But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

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

Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

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

This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

‘Every ravine will be filled,
And every mountain and hill will be brought low;
The crooked will become straight,
And the rough roads smooth;

And all flesh will see the salvation of God.’”

John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’

and,
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”

But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.

But love your enemies, and 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 Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:

for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

This is the one about whom it is written,
‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’

When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?”

Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.

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

But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’

I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges.

“When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

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

The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment 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 men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

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 some they will persecute,

But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God;

but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!

And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?

Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;

the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,

but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way.

I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.”

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.