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

But when he came out, he could not speak to them, and so they knew that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. Meanwhile he kept on making signs to them, and remained dumb.

And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and so they were rejoicing with her.

When they saw this, they informed them of the story that had been told about this child.

Then the shepherds went back continuing to give glory and praise to God for all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

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.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not die without seeing the Lord's Messiah.

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.

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

Then he took Him to Jerusalem, and had Him stand on the tip-top turret of the temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here,

After the devil had finished every sort of temptation, he left Him till another time.

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.

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.

Then He saw two boats lying up on the shore of the lake, but the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

For at the haul of fish that they had made, bewildering amazement had seized him and all his men,

So after they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

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.

Then at once he got up before them all, picked up the pallet on which he had been lying, and went off home, giving praise to God.

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.

When He had finished all these sayings in the hearing of the people, He went into Capernaum.

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,

But when John's messengers had gone, He began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the desert to gaze at? A reed that is tossed to and fro by the wind?

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,

Another portion of them fell upon the rock, and as soon as they sprang up, they withered, because they had no moisture.

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.

So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, "Legion!" For many demons had gone into him.

When the men who fed them saw what had taken place, they fled and spread the news in the town and in the country around.

So the people went out to see what had taken place, and they went to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, with his clothes on and in his right mind; and they were frightened.

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

The man out of whom the demons had gone begged Him to let him go with Him, but Jesus sent him away and said,

"Go back to your home, and continue to tell what great things God has done for you." But he went off and told all over the town what great things Jesus had done for him.

Just then a man named Jairus came up, who had long been leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus' feet and persisted in begging Him to come to his house,

Then a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, who could not be cured by anybody,

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."

When the woman saw that she had not escaped His notice, she came forward trembling, and falling down before Him she told in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him and how she had been cured at once.

And her parents were astounded, but He ordered them not to tell anyone what had taken place.

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,

by others that Elijah had appeared, and by still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life.

Now the apostles returned and told Jesus all that they had done. Then He took them and privately retired to a town called Bethsaida.

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

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but all at once they became wide awake and saw His splendor and the two men who were standing with Him.

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.

The next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met Him.

But they remained ignorant of what this meant; indeed, it had been hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

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.

A curse on you, Chorazin! A curse on you, Bethsaida! For if the wonder-works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, long ago they would have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

She had a sister named Mary who took her seat at the Lord's feet, and remained listening to His message.

When He had said this, a Pharisee asked Him to lunch at his house, and He went in and took His place at table.

Meanwhile as the people had gathered in tens of thousands, so that they were trampling upon one another, He began to say, first of all, to His disciples: "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, hypocrisy.

But be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

Then He told them this story: "A man had a fig tree planted by his vineyard, and he kept going and looking for figs on it, but did not find any.

and there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had a disease caused by a spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten herself up at all.

But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured her on the Sabbath, answered the crowd, "There are six days on which people must work; so come on these and be cured, but not on the Sabbath."

It is like yeast which a woman took and hid in a bushel of flour until it all had risen."

Then He said: "There was a man who had two sons.

Not many days after that, the younger son got together all he had and went away to a distant country, and there he squandered all his property by living in dissipation.

After he had spent it all, a severe famine struck that country, and he began to suffer want.

But we just had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found.'"

Now He was saying to the disciples: "Once there was a rich man who had a household manager, and he was accused to his master of squandering the latter's property.

Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money had been listening to all this, and they began to ridicule Him.

And a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been laid at his gate,

Then the Lord said to them, "If you had faith that grows like a mustard seed, you might have been saying to this mulberry tree, 'Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and it would have obeyed you!

"Once there was in a city a judge who had no reverence for God nor respect for men.

Then after he had gotten the appointment as king, he returned and ordered those slaves to whom he had given his money to be called in, that he might find out what business they had done.

So off the two messengers went and found it just as He had told them.

Just as He was approaching the city, going down the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of the disciples began to praise God exultantly and loudly for all the wonder-works that they had seen,

and said: "If today you yourself had only known the conditions of peace! But now they are hidden from you.

for all the rest of them made their contributions out of their surplus, but she out of her want dropped in all that she had to live on."

Then the day of Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

So they went off and found it just as He had said, and they prepared the Passover supper.

While He was still speaking, look! a crowd had come up, and Judas, one of the Twelve, was their guide; and he stepped up to Jesus to kiss Him.

Then Jesus said to the high priests, captains of the temple, and elders, who had come to take Him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs as though I were a robber?

And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had taken their seats together, Peter, too, was sitting among them.

Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter was reminded of the word that the Lord had spoken to him, "Before a cock crows today, you will disown me three times."

Now Herod was very glad to see Jesus, for he had been wanting to see Him for a long time on account of what he had heard about Him; also he was hoping to see some spectacular performance done by Him.

So Herod and Pilate became personal friends that very day; they had been at enmity before.

(He was a man who had been put in prison for a riot that had occurred in the city and for murder.)

So he released the man who had been put in prison for riot and murder, whom they continued to demand, but turned Jesus over to their will.

for the sun had failed to shine. And the curtain before the sanctuary was torn in two.

When the captain saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "He certainly was an innocent man!"

And all the crowds who had come together for this sight, when they had seen what took place, returned to the city but continued to beat their breasts in grief.

who had not voted for the plan and action of the council. He came from a Jewish town, Arimathea, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

Then he took it down from the cross and wrapped it in a linen sheet and laid it in a tomb hewn out of rock, where no one had yet been laid.

So the women, who had come with Jesus from Galilee, followed closely after Joseph and saw the tomb and how His body was laid there.

Now on the Sabbath they rested, in accordance with the commandment, but on the first day of the week at early dawn they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared.

He said that the Son of Man had to be turned over to wicked men and crucified, but was to rise again on the third day."

[Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb, and stooped down and saw the linen clothes but nothing else. Then he went home wondering at what had taken place.]

and were talking together about all these things that had taken place.

and how the high priests and leading men turned Him over to be sentenced to death, and had Him crucified.

and could not find His body, but came and told us that they had actually had a vision of angels who said He was alive.

Then some of our company went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him."

And after He had taken His place at table with them, He took the loaf and blessed it and broke it in pieces and handed it to them.

who told them that the Lord had really risen and had been seen by Simon.

Then they themselves began to tell what had occurred on the road, and how He was recognized by them when He broke the loaf in pieces.

[After He had said this He showed them His hands and His feet.]

Then He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you, that everything which is written about me in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the Psalms, had to be fulfilled."