In the days when Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest whose name was Zechariah, who belonged to the division of Abijah. His wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both of them were far advanced in years.

Once when he was acting as priest before God, when his division was on duty, it fell to his lot,

When Zechariah saw him, he was agitated, even overwhelmed with fear.

But when the period of his service was over, he went back to his home.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin there engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

But she was agitated at what he said, and began to ponder what this greeting meant.

And listen! your relative, Elizabeth, has herself too become pregnant, although she is old, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

So it was time for Elizabeth to bear a child, and she bore a son.

Then the use of his voice and tongue was at once restored,: and he began to speak, and continued to praise God.

and all who heard them kept them in their hearts, and said, "What then is this child to be?" for the hand of the Lord was with him.

Now his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he uttered the following prophecy:

Now in those days an edict was issued by the Emperor Augustus that a census of the whole world should be taken.

This, the first census, was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

So everyone was going to his own town to register.

And Joseph too went up from Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to the town of David in Judea called Bethlehem, because he was a descendant of the house and family of David,

to register with Mary who was engaged to be married to him and who was an expectant mother.

and she bore her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him up and laid Him in a manger, for there was no room for them at the inn.

And all who heard it were astounded at what was told them by the shepherds,

When He was eight days old and it was time to circumcise Him, He was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before Mary had conceived Him.

Now there was in Jerusalem a man named Symeon, an upright, devout man; he was expecting to see the consolation of Israel, and he was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

There was also a prophetess there, Hannah, a daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher.

She was very old; from girlhood she had lived seven years with a husband, and now had been a widow eighty years. She never left the temple, but continued to worship all day and all night with fastings and prayers.

Now when they had completed everything that was in accordance with the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child continued to grow and gain in strength; He continued to increase in wisdom, and the spiritual blessing of God was on Him.

And when He was twelve years old, they went up as usual to the feast

They supposed that He was somewhere in the caravan, and so they traveled a whole day before they began to make an anxious search for Him among His relatives and acquaintances.

Now everyone who was listening to Him was showing astonishment at His intelligence and at His answers.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was governor of Galilee, and his brother Philip was governor of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was governor of Abilene,

Now while the people were on tiptoe in their expectations, and they were all arguing in their hearts about John whether he was himself the Christ,

But Herod the governor, because he was repeatedly reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the wicked deeds that Herod had done,

Now when all the people had been baptized, and when Jesus had been baptized and was still praying, heaven opened

Now Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His work; He was the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Eli,

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and for forty days He was led about in the desert under the Spirit's guidance,

while He was being tempted by the devil. During that time He ate nothing, and so at the end of it He felt hungry.

Meanwhile He began to teach in their synagogues, and was continuously receiving praise from all.

So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as His habit was on the Sabbath, He went to the synagogue and stood up to read.

The roll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, and He unrolled it and found the place where it was written:

But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the heaven was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine over all the land,

and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha's time, and yet not one of them was cured except Naaman the Syrian."

and they rose up and drove Him out of town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to hurl Him down the cliff.

and they were completely astounded, because His message was spoken with authority.

Now there was a man in the synagogue who was under the power of the spirit of a foul demon, and he screamed with a loud voice,

Then He rose to leave the synagogue, and He went to Simon's house. And Simon's mother-in-law was in the grip of a burning fever; so they asked Him about her.

As the sun was setting, all who had friends sick with various diseases brought them to Him. Then He continued to lay His hands upon them one by one and cured them.

Even demons came out of many people, shrieking and saying, "You are the Son of God!" But He reproved them and would not let them speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

But He said to them, "To other towns also I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for that is what I was sent to do."

Once as the crowd was pressing against Him to hear the message of God, He found Himself standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret.

Now while He was in one of the towns, a man covered with leprosy saw Jesus and fell on his face and begged Him, saying, "Lord, if you choose to, you can cure me."

One day as He was teaching, there were some 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 with Him to cure people.

Now some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to get him in and lay him before Jesus.

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the man who was paralyzed, He said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet, and go home."

Then Levi gave a great reception for Him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others who were at table with them.

How he went into the house of God and took and ate the sacred loaves, which it was against the law for anyone to eat except the priests, and gave some to his soldiers?"

On another Sabbath He found Himself in the synagogue teaching; and there was there a man whose right hand was withered.

Then He glanced around at them all and said to him, "Put out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was at once completely restored.

Now it was in those days that He went up on the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the Zealot,

Then He came down with them and took His stand on a level place, where there was a great throng of His disciples and a vast crowd of people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and the seacoast district of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases.

He is like a man who was building a house, who dug deep, and laid its foundation upon the rock; and when a flood came, the torrent burst upon that house but it could not shake it, because it was well built.

But the man who merely hears them and does not practice them is like a man who built a house upon the ground without a foundation. The torrent burst upon it, and at once it collapsed, and the wreck of that house was complete."

There was a Roman captain who had a slave that was very dear to him, and he was sick and at the point of death,

Then Jesus started to go with them. But when He was not far from the house, the captain sent friends to say to Him, "My Lord, stop troubling yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

When Jesus heard this, He was astounded at him, and turning to the crowd that was following Him He said, "I tell you, I have not found, in a single case among the Jews, so great faith as this!"

As He approached the gate of the town, look, there was being carried out a dead man, his mother's only son, and she was a widow! A considerable crowd of townspeople were with her.

Now when the Lord saw her, His heart was moved with pity for her, and so He said to her, "Stop weeping."

So John called two of them to him and sent them to the Lord, to ask, "Are you the One who was to come, or should we continue to look for someone else?"

So the men went to Him and said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the One who was to come, or should we continue to look for someone else?'"

There was a woman in the town who was a social outcast, and when she learned that He was taking dinner at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster bottle of perfume

and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, who was called Mary of Magdala, out of whom seven demons had gone,

Now as a great crowd was coming together and people were coming to Him from one town after another, He said by way of a story:

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and were trodden down, and the wild birds ate them up.

So it was reported to Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you."

As soon as He stepped out upon the shore, there met Him a man from town, who was under the power of demons; and for a long time he had worn no clothes, and did not stay in a house but in tombs.

For He was commanding the foul spirit to get out of the man. For on many occasions it had seized him, and repeatedly he had been fastened with chains and fetters under constant guard, and yet he would snap his bonds, and the demon would drive him into desert places.

Now there was a large drove of hogs feeding there on the hillside. So they begged Him to let them go into those hogs. And He let them do so.

Then they who had seen it told them how the man who had been under the power of demons was cured.

Now as Jesus was returning, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all expecting Him.

because his only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying. While He was going, the crowds of people continued to press upon Him.

Then Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" But as all were denying that they had done so, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are jamming you and jostling you."

While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead; stop troubling the Teacher anymore."

Then they began to laugh in His face, for they knew that she was dead.

Now Herod the governor heard of all that was taking place, and he continued to be puzzled over the reports -- by some that John had risen from the dead,

So Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who can this be about whom I hear such reports?" So he was trying to see Him.

And they all ate and had aplenty, and what they had left over was taken up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

One day while He was praying in solitude, His disciples were nearby, and He asked them, "Who do people say that I am?"

And while He was praying, the look on His face changed, and His clothes turned dazzling white.

who appeared in splendor and were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

And just as they were starting to leave Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- although he did not know what he was saying.

But as he was saying this, a cloud came and was circling over them, and they were frightened as the two visitors entered into the cloud.

When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found to be alone. And they kept silence and told no one anything that they had seen at that time.

Even while the boy was coming to Him, the demon dashed him down and convulsed him, but Jesus reproved the foul spirit and cured the boy and gave back to his father.

So they all continued to be utterly astounded at the greatness of God. Now while everybody was wondering at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,

But Jesus, as He knew that the controversy was going on in their hearts, took a little child and had it stand by His side.

Now as the time was coming to a head when He should be taken up to heaven, He firmly set His face to continue His journey to Jerusalem;

But they would not receive Him, because He was facing in the direction of Jerusalem.

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on before Him, two by two, to every town or place which He was going to visit.