But Joseph her husband, because he was just a man and unwilling to disgrace her, was minded to put her away secretly.

And while he was having this in mind, behold! an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying.

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife home, for what is begotten in her is by the Holy Spirit; and she will bear a son, and you are to call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Now when Joseph awoke from his sleep he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him, and took his wife home,

but did not live with her until after the birth of her son, whom he called Jesus.

When King Herod heard this he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

So when he had gathered together all the chief priests and rabbis of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.

Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and make careful inquiry about the child, and as soon as you have found him bring me word, that I, too, may go and worship him."

There he remained until the death of Herod, in order that the word of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, which says, Out of Egypt I called my son.

As soon as Herod saw that he had been mocked by the Magi, he was furious. He sent and put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and all the neighborhood who were two years old or under, in accordance with the date which he had ascertained from the Magi.

So he rose and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there; and being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into Galilee and settled in a town called Nazareth,

in fulfilment of the word spoken through the Prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

"Repent," said he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

But when John saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming for baptism, he said: "O brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

I indeed am baptizing you in water, unto repentance; but One is coming after me, mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.

His winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse the threshing-floor. He will store his wheat in the granary, but will burn up the chaff in unquenchable fire."

But he tried to prevent him. "It is I," he said, "who need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?"

Then he consented. And after Jesus was baptized, as soon as he rose out of the water, lo! the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him,

And after he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he became hungry,

and said to him. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, "He will give his angels charge over thee; Upon their hands they will bear thee up, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."

Then the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain, and showed all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them,

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

He left Nazareth, and settled in Capernaum-by-the-Lake, near the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali,

And as he was walking by the see of Galilee, he saw two brothers??imon who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother??asting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

As he went farther on he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

And his fame spread throughout all Syria. They brought all the sick to him, those who were suffering from various diseases and troubles??emoniacs, epileptics, paralytics??nd he healed them.

When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and when he had seated himself, his disciples came to him,

and opening his lips he began to teach them, saying.

"So whoever breaks one of these least commandments, and teaches others to break them, will be least in the kingdom of heaven. But he who keeps them and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

"You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Thou shall not commit murder, and "He who commits murder shall be liable to condemnation by the court;

but I say to you that he who becomes angry with his brother shall be liable to condemnation by the court; and he who says to his brother 'Raca,' shall be liable to condemnation by the Sanhedrin, while he who curses his brother shall be liable to the Gehenna of Fire.

"So you will become sons of your heavenly Father; for he makes his sun to rise upon sinners as well as saints, and sends rain upon the unjust and the just.

"so that he may not appear to men to be fasting, but to his Father who is in secret; and his Father who sees in secret will reward him.

"but if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be darkened. If then the very light within you is darkness, how dense is that darkness!

"No slave can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will pay heed to the one and despise the other. You cannot be the slaves both of God and of gold.

"Why be anxious then about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin.

"If God then so clothes the grass of the field, which blooms today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

"Or how will you say to your brother, 'Permit me to remove the mote from your eye,' when, behold, the beam is in your own eye?

"Hypocrite! First cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to cast the mote out of your brother's eye.

"For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door is opened.

"If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes taught them.

As he went down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him "I do choose," he said, "become clean," and immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

When he entered Capernaum, an army captain came, and entered him,

"For I myself also am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me. To one man I say 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."

As Jesus listened to this reply he was astonished, and said to those who followed him. "In solemn truth I tell you that I have found faith like this in any Israelite.

When Jesus came into Peter's house, he found his wife's mother prostrated with fever.

He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose and waited upon him.

At evening-time they brought to him many demoniacs. He cast out the demons with a word, and healed all who were ill,

that the word spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, He took upon himself our weaknesses, and bore the burden of our diseases.

When Jesus saw the great crowds about him, he had given directions to cross to the other side,

Then he went in board a fishing-boat, his disciples accompanying him;

But he was asleep. And they came and woke him, saying. "Lord save us! We are drowning!"

"Why are you afraid?" he said, "you men of little faith!" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm.

When he arrived on the other side, in the country of the Gadarenes, he was met by two demoniacs who were coming out of the tombs. They were so violently fierce that no one dared pass along that road.

He answered, "Go!" So they came out of the men, and went into the swine, and behold! the entire herd rushed headlong down from the cliff into the sea, and perished in the water.

So he went on board, crossed the sea, and came to his own city.

And here they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Courage, son, your sins are forgiven."

And because Jesus knew well their thought, he said:

And he rose and went to his home.

As Jesus was passing thence, he saw a man called Mathew sitting at the tax-office, and said to him, "Follow me."

And he rose and followed him. And while he was at table in Matthew's house, there came many tax-gatherers and sinners, and they dined with Jesus and his disciples.

"It is not those who are well," said Jesus, when he heard this, "but the sick, who need a doctor.

As he was saying these words to them, a ruler came up and knelt before him, saying. "My daughter has just died; but come, put your hand upon her, and she will live."

Now when Jesus had come into the house of the ruler, and had seen the flute-players and the wailing crowd, he said,

When, however, the crowd had been driven out, he went in and took her hand, and the little girl woke up.

And as he went on from thence two blind men followed Jesus, crying, "Have pity on us, Son of David!"

And when he had gone indoors, they came to him. "Do you believe that I can do this?" asked Jesus. "Yes, Lord," they answered.

Then he touched their eyes, saying "According to your faith be it unto you," and their eyes were opened.

and when he had driven out the demon, the dumb spoke. The crowds were amazed, saying, "Never was such a thing seen in Israel!"

But the Pharisees kept saying, "It is in the power of the Prince of the demons that he is casting out demons."

And when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were distressed and fainting, like sheep without a shepherd.

And he said to his disciples. "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few;

And when he had called his twelve disciples to him, he gave them power over evil spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and infirmity.

"But whenever they apprehend you, do not be anxious about how you shall speak or what you shall say; for it will be given you in that very hour what to say.

"You will be hated by all men because of my name; and he who endures to the end shall be saved.

"It is enough for the pupil to fare like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more, the members of his household.

"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

"and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

"He who has saved his life shall lose it; and he who has lost his life for my sake shall find it.

"Whoever receives you is receiving me, and he who receives me is receiving Him who sent me.

"Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and whoever receives a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.

"And whoever gives to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, because he is a disciple, I tell you in solemn truth, he shall not lose his reward.

But when John heard, in the prison, what the Christ was doing, he sent by some of his disciples to ask him,

"What did you go out into the desert to behold?" he asked; "A reed shaken by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment dwell in kings' palaces!

"for this is he of whom it is written. "Behold, I send my messenger before my face, And he will prepare thy road for thee.

"In solemn truth I tell you that there has not arisen among those born of women a greater than John the Baptist; yet one of the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

"and, if you are willing to receive it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He has a demon';

Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they had not repented.

"Have you not read," answered Jesus, "what David did when he was hungry, and his men, too?

"How he went into the House of God, and there they ate the loaves of the Presence, which neither he nor his men were permitted to eat, but the priests only?

"Have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and are guiltless?

As he passed along he went into their synagogue, and there he saw a man with a withered hand.

"Is there a man of you," he replied, "who has but a single sheep, who will not lay hold of it and lift it out, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath Day?

"And how much more is a man worth than a sheep? Therefore it is right to do good on the Sabbath."

Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."