Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah happened in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they lived together she was discovered to be pregnant by 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."

He did not have marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

"A voice was heard in Ramah: wailing and great mourning. Rachel was crying for her children. She refused to be comforted, because they no longer existed."

He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began serving him.

While Jesus was telling them these things, an official came up and fell down before him. "My daughter has just died," he said. "But come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."

because she had been saying to herself, "If I just touch his robe, I will get well."

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!"

This is the builder's son, isn't it? His mother is named Mary, isn't she? His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, aren't they?

But when Herod's birthday celebration was held, the daughter of Herodias danced before the guests. She pleased Herod

so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked for.

Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me, right here on a platter, the head of John the Baptist."

His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.

But he didn't answer her at all. Then his disciples came up and kept urging him, "Send her away, because she keeps on screaming as she follows us."

Then she came and fell down before him, saying, "Lord, help me!"

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

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons. She bowed down in front of him to ask him for a favor.

He asked her, "What do you want?" She told him, "Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine will sit on your right and on your left."

Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?"

As a result, you will be held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah's son Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

But knowing this, Jesus asked them, "Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me.

When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial.

I tell all of you with certainty, wherever this gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

He went up to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began serving them.

and begged him urgently, saying, "My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may get well and live."

Although she had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all of her money, she had not been helped at all, but rather grew worse.

Since she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe,

because she had been saying, "If I can just touch his robe, I will get well."

Her bleeding stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her illness.

He entered the house and asked them, "Why all this confusion and crying? The child isn't dead. She's sleeping."

The young lady got up at once and started to walk. She was twelve years old. Instantly they were overcome with astonishment.

So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn't do it

When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. So the king told the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you."

So she went out and asked her mother, "What should I ask for?" Her mother replied, "The head of John the Baptist."

Now the woman happened to be a Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

But she answered him, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the puppies under the table eat some of the children's crumbs."

So she went home and found her child lying in bed, and the demon was gone.

And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had married her?"

because all of them contributed out of their surplus, but out of her poverty she has given everything she had to live on."

While Jesus was in Bethany sitting at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman arrived with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me,

She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial.

I tell all of you with certainty, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

When she saw Peter warming himself, she glared at him and said, "You, too, were with Jesus from Nazareth."

She went and told those who had been with Jesus and who now were grieving and crying.

After this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and remained in seclusion for five months. She said,

Startled by his statement, she tried to figure out what his greeting meant.

She went into Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.

and she loudly exclaimed, "How blessed are you among women, and how blessed is the infant in your womb!

When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son.

and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no place for them in the guest quarters.

Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage,

and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

Just then she came forward and began to thank God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

He bent over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began serving them.

As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.

There was a woman who was a notorious sinner in that city. When she learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume

and knelt at his feet behind him. She was crying and began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet over and over again, anointing them constantly with the perfume.

Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!"

So I'm telling you that her sins, as many as they are, have been forgiven, and that's why she has shown such great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little."

A woman was there who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. Although she had spent all she had on doctors, no one could heal her.

She came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel of his garment, and her bleeding stopped at once.

When the woman saw that she couldn't hide, she came forward trembling. Bowing down in front of him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched Jesus and how she had been instantly healed.

But when Jesus heard this, he told the synagogue leader, "Stop being afraid! Just believe, and she will get well."

Now everyone was crying and wailing for her. But Jesus said, "Stop crying! She's not dead. She's sleeping."

They laughed and laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

So her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then Jesus directed that she be given something to eat.

She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and kept listening to what he was saying.

But Martha was worrying about all the things she had to do, so she came to him and asked, "Lord, you do care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself, don't you? Then tell her to help me."

The queen of the south will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look, something greater than Solomon is here!

so those living today will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that was shed since the foundation of the world,

A woman was there who had a spirit that had disabled her for eighteen years. She was hunched over and completely unable to stand up straight.

Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

"Or suppose a woman has ten coins and loses one of them. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it, doesn't she?

When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin that I lost!'

yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice. Otherwise, she will keep coming and wear me out.'"

because all the others contributed to the offering out of their surplus, but she, in her poverty, dropped in everything she had to live on."

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told people,

"No one, sir," she replied. Then Jesus said, "I don't condemn you, either. Go home, and from now on don't sin anymore."

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

"Yes, Lord," she told him. "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world."

When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you!"

As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

When the Jews who had been with her, consoling her in the house, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she had gone to the tomb to cry there.

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and told him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died."

Mary took a litron of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus' feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Then Jesus said, "Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial,

When a woman is in labor she has pain, because her time has come. Yet when she has given birth to her child, she doesn't remember the agony anymore because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.

So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

Meanwhile, Mary stood crying outside the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked into the tomb.

She saw two angels in white clothes who were sitting down, one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus' body had been lying.

They asked her, "Lady, why are you crying?" She told them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him."

After she had said this, she turned around and noticed Jesus standing there, without realizing that it was Jesus.

Jesus asked her, "Dear lady, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she told him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

Jesus told her, "Mary!" She turned around and told him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means "Teacher").

So Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I've seen the Lord!" She also told them what he had told her.

So Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?" She answered, "Yes, that was the price."

She instantly fell down at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.