And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years."

And the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.

But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he made signs to them and remained speechless.

After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying,

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

And he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."

For with God nothing will be impossible."

For behold, as soon as the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.

for he has regarded the lowly state of his servant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son.

And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled.

And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea;

and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people,

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways,

And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.

And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.

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

For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,

for my eyes have seen your salvation

a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel."

Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against

and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, but worshipped with fasting and prayer night and day.

And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

And even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but one mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the other evil things Herod had done,

being tempted for forty days by the devil. In those days he ate nothing, and when they had ended, he was hungry.

And he said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

for it is written: 'He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,'

And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.

And they were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"

but he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because I was sent for this purpose."

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch."

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;

And he charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."

One day as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal.

And no one after drinking old wine desires the new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

how he entered the house of God, took and ate the consecrated bread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?"

And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came from him and healed them all.

He lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much back.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the ungrateful and evil.

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,

for he loves our nation, and has built us our synagogue."

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

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

Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us;" and "God has visited his people."

And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?"

When the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?'"

But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.'

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

Then he turned toward the woman and 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 the hair of her head.

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little."

and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means.

And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."

When he stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but in the tombs.

For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many times it had seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

Then all the people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.

"Return to your home, and tell how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the people pressed round him.

And a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years and could not be healed by anyone,

But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me."

Now all were wailing and mourning for her; but he said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."

And he said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.

Now the day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, "Send the crowd away, to go to the surrounding villages and country, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place."