self, must strengthen your brethren."

For if they are doing these things in the case of the green tree, what will be done in that of the dry?"

"Yes, it is true: the Master has come back to life. He has been seen by Simon."