Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar; Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Aram,

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab; Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth; Obed the father of Jesse,

Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife;

Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah,

Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus who is called the Christ.

But just as this thought occurred to him, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for it is through the influence of the Holy Spirit that she has become an expectant mother.

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."

"The virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and they will call Him Immanuel" -- which means "God with us."

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."

They told him, "At Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they set out to their own country by another route.

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Wake up! Tenderly take the child and His mother, and escape to Egypt; stay there until I further direct you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy Him."

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."

and saying, "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near."

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.'"

and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, as one by one they continued to confess their sins.

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?

Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance you profess,

Now the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Every tree then that fails to bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.

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,

and a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am delighted!"

to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

From that time Jesus continued to preach and say, "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near."

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.

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.

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

Keep on rejoicing and leaping for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way they persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its strength, what can make it salt again? It is good for nothing but to be thrown away and trodden under foot.

You are the light of the world. A city that is built upon a hill cannot be hidden.

Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others so to do, will be ranked as least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices them and teaches others so to do, will be ranked as great in the kingdom of heaven.

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman so as to have an evil desire for her at once has already committed adultery with her in his heart,

So if your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out of your way; for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

And if your right hand causes you to do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way, for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife for any other ground than unfaithfulness, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a wife who is thus divorced commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not swear falsely, but you must perform your oaths as a religious duty.'

But I tell you not to swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne,

or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

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.

So you, my followers, ought to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is."

So whenever you do your deeds of charity, never blow your own horn in public, as the hypocrites are in the habit of doing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be praised by the people. I solemnly say to you, they already have their reward.

But whenever you, a follower of mine, do a deed of charity, never let your own left hand know what your right hand is doing,

so that your deed of charity may be secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

But whenever you, follower of mine, pray, you must go to your most private place, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

And whenever you pray, you must not keep on repeating set phrases, as the heathen do, for they suppose that they will be heard in accordance with the length of their prayers,

So this is the way you must pray: Our Father in heaven, Your name be revered.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread for the day.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.

And do not let us be subjected to temptation, but save us from the evil one.

so that your fasting may be seen, not by men but by your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

For wherever your treasure is, there too your heart will be.

"The eye is the very lamp of the body. If then your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

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!

So I tell you, stop worrying about your life, as to what you will have to eat or drink, or about your body, as to what you will have to wear. Is not life worth more than food and the body worth more than clothes?

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?

But as your first duty keep on looking for His standard of doing right, and for His will, and then all these things will be yours besides.

For exactly as you criticize others, you will be criticized, and in accordance with the measure that you give to others, it will be measured back to you.

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?

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?

Then you must practice dealing with others as you would like for them to deal with you, for this is the summing up of the law and the prophets.

"Go in by the narrow gate, for broad and roomy is the road that leads to destruction, and many are going in by it.

But narrow is the gate and hard is the road that leads to life, and few are they that find it.

Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and burned up.

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

"Lord, my servant-boy is at home bedridden with paralysis and suffering terrible tortures!"

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.

Then Jesus said to the captain, "Go; it must be done for you as you have believed." And his servant-boy was cured that very hour.

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

So they went to Him and woke Him up, and said, "Lord, save us; we are going down!"

And the men were dumbfounded, and said, "What sort of man is this, for even the winds and the sea obey Him!"

And they suddenly screamed, "What do you want of us, you Son of God? Have you come here before the appointed time to torture us?"

And the demons kept begging Him and saying, "If you are going to drive us out, send us into the drove of hogs."

And suddenly all the town turned out to meet Jesus, and as soon as they saw Him, they begged Him to move on and leave their neighborhood.

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

For which is easier, to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or, to say 'Get up and go to walking'?

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.

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

Go, learn what this means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want.' It is not upright but sinful people that I have come to invite."

Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn, can they, as long as they have the bridegroom with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

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."

said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead, but is sleeping." And they began to laugh in His face.

As Jesus was passing along from there, two blind men followed Him, shouting, "Do pity us, O Son of David!"

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

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

And as you go continue to preach, 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'

As you go into his house, wish it well,

"Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves.

For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.

No pupil is better than his teacher, and no slave is better than his master.

So you must never be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, nor a secret that will not be known.

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

and nobody is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and follow me.