to perform his customary duties as a priest before God, he drew the responsibility [that day] of entering the Temple of the Lord to burn the incense offering. [Note: This was done on a golden Altar in the Temple by a priest twice a day].

And seeing this, Zacharias was troubled, and fear fell on him.

This will bring you gladness and delight, and many will rejoice over his birth.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he will not drink any wine or intoxicating drinks [Note: This restriction suggests that John may have taken the special vow of consecration making him a "Nazarite"]. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the time he is born.

And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years.

And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.

And now you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when this takes place, because you did not believe what I said, though my words will be fulfilled in due course."

After this his wife, Elizabeth, expecting to become a mother, lived in seclusion for five months.

The Lord has done this to me, for his eyes were on me, to take away my shame in the eyes of men.

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be.

And consider this, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son and you will name Him Jesus.

This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

And Mary said to the angel, How may this be, because I have had no knowledge of a man?

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for this reason your holy offspring will be called 'the Son of God.'

Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.

So Mary said, "Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Soon after this Mary set out, and made her way quickly into the hill-country, to a town in Judah;

and Elizabeth divinely inspired, broke out into this acclamation.

And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?

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

For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me.

And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

All their neighbors were awe-struck at this; and throughout the hill-country of Judea the whole story was much talked about;

And all who had word of them kept them in their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

Just as He promised by the mouth of His holy prophets from the most ancient times—

He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors, and to remember his holy covenant --

This was the oath which he swore to our forefather Abraham--

Just at this time an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for the registration of the whole Empire.

This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria.

but the angel said to them, "Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the People.

For on this day, in the town of David, a Saviour has come to birth, who is Christ the Lord.

And this is the sign to you: you will see a young child folded in linen, in the place where the cattle have their food.

And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us.

And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child.

Then when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were completed [Note: This was a set procedure required for a Jewish mother on the birth of a child. See Lev. 12:1-8], Joseph and Mary brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

“Now, Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to leave [this world] in peace,
According to Your word;

And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;

and this woman was a widow to eighty-four years), who did not depart from the temple, serving with fastings and supplications night and day.

And she came up at this very time, and gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all that were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Now Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem every year to attend the Passover Festival. [Note: This was the annual Jewish festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership].

After spending the full number of days they came back, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know of this;

And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow.

Now it was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler of the regions of Ituraea and Trachonitus [Note: These two men were sons of Herod the Great (See Matt. 2:1) and ruled over provinces east of the Jordan River] and Lysanias was ruler of Abilene [Note: This was a province just north of the two previously mentioned ones].

[During this time], while Annas and Caiaphas [Note: This man was Annas' son-in-law. See John 18:13] were head priests, God's message came to John [the Immerser], son of Zacharias, [when he was] in the desert [of Judea].

This was in fulfillment of what is said in the writings of the Prophet Isaiah--'The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness: "Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight.

So the crowds were asking him this question, "What then ought we to do?"

As all this aroused people's expectations, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether John was the Christ,

And in this way, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed good news to the people.

But Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and concerning all the evils which Herod had done, Added also this above all,

Did this most evil thing of all, and had John shut up in prison.

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

And the Evil One said to him, If you are the Son of God, give orders to this stone to become bread.

And the devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

So if you will worship before me, all [this] will be yours."

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this place;

"The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed,

Then he said to them, Today this word has come true in your hearing.

And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?

And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country.

And all in the synagogue, when they heard this, were filled with wrath.

But Jesus rebuked him. "Be quiet," he said, "and come out of him!" At this, the demon threw the man down in the middle of the synagogue and came out of him without hurting him.

And amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

But he said to them: I must make known the good news of the kingdom of God to other cities also; for to this end I have been sent.

And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken;

When Simon Peter saw this, he threw himself down at Jesus' knees, exclaiming: "Master, leave me, for I am a sinful man!"

And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men.

And it happened while Jesus was in one of the towns [i.e., surrounding Lake Galilee], that a man covered with an infectious skin disease appeared and, when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face [to the ground] and begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the terms "heal/healing" are originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

But because they could not find a [suitable] way to get him in [to the house] because of the people crowded [around], they went up to the housetop [Note: This was a flat area, where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., with a stairway accessible from the outside] and lowered the man on his cot through the roof tiles into the presence of Jesus.

And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?

Because Jesus knew that they were arguing, he asked them, "Why are you arguing about this among yourselves?

"What is this caviling in your hearts? Which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise and walk?"

at this they were all seized with astonishment, and gave thanks to God, crying out with great reverence, what a wonderful instance of power have we seen this day!

After this, Jesus went out; and he noticed a tax-gatherer, named Levi, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: "Follow me."

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law belonging to their party complained of this to the disciples of Jesus."

But a time for this will come, when the Bridegroom has been taken away from them: then, at that time, they will fast."

Besides, he applied this similitude to them. no man, said he, puts a piece of new cloth upon an old coat: if he does, the new will strain the old, and they will by no means suit one another.

Now it happened on a Sabbath day that Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His disciples picked off some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands and ate [the kernels]. [Note: It was an accepted practice for people in that day to be permitted to do this as they walked along paths bordering a grainfield].

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and they that were with him;

how he entered the house of God [i.e., the Temple] and took some 'Bread of Presence' and ate it, and also gave some to his men to eat? [This practice] was not permissible according to the law of Moses, [since the bread was reserved] only for the priests."

Then He looked around at all of them [there] and said to the man, "Reach out your hand." And [when] he did this, his hand was restored [to normal use].

This filled them with fury, and they discussed what they could do to Jesus.

Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God.

Rejoice ye then, and be glad: for behold, your reward is great in heaven. After this manner their fathers entreated the prophets.

Alas for you when all men speak well of you; for this is what their ancestors did to the false Prophets.

If anyone comes to me and listens to this teaching of mine and acts upon it, I will show you whom he is like.

After Jesus had finished teaching all this to the people, he entered Capernaum.

And a certain captain had a servant who was very dear to him; this servant was ill and near to death.

this centurion having heard of Jesus's fame, sent several elders of the Jews to intreat him to come, and recover his servant.

And when they came to Jesus, they intreated Him earnestly, saying, he is worthy of this favor:

It is right for you to do this for him, because he is a friend to our nation, and himself has put up a Synagogue for us.

So Jesus went with them. Now by this time he was not far away from the house, [and] the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come in under my roof.

For this reason neither did I consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my slave must be healed.

For I also am a man placed under the authority of others, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doth it.

When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned him about and said to the people that followed him, "I say unto you, I have not found so great faith: No, not in Israel, certainly."

And it happened soon after this that Jesus went to a town called Nain [Note: This was a town of Galilee about

And this report of Him was spread through all Judea, and in all the country round about.

John's disciples reported all this to him.

and sent two of them to Jesus, with this question, are you the Messiah, or must we yet wait for some other?

The men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this question: 'Are you the Coming One, or is there another that we are to expect?'"