So all the generations from Abraham to David totaled fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon totaled fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah there were fourteen generations.

After he had thought about it, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," he said, "don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins."

which means, "God with us." When Joseph got up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as his wife.

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men arrived in Jerusalem from the east

"O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod secretly called together the wise men, found out from them the time the star had appeared,

Herod flew into a rage when he learned that he had been tricked by the wise men, so he ordered the execution of all the male children in Bethlehem and all its neighboring regions, who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had determined from the wise men.

"Repent, because the kingdom from heaven is near!"

But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he told them, "You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Don't think you can say to yourselves, "We have father Abraham!' because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him!"

From then on, Jesus began to announce, "Repent, because the kingdom from heaven is near!"

Going on from there he saw two other brothers James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee repairing their nets. When he called them,

Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan followed him.

"How blessed are those who are destitute in spirit, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!

"How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!

because I tell all of you with certainty that until heaven and earth disappear, not one letter or one stroke of a letter will disappear from the Law until everything has been accomplished.

So whoever sets aside one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom from heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom from heaven

because I tell you, unless your righteousness greatly exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom from heaven!"

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell."

Instead, let your message be "Yes' for "Yes' and "No' for "No.' Anything more than that comes from the evil one."

Give to the person who asks you for something, and do not turn away from the person who wants to borrow something from you."

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you.

And never bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

so that your fasting will not be noticed by others but by your Father who is in the hidden place. And your Father who watches from the hidden place will reward you."

You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

You will know them by their fruit. Grapes aren't gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles, are they?

"Not everyone who keeps saying to me, "Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom from heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven.

Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!'"

When Jesus came down from the hillside, large crowds followed him.

I tell all of you, many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom from heaven.

Now a large herd of pigs was grazing some distance away from them.

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's desk and told him, "Follow me." So he got up and followed him.

Jesus asked them, "The wedding guests can't mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."

"No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

Just then a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel of his garment,

When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, "Be courageous, daughter! Your faith has made you well." And from that very hour the woman was well.

As Jesus was traveling on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

As you go, make this announcement: "The kingdom from heaven is near!'

What I tell you in darkness you must speak in the daylight, and what is whispered in your ear you must shout from the housetops.

I tell all of you with certainty, among those born of women no one has appeared who is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least important person in the kingdom from heaven is greater than he.

"From the days of John the Baptist until the present, the kingdom from heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people have been attacking it,

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Absolved from every act of sin, is wisdom by her kith and kin."

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants.

Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls,

Moving on from there, Jesus went into their synagogue.

You children of serpents! How can you say anything good when you are evil? The mouth speaks about what overflows from the heart.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

The queen of the south will stand up and condemn the people living today, because she came from so far away to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look! Something greater than Solomon is here!"

He answered them, "You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom from heaven, but it hasn't been given to them,

because to anyone who has something, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who doesn't have anything, even what he has will be taken away from him.

He presented another parable to them: "The kingdom from heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

"The owner's servants came and asked him, "Master, you sowed good seed in your field, didn't you? Then where did these weeds come from?'

He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom from heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field.

He told them another parable: "The kingdom from heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes others to sin and those who practice lawlessness

"The kingdom from heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and hid. In his excitement he went and sold everything he had and bought that field."

"Again, the kingdom from heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

"Again, the kingdom from heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea that gathered all kinds of fish.

That is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, cull out the evil people from among the righteous ones,

Then he told them, "That is why every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom from heaven is like the master of a household who brings both new and old things out of his treasure chest."

told his servants, "This is John the Baptist! He has been raised from the dead, and that's why these miracles are being done by him."

When Jesus heard this, he left that place and went by boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the neighboring towns.

Then some Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked,

But you say, "Whoever tells his father or his mother, "Whatever support you might have received from me has been given to God,"

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is those things that make a person unclean.

Suddenly, a Canaanite woman from that territory came near and began to shout, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed!"

She said, "Yes, Lord. But even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' tables."

When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom from heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven."

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal because of the elders, the high priests, and the scribes. Then he would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised.

He was still speaking when a bright cloud suddenly overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him. Keep on listening to him!"

On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Don't tell anyone about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

He told them, "Because of your lack of faith. I tell all of you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

He answered, "Yes." When Peter went home, Jesus spoke to him first and asked him, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings on the earth collect tolls or tributes? From their own subjects, or from foreigners?"

"From foreigners," he replied.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom from heaven?"

Then he said, "I tell all of you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom from heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom from heaven,

"That is why the kingdom from heaven may be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each one of you unless you forgive your brother from your hearts."

He told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not this way.

because some men are celibate from birth, while some are celibate because they have been made that way by others. Still others are celibate because they have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom from heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."

Jesus, however, said, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these."

When he had laid his hands on them, he went on from there.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "I tell all of you with certainty, it will be hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom from heaven.

"The kingdom from heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

Jesus replied, "You don't realize what you're asking. Can you drink from the cup that I'm going to drink from?" They told him, "We can."

He told them, "You will indeed drink from my cup. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right hand or at my left. These positions have already been prepared for others by my Father."

Many people in the crowd spread their own coats on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

The crowds kept saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, the man from Nazareth in Galilee."

Jesus told them, "Yes! Haven't you ever read, "From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have created praise'?" Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He told it, "May fruit never come from you again!" And immediately the fig tree dried up.

Where did John's authority to baptize come from? From heaven or from humans?"

They began discussing this among themselves: "If we say, "From heaven,' he will ask us, "Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, "From humans,' we are afraid of the crowd, because everyone regards John as a prophet."

That is why I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce fruit for it.