Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”

Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee;

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

So then, you will know them by their fruits.

And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

And Jesus *said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.

When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!”

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.

Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”

And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.”

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,

And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any.

On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,

asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’

Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother;

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near;

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,

Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.

But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

“Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them.

“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.”

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper,

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples.

But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.”

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy;

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”

But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”

And again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.”

Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.

Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted.

For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.

“He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.