During the reign of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

They had no children because Elizabeth was barren and because both of them were getting old.

When Zechariah was serving with his division of priests in God's presence,

he was chosen by lot to go into the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense, according to the custom of the priests.

And the entire congregation of people was praying outside at the time when the incense was burned.

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled, and fear overwhelmed him.

But when he did come out, he was unable to speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them but remained unable to speak.

Now in the sixth month of her pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

And listen! Elizabeth, your relative, has herself conceived a son in her old age, this woman who was rumored to be barren is in her sixth month.

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

How blessed is this woman for believing that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!"

He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And everyone was amazed.

Suddenly, Zechariah could open his mouth, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak and to praise God.

Everyone who heard about it kept thinking what had happened and asked, "What will this child become?" because it was obvious that the hand of the Lord was with him.

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

Now in those days an order was published by Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered.

This was the first registration taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Joseph, too, went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the City of David (called Bethlehem), because he was a descendant of the household and family of David.

He went there to be registered with Mary, who had been promised to him in marriage and was pregnant.

and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no place for them in the guest quarters.

Today your Savior, the Lord Messiah, was born in the City of David.

So they went quickly and found Mary and Joseph with the baby, who was lying in the feeding trough.

After eight days had passed, the infant was circumcised and named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Now a man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. This man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the one who would comfort Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Led by the Spirit, he went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the Law,

Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage,

Just then she came forward and began to thank God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the child continued to grow and to become strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God's favor rested upon him.

When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to the festival as usual.

They thought that he was in their group of travelers. After traveling for a day, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

Now the people were filled with expectation, and all of them were wondering if John was perhaps the Messiah.

When all the people had been baptized, Jesus, too, was baptized. While he was praying, heaven opened,

Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. He was (as legally calculated) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

Then Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

where he was being tempted by the Devil for 40 days. During that time he ate nothing at all, and when they were over he became hungry.

He began to teach in their synagogues and was continuously receiving praise from everyone.

Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When he stood up to read,

the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

I'm telling you the truth there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when it didn't rain for three years and six months and there was a severe famine everywhere in the land.

Yet Elijah wasn't sent to a single one of those widows except to one at Zarephath in Sidon.

There were also many lepers in Israel in the prophet Elisha's time, yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

They got up, forced Jesus out of the city, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their city was built, intending to throw him off.

They were utterly amazed at what he taught, because his message was spoken with authority.

In the synagogue was a man who had a demon. He screamed with a loud voice,

Then Jesus got up to leave the synagogue and went into Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, so they asked Jesus about her.

When the sun was setting, everyone who had any friends suffering from various diseases brought them to him. He placed his hands on each of them and began healing them.

Even demons came out of many people, screaming, "You are the Son of God!" But Jesus rebuked them and ordered them not to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

But he told them, "I have to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God in other cities, because I was sent to do that also."

One day, as the crowd was pressing in on him to listen to God's word, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.

One day, while Jesus was in one of the cities, a man covered with leprosy saw Jesus and fell on his face, begging him, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."

One day, as Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of the Law happened to be sitting nearby. The people had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was present to heal them.

One time Jesus was walking through some grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.

How was it that he went into the house of God, took the Bread of the Presence and ate it, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and then gave some of it to his companions?"

Once, on another Sabbath, Jesus went into a synagogue and began teaching. A man whose right hand was paralyzed was there.

He looked around at all of them and then told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man did so, and his hand was restored to health.

Now it was in those days that Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.

Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the Zealot),

The entire crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing all of them.

But the person who hears what I say but doesn't act on it is like someone who built a house on the ground without any foundation. When the floodwaters pushed against it, that house quickly collapsed, and the resulting destruction of that house was extensive."

There a centurion's servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die.

So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, "Sir, stop troubling yourself, because I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!"

As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.

There was a woman who was a notorious sinner in that city. When she learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume

and knelt at his feet behind him. She was crying and began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet over and over again, anointing them constantly with the perfume.

Now while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from every city, he said in a parable:

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, were trampled on, and birds from the sky ate them up.

But others fell on good soil, and when they came up, they produced 100 times as much as was planted." As he said this, he called out, "Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!"

Jesus was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and want to see you."

So his disciples went to him, woke him up, and kept telling him, "Master! Master! We're going to die!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. They stopped, and there was calm.

When Jesus stepped out on the shore, a man from the city met him. This man was controlled by demons and had not worn clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house but in the tombs.

because Jesus was in the process of ordering the unclean spirit to come out of the man. On many occasions the unclean spirit had seized the man, and though he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, he would break the chains and be driven by the demon into deserted places.

Now a large herd of pigs was grazing there on the hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into those pigs, and he consented to that.

When Jesus came back, the crowd welcomed him, because everyone was expecting him.

because his only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying. While Jesus was on his way, the crowds continued to press in on him.

A woman was there who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. Although she had spent all she had on doctors, no one could heal her.

Jesus asked, "Who touched me?" While everyone was denying it, Peter and those who were with him said, "Master, the crowds are surrounding you and pressing in on you."

While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader's home and told him, "Your daughter is dead. Stop bothering the teacher anymore."

Now everyone was crying and wailing for her. But Jesus said, "Stop crying! She's not dead. She's sleeping."

They laughed and laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening. He was puzzled because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,

As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away to the neighboring villages and farms so they can rest and get some food, because we are here in a deserted place."

One day, while Jesus was praying privately and the disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"

While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes turned dazzling white.

Just as Moses and Elijah were leaving, Peter told Jesus, "Master, it's good that we're here! Let's set up three shelters one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (Peter didn't know what he was saying.)

But while he was saying this, a cloud appeared and surrounded them, and they became terrified as they were being overshadowed by the cloud.

After the voice had spoken, Jesus was alone. The disciples kept silent and at that time told no one about what they had seen.

Even while the boy was coming, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

All the people continued to be amazed at the greatness of God. Indeed, everyone was astonished at all the things Jesus was doing. So he told his disciples,

But they didn't know what this meant. Indeed, the meaning was hidden from them so that they didn't understand it; and they were afraid to ask him about this statement.

John said, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us."

When the days grew closer for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he was determined to continue his journey to Jerusalem.

But the people would not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.

After this, the Lord appointed 70 other disciples and was about to send them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place that he intended to go.

At that moment, the Holy Spirit made Jesus extremely joyful, so Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you.

After careful consideration, Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of bandits. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went by on the other side.

But as he was traveling along, a Samaritan came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he was moved with compassion.