It seemed good to me, having made observation, with great care, of the direction of events in their order, to put the facts in writing for you, most noble Theophilus;

And they were without children, because Elisabeth had never given birth, and they were at that time very old.

Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God,

And all the people were offering prayers outside, at the time of the burning of perfumes.

And you will be glad and have great delight; and numbers of people will have joy at his birth.

Now, see, you will be without voice or language till the day when these things come about, because you had not faith in my words, which will have effect at the right time.

And when he came out he was not able to say anything, and they saw that he had seen a vision in the Temple; and he was making signs to them without words.

But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words?

And Mary said: I am the servant of the Lord; may it be to me as you say. And the angel went away.

How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?

Now it was time for Elisabeth to give birth, and she had a son.

And it came to the ears of her neighbours and relations that the Lord had been very good to her, and they took part in her joy.

And they made signs to his father, to say what name was to be given to him.

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.

Now it came about in those days that an order went out from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a numbering of all the world.

And Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judaea, to Beth-lehem, the town of David, because he was of the house and family of David,

And when they saw it, they gave them an account of the things which had been said to them about the child.

And all those to whose ears it came were full of wonder at the things said by the keepers of the sheep.

Then the keepers of the sheep went back, giving glory and praise to God for all the things which had come to their ears and which they had seen, as it had been said to them.

And when, after eight days, the time came for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given to him before his birth.

(As it says in the law of the Lord, Every mother's first male child is to be holy to the Lord),

And to make an offering, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord, of two doves or other young birds.

And full of the Spirit he came into the Temple; and when the father and mother came in with the child Jesus, to do with him what was ordered by the law,

And his father and mother were full of wonder at the things which were said about him.

She had been a widow for eighty-four years); she was in the Temple at all times, worshipping with prayers and going without food, night and day.

And coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, talking of him to all those who were waiting for the freeing of Jerusalem.

And every year his father and mother went to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

And when the days of the feast came to an end and they were going back, the boy Jesus was still in Jerusalem, but they had no knowledge of it:

And all to whose ears it came were full of wonder at his knowledge and the answers which he gave.

And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? was it not clear to you that my right place was in my Father's house?

As it says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight.

So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

And the people put questions to him, saying, What have we to do?

Then tax-farmers came to him for baptism and said to him, Master, what have we to do?

And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you.

In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out.

Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open,

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

The son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

And Jesus made answer to him, It has been said in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need.

And the Evil One said, I will give you authority over all these, and the glory of them, for it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone at my pleasure.

If then you will give worship to me, it will all be yours.

And Jesus in answer said to him, It has been said in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God, and be his servant only.

And he took him to Jerusalem and put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down from here; for it is said in the Writings,

And Jesus made answer and said to him, It is said in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and, opening the book, he came on the place where it is said,

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make well those who are broken-hearted; to say that the prisoners will be let go, and the blind will see, and to make the wounded free from their chains,

And shutting the book he gave it back to the servant and took his seat: and the eyes of all in the Synagogue were fixed on him.

And he said to them, Without doubt you will say to me, Let the medical man make himself well: the things which to our knowledge were done at Capernaum, do them here in your country.

But Elijah was not sent to one of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

And they got up and took him out of the town to the edge of the mountain on which their town was, so that they might send him down to his death.

And they were surprised at his teaching, for his word was with authority.

Let us be! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? have you come to put an end to us? I have knowledge who you are, the Holy One of God.

And Jesus said to him, Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the evil spirit had put him down on the earth in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no damage.

And wonder came on them all and they said to one another, What are these words? for with authority and power he gives orders to the evil spirits and they come out.

And he got up and went out of the Synagogue and went into the house of Simon. And Simon's wife's mother was very ill with a burning heat; and in answer to their prayers for her

He went near her, and with a sharp word he gave orders to the disease and it went away from her; and straight away she got up and took care of their needs.

And at sundown all those who had anyone ill with any sort of disease, took them to him, and he put his hands on every one of them and made them well.

And evil spirits came out of a number of them, crying out and saying, You are the Son of God. But he gave them sharp orders not to say a word, because they had knowledge that he was the Christ.

And when it was day, he came out and went to a waste place; and great numbers of people came looking for him, and they came to him and would have kept him from going away.

Now it came about that while the people came pushing to be near him, and to have knowledge of the word of God, he was by a wide stretch of water named Gennesaret;

And he saw two boats by the edge of the water, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat.

And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish.

And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets.

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

But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner.

For he was full of wonder and so were all those who were with him, at the number of fish which they had taken;

And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.

But news of him went out all the more, in every direction, and great numbers of people came together to give hearing to his words and to be made well from their diseases.

And it came about that on one of these days he was teaching; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him, to make those who were ill free from their diseases.

And after these things he went out, and saw Levi, a tax-farmer, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and said to him, Come after me.

And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them.

And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old.

And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins, for fear that the skins will be burst by the new wine, and the wine be let out, and the skins come to destruction.

Now it came about that on the Sabbath he was going through the fields of grain, and his disciples took the heads of the grain for food, crushing them in their hands.

But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what it is not right to do on the Sabbath?

And Jesus said, Have you not seen in the Writings what David did when he was in need of food, he, and those who were with him;

How he went into the house of God and took for food the holy bread, which only the priests may take, and gave it to those who were with him?

And it came about, on another Sabbath, that he went into the Synagogue and was teaching there. And a man was there whose right hand was dead.

And Jesus said, I put the question to you, Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? to give life or to take it away?

And looking round on all of them, he said to him, Put out your hand. And he did so: and his hand was made well.

But they were full of wrath, and were talking together about what they might do to Jesus.

And it came about in those days that he went out to the mountain for prayer; and he was all night in prayer to God.

Happy are you, when men have hate for you, and put you away from among them and say angry words to you, turning away in disgust at your name, because of the Son of man.

Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again.

If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners do the same.

And if you let those have the use of your money, from whom you are hoping to get it back, what credit is it to you? even sinners do so to sinners, hoping to get back as much as they gave.

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, crushed down, full and running over, they will give to you. For in the same measure as you give, it will be given to you again.

And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, Is it possible for one blind man to be guide to another? will they not go falling together into a hole?

And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

How will you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the grain of dust out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the bit of wood in your eye? O false one! first take the wood out of your eye and then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your brother's eye.

The good man, out of the good store of his heart, gives good things; and the evil man, out of his evil store, gives evil: for out of the full store of the heart come the words of the mouth.

Everyone who comes to me and gives ear to my words and does them, I will make clear to you what he is like:

He is like a man building a house, who went deep and put the base of it on a rock; and when the water came up and the river was driving against that house, it was not moved, because the building was good.

But he who gives hearing, without doing, is like a man building a house on the earth without a base for it; and when the force of the river came against it, straight away it came down; and the destruction of that house was great.

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.

For I, myself, am a man under authority, having men under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.