but they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren. Both of them were advanced in years.

Now while he was officiating before God in the due course of his division,

it fell to him by lot, as was the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense,

When Zechariah saw him he was troubled, and fear fell on him;

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazaret,

to a maiden who was betrothed to a man called Joseph, belonging to the house of David. The maiden's name was Mary.

At this she was startled; she thought to herself, whatever can this greeting mean?

Look, there is your kinswoman Elizabeth! Even she has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month;

and when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leapt in her womb. Then Elizabeth was filled with the holy Spirit;

Instantly his mouth was opened, his tongue loosed, and he spoke out blessing God.

All who heard of it bore it in mind; they said, "Whatever will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was indeed with him.

And Zechariah his father was filled with the holy Spirit; he prophesied in these words,

Now in those days an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world.

(This was the first census, and it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

to be registered along with Mary his wife. She was pregnant,

she gave birth to her firstborn son, and as there was no room for them inside the khan she wrapped him up and laid him in a stall for cattle.

When the eight days had passed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus ??the name given by the angel before he had been conceived in the womb.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Symeon, an upright and devout man, who was on the outlook for the Consolation of Israel. The holy Spirit was upon him;

indeed it had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he had seen the Lord messiah.

There was also a prophetess, Hannah the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher; she was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her girlhood

and having been a widow for eighty-four years. She was never away from the temple; night and day she worshipped, fasting and praying.

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the favour of God was on him.

and when he was twelve years old they went up as usual to the festival.

they supposed he was in the caravan and travelled on for a day, searching for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, Philip his brother tetrarch of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysias tetrarch of Abilene,

Now when all the people had been baptized and when Jesus had been baptized and was praying, heaven opened

At the outset Jesus was about thirty years of age; he was the son, as people supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli,

and for forty days he was led by the Spirit in the desert, while the devil tempted him. During these days he ate nothing, and when they were over he felt hungry.

He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by all.

Then he came to Nazaret, where he had been brought up, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue as was his custom. He stood up to read the lesson

and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah; on opening the book he came upon the place where it was written,

I tell you for a fact, In Israel there were many widows during the days of Elijah, when the sky was closed for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land:

yet Elijah was not sent to any of these, but only to a widow woman at Zarephath in Sidon.

And in Israel there were many lepers in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of these was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

they rose up, put him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, in order to hurl him down.

Now in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean daemon, who shrieked aloud,

When he got up to leave the synagogue he went to the house of Simon. Simon's mother-in-law was laid up with a severe attack of fever, so they asked him about her;

From many people daemons were also driven out, clamouring aloud, "You are God's son!" But he checked them and refused to let them say anything, as they knew he was the Christ.

When day broke he went away out to a lonely spot, but the crowds made inquiries about him, came to where he was, and tried to keep him from leaving them.

He answered them, "I must preach the glad news of the Reign of God to the other towns as well, for that is what I was sent to do."

as was the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedaeus, who were partners of Simon. Then said Jesus to Simon, "Have no fear; from now your catch will be men."

When he was in one of their towns, there was a man full of leprosy who, on seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, "If you only choose, sir, you can cleanse me."

One day he was teaching, and near him sat Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judaea as well as from Jerusalem. Now the power of the Lord was present for the work of healing.

Some men came up carrying a man who was paralysed; they tried to carry him inside and lay him in front of Jesus,

Levi held a great banquet for him in his house; there was a large company present of taxgatherers and others who were guests along with them.

One sabbath it happened that as he was crossing the cornfields his disciples pulled some ears of corn and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

Another sabbath he happened to go into the synagogue and teach. Now a man was there who had his right hand withered,

He knew what was in their minds; so he told the man with the withered hand, "Rise and stand forward." He rose and stood before them.

And glancing round at them all in anger he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was quite restored.

It was in these days that he went off to the hillside to pray. He spent the whole night in prayer to God,

Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon (who was called 'the Zealot'),

With them he came down the hill and stood on a level spot. There was a great company of his disciples with him, and a large multitude of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to get cured of their diseases.

He who has listened and has not obeyed is like a man who built a house on the earth with no foundation; the river dashed against it and it collapsed at once, and the ruin of that house was great."

Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death;

"for he is a lover of our nation; it was he who built our synagogue."

So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the captain sent some friends to tell him, "Do not trouble yourself, sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof,

Then the messengers went back to the house and found the sick servant was quite well.

It was shortly afterwards that he made his way to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd.

Just as he was near the gate of the town, there was a dead man being carried out; he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town were with her.

Jesus at that moment was healing many people of diseases and complaints and evil spirits; he also bestowed sight on many blind folk.

Now there was a woman in the town who was a sinner, and when she found out that Jesus was at table in the house of the Pharisee, she brought an alabaster flask of perfume

When his host the Pharisee noticed this, he said to himself, "If he was a prophet he would know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him; for she is a sinner."

"There was a moneylender who had two debtors; one owed him fifty pounds, the other five.

Shortly afterwards he went travelling from one town and village to another preaching and telling the good news of the Reign of God; he was accompanied by the twelve

As a large crowd was gathering and as people were resorting to him from town after town, he addressed them in a parable.

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the road and was trampled down, and the wild birds ate it up;

Word was brought to him that "your mother and brothers are standing outside; they wish to see you."

they went and woke him up. "Master, master," they cried, "we are drowning!" So he woke up and checked the wind and the surf; they ceased and there was a calm.

As he stepped out on land he was met by a man from the town who had daemons in him; for a long while he had worn no clothing, and he stayed not in a house but among the tombs.

Now a considerable drove of swine was grazing there on the hillside, so the daemons begged him for leave to enter them. He gave them leave,

They got a report from those who had seen how the lunatic was cured,

On his return Jesus was welcomed by the crowd; they were all looking out for him.

A man called Jairus came, who was a president of the synagogue, and falling at the feet of Jesus entreated him to come to his house,

for he had an only daughter about twelve years old and she was dying. As Jesus went the crowds kept crushing him,

He was still speaking when someone came from the house of the synagogue-president to say, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher any further."

Everyone was weeping and bewailing her, but he said, "Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep."

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

When Herod the tetrarch heard all that was going on, he was quite at a loss; for some said that John had risen from the dead,

And they all ate and had enough. What they had left over was picked up, twelve baskets full of fragments.

Now it happened that while he was praying by himself his disciples were beside him. So he inquired of them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"

It was about eight days after he said this, when he took Peter, John, and James, and went up the hillside to pray.

While he was praying the appearance of his face altered and his dress turned dazzling white.

When they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is a good thing we are here; let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (not knowing what he was saying).

But they did not understand this saying ??indeed it was kept a secret from them, to prevent them from fathoming it ??and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

A dispute arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.

As the time for his assumption was now due, he set his face for the journey to Jerusalem.

but the people would not receive him because his face was turned in the direction of Jerusalem.

He thrilled with joy at that hour in the holy Spirit, saying, "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing this from the wise and learned and revealing it to the simple-minded; yes, Father, I praise thee that such was thy chosen purpose." Then turning to the disciples he said,

Now it so chanced that a priest was going down the same road, but on seeing him he went past on the opposite side.

However a Samaritan traveller came to where he was and felt pity when he saw him;

Now Martha was so busy attending to them that she grew worried; she came up and said, "Lord, is it all one to you that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Come, tell her to lend me a hand."

He was praying at a certain place, and when he stopped one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

He was casting out a dumb daemon, and when the daemon had gone out the dumb man spoke. The crowds marvelled,

While he was saying this, a woman shouted to him out of the crowd, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts you sucked!"

for as Jonah was a Sign to the Ninivites, so shall the Son of man be to this generation.

The Pharisee was astonished to see that he had not washed before the meal,

it was that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world might be charged upon this generation,

from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who was slain between the altar and the House of God ??yes, I tell you, it will all be charged upon this generation.

Meanwhile as the crowd was gathering in its thousands till they trod on one another, he proceeded to say to his disciples first of all, "Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy,

Look how the lilies neither spin nor weave; and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his grandeur was never robed like one of them.