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.

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

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.”

and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;and‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

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.

Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

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

When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.

And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”

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.

And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.

And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.

And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

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.”

He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him.

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him.

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues;

But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.

“But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”

how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him.

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

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.

Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

“Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.”

He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.

His disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

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.

When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”

They *said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.

When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick;

and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.

“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

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

Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.

So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

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 Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.

They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.”

Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”