But her husband, Joseph, because he was an upright man and did not want to disgrace her, decided to break the engagement by secretly divorcing her.

And she will have a son, and you must name Him Jesus, for it is He who is to save His people from their sins."

So when Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord directed him, and took her as his wife;

but he did not live with her as a husband until she had had a son; and he named Him Jesus.

and asked, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him."

Now when King Herod heard of it, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

So he called together all the high priests and scribes of the people, and anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.

So he sent them to Bethlehem with this order, "Go and carefully search for the child, and when you find Him, bring back word to me, and I too may come and do Him homage."

Then he awoke and tenderly took the child and His mother by night and made their escape to Egypt;

he stayed there until Herod's death, so as to fulfill what the Lord had said by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my Son."

Then Herod, because he saw that a trick had been played on him by the stargazers, was very angry, and sent and slaughtered all the boy babies in Bethlehem and in all that neighborhood, from two years down, in accordance with the time which he had found out from the stargazers.

Then he awoke, tenderly took the child and His mother, and made the trip to the land of Israel.

But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there; and because he was divinely warned in a dream, he set out for the region of Galilee.

He went to a town called Nazareth and made his home there, so that the saying of the prophet was fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, when he said: "Here is a voice of one who shouts in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; Make the paths straight for him.'"

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?

I am baptizing you in water to picture your repentance. But He that is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not fit to carry His shoes. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire;

His winnowing-fork is in His hand, and He will clean out His threshing-floor and store His wheat in His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with fire that never can be put out."

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for this is the fitting way for both of us to do our full duty to God." Then he yielded to Him.

And as soon as Jesus was baptized, He at once went up out of the water, and look! the heavens opened, and John saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove upon Him,

After fasting forty days and forty nights, He at last felt hungry.

But he answered, "The Scripture says, 'Not on bread alone can man live, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for the Scripture says: "'He will give His angels directions about you, And they will bear you up on their hands, so you will never strike your foot against a stone.'"

Again the devil took him up on a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their splendor,

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He set out for Galilee.

But He left Nazareth and made His home in Capernaum, by the sea, in the district of Zebulon and Naphtali,

As He was walking by the shore of the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was summed Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

He said to them, "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men."

And as He was going on from that point, He saw two others, brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, getting their nets in order; and He called them.

Then He went all over Galilee, as He continued teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease or malady among the people.

So the news about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were sick with various diseases, especially those who were suffering with torturing diseases; and he cured them.

When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. After He had taken His seat, His disciples came up to Him.

Then He opened His mouth and continued to teach them as follows:

Be quick to come to terms with your opponent while you are on the road to court with him, so that he may not turn you over to the judge and the judge turn you over to the officer, and you be put in prison.

If anyone, whoever he may be, keeps on begging you, give to him; if anyone wants to borrow from you, do not turn him away.

to prove that you are sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on bad as well as good people, and makes the rain come down on doers of right and of wrong alike.

But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very source of light in you is darkness, how dense is that darkness!

No one can be a slave to two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money.

And why should you worry about clothes? Look at the wild lilies and learn how they grow. They do not toil or spin;

Now if God so gorgeously dresses the wild grass which today is green but tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you with little faith?

How can you say to your brother, 'Let me get that tiny speck out of your eye,' while all the time there is a girder in your own?

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake?

So if you, in spite of your being bad, know how to give your children what is good, how much more surely will your heavenly Father give what is good to those who keep on asking Him?

for He was teaching them as one who had authority to teach, and not as their scribes did.

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him.

Then He put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I do choose to; be cured." And at once his leprosy was cured.

When He got back to Capernaum, a Roman military captain came up to Him and kept begging Him,

He said to him, "I will come and cure him."

For I, too, am under authority of others, and have soldiers under me, and I order this one to go, and he goes, another to come, and he comes, my slave-boy to do this, and he does it."

When Jesus heard it, He was astounded, and said to His followers, "I solemnly say to you, I have not found, in a single case among the Jews, so great faith as this.

When He went into Peter's house, He saw his mother-in-law lying in bed sick with fever.

He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on Him.

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and at a mere word He drove the spirits out, and cured all who were sick,

and so fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, "He took our sicknesses and bore away our diseases."

Now Jesus, because He saw a crowd about Him, gave orders to cross to the other side.

And He got into a boat, and His disciples went with Him.

And suddenly a furious storm came up, so that the boat was being covered over by the bursting billows, but He kept on sleeping.

And He said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you with little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

When He reached the other side, in the district of Gadara, there faced Him two men, who were under the power of demons, who were just coming out from the tombs. They were such terrors that nobody could pass that way.

And He said to them, "Be gone!" And they went out of the men and got into the hogs, and suddenly the whole drove, in a stampede, rushed over the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.

And He got into a boat and crossed to the other side, and went into His home town.

And all at once some men were bringing to Him a paralyzed man, lying on a couch. And because He saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Cheer up, my child, your sins are forgiven."

Then some of the scribes said to themselves, "He is a blasphemer."

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the paralyzed man, He said to Him -- "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home."

And he got up and went home.

And as He was passing along from there, He saw a man named Matthew in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Him.

While He was at table in the house many tax-collectors and notorious sinners came in and took their seats at table with Jesus and His disciples.

And when He heard it, He said, "It is not well, but sick people that have to send for a doctor.

And just as He was saying these things to them, an official came up and fell on his knees before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand upon her and she will come to life."

But when the crowd had been driven out, He went in and took hold of her hand, and the girl got up.

After He had gone into the house, and the blind men had gone up to Him, Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe that I can do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

Then He touched their eyes, and said, "In accordance with your faith it must be done for you."

But the Pharisees kept on saying, "It is by the help of the prince of the demons that He drives them out."

When He saw the crowds, His heart was moved with pity for them, because they were tired and scattered like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the reapers are scarce.

Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive them out, and so that they could cure any disease or ailment.

But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak.

The pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and the slave should be satisfied to become like his master. If men have called the Head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they heap upon the members of His family!

Anybody who loves father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me,

And I solemnly say to you, no one who gives a cup of cold water to one of the least of my disciples, because he is a disciple, will ever fail to get his reward."

When Jesus had closed this charge to His disciples, He left there to teach and preach in their towns.

Now when John in prison heard of the doings of the Christ, he sent this message by his disciples:

This is the man of whom the Scripture says, "'Attention! I am sending my messenger on before you; He will prepare the road ahead of you.'

"I solemnly say to you, of all men born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has ever appeared; and yet the one who is least important in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

For John came neither eating nor drinking with others, and yet they said, 'He has a demon.'

Then He began to censure the cities in which His many, many wonder-works had been done, because they did not repent.

But He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he and his soldiers became hungry?

How he went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred loaves, which it was against the law for him or his soldiers to eat, or for anyone except the priests?

And on leaving there He went into their synagogue.

But He said to them, "What man is there among you, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a ditch on the sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?

And how much more a man is worth than a sheep! So it is right to do good on the sabbath."

Then He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and it was cured so that it became like the other.

But because Jesus knew it, He left there. And many people followed Him, and He cured them all,

"Here is my Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved, in whom my soul delights itself. I will endow Him with my Spirit, and He will announce a judgment to the heathen.

He will not debate, nor challenge anyone; His voice will no one hear in the streets;

A broken reed He will not break off; a flickering wick He will not put out, until He brings His judgment to victory.

At that time some people brought to Him a man under the power of demons, who was blind and dumb, and He cured him, so that the dumb man could talk and see.

And all the crowds of people were dumbfounded, and began to say, "He is by no means the Son of David, is He?"

But because He knew their thoughts, He said to them, "Any kingdom that is not united is in the process of destruction, and any city or family that is not united cannot last.

Now if Satan is driving out Satan, he has become disunited; how then can his kingdom last?