And Zechariah said to the angel, "By what will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced {in years}!"

And the angel answered [and] said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.

But she was greatly perplexed at the statement, and was pondering what sort of greeting this might be.

This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?"

And behold, your relative Elizabeth--she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.

And why [is] this [granted] to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

And they said to her, "There is no one of your relatives who is called by this name."

And all those who heard kept [these things] in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be? For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him!"

(This first registration took place [when] Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

And this will be the sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."

And it happened that when the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began to say to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has revealed to us!"

And [when they] saw [it], they made known the statement that had been told to them about this child.

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem {whose name was} Simeon, and this man [was] righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed--

And [when they] saw him, they were astounded and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have been searching for you anxiously!"

added this also to them all: he also locked up John in prison.

So the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, order this stone that it become bread!"

And the devil said to him, "I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want.

So if you will worship before me, all [this] will be yours."

And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

And they were all speaking well of him, and were astonished at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth. And they were saying, "Is this man not the son of Joseph?"

And he said to them, "Doubtless you will tell me this parable: 'Physician, heal yourself!' Whatever we have heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also!"

And amazement came upon [them] all, and they began to talk with one another, saying, "What word [is] this? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!"

But he said to them, "It is necessary [for] me to proclaim the good news [of] the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this [purpose].

And [when they] did this, they caught a very large number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?"

And Jesus answered [and] said to them, "Have you not read this, what David did when he and those [who were] with him were hungry--

And [when they] came to Jesus, they began imploring him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy [that] you grant this for him,

So Jesus went with them. Now by this time he was not far away from the house, [and] the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come in under my roof.

For this reason neither did I consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my slave must be healed.

For I also am a man placed under authority, who has soldiers under me, and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another one, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does [it]."

And this report about him went out in the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

It is this man about whom it is written: 'Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'

(And all the people, [when they] heard [this]--even the tax collectors--affirmed the righteousness of God, [because they] had been baptized [with] the baptism of John,

"To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

Now [when] the Pharisee who invited him saw [this], he spoke to himself, saying, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman [this is] who is touching him, that she is a sinner."

And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house. You did not give me water for [my] feet, but she wet my feet with [her] tears and wiped [them] with her hair.

{For this reason} I tell you, her sins--[which were] many--have been forgiven, for she loved much. But [the one] to whom little is forgiven loves little."

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

And his disciples asked him what this parable meant.

Now the parable means this: the seed is the word of God,

And he said to them, "Where [is] your faith?" But they were afraid [and] were astonished, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him?"

And behold, a man {who was named} Jairus came, and this man was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at the feet of Jesus [and] began imploring him to come to his house,

But Jesus, [when he] heard [this], replied to him, "Do not be afraid! Only believe, and she will be healed."

And Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he was wanting to see him.

But he warned [and] commanded them to tell this to no one,

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it.

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of this person when he comes in his glory and the [glory] of the Father and of the holy angels.

And a voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, [my] Chosen One. Listen to him!"

But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they could not understand it. And they were afraid to ask him about this statement.

and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all--this one is great."

And into whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace [be] to this household!"

"Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you! Nevertheless know this: that the kingdom of God has come near!"

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are inscribed in heaven."

At [that] same time he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these [things] from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to young children. Yes, Father, for this was pleasing before you.

And he said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live."

But if I expel demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons expel [them]? For this [reason] they will be your judges!

And [as] the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation! It demands a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah!

For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, [something] greater than Solomon [is] here!

The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and behold, [something] greater than Jonah [is] here!

For this [reason] also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and [some] of them they will kill and persecute,'

so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation!

During {this time} [when] a crowd of many thousands had gathered together, so that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware for yourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

But I will show you whom you should fear: fear the one who has authority, after the killing, to throw [you] into hell! Yes, I tell you, fear this one!

And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will gather in there all my grain and possessions.

But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your life is demanded from you, and [the things] which you have prepared--whose will they be?'

And he said to his disciples, "For this [reason] I tell you, do not be anxious for [your] life, what you will eat, or for [your] body, what you will wear.

But if God clothes the grass in the field in this way, [although it] is [here] today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more [will he do so for] you, you of little faith?

Even if he should come back in the second or in the third watch of the night and find [them] like this, blessed are they!

But understand this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

And Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us, or also for everyone?"

Hypocrites! You know how to evaluate the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how [is it] you do not know how to evaluate this present time?

And he told this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find [any].

So he said to the gardener, 'Behold, {for three years} I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find [any]. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?'

But he answered [and] said to him, 'Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on [it].

And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound {eighteen} long years--is it not necessary that she be released from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?"

and the one who invited you {both} will come [and] say to you, 'Give the place to this person,' and then with shame you will begin to take the last place.

And another said, 'I have married a wife, and for this [reason] I am not able to come.'

saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish!'

And both the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!"

So he told them this parable, saying,

because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again! He was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

But when this son of yours returned--who has consumed your assets with prostitutes--you killed the fattened calf for him!'

But it was necessary to celebrate and to rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, and is alive, and was lost, and is found!'"

And he also said to the disciples, "A certain man was rich, who had a manager. And charges were brought to him that this person was squandering his possessions.

And he summoned him [and] said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, because you can no longer manage.'

And the master praised the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are shrewder than the sons of light with regard to their own generation.

And he called out [and] said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he could dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering pain in this flame!'

for I have five brothers, so that he could warn them, in order that they also should not come to this place of torment!'

So the Lord said, "If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Was no one found to turn back [and] give praise to God except this foreigner?"

But first it is necessary [for] him to suffer many [things], and to be rejected by this generation.

yet because this widow is causing trouble for me, I will grant her justice, so that she does not wear me down in the end [by her] coming back!'"

And he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and looked down on {everyone else}:

The Pharisee stood [and] prayed these [things] with reference to himself: 'God, I give thanks to you that I am not like other people--swindlers, unrighteous [people], adulterers, or even like this tax collector!

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than that one! For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

And [when he] heard [this], Jesus said to him, "{You still lack one thing}: Sell all that you have, and distribute [the proceeds] to the poor--and you will have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."