But he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is what I was sent to do."

Once as the crowd was pressing about him to hear God's message, he happened to be standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,

When he was in one of the towns, he came upon a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus he fell down on his face, and begged him, saying, "If you only choose, sir, you can cure me!"

One day as he was teaching, there were some Pharisees and experts in the Law sitting near by, who had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there, so that he might cure people.

Some men came up carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus.

But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"??urning to the man who was paralyzed he said to him??"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

Then Levi gave a great entertainment for him in his house, and there was a great throng of tax-collectors and others who were at table with them.

How he went into the house of God and took the Presentation Loaves, which it was against the Law for anyone but the priests to eat, and ate them with his companions?"

On another Sabbath he happened to go to the synagogue and teach. There was a man there whose right hand was withered.

And he looked around at them all and said to the man, "Hold out your hand!" And he did so, and his hand was restored.

It was in those days that he went up on the mountain to pray, and passed the whole night in prayer to God.

Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alpheus, Simon, who was called the Zealot,

He is like a man who was building a house, who dug deep and laid his foundation upon the rock, and when there was a flood the torrent burst upon that house and could not shake it, because it was well built.

But the man who listens to it, and does not act upon it, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The torrent burst upon it, and it collapsed at once, and the wreck of that house was complete."

A Roman captain had a slave whom he thought a great deal of, and the slave was sick and at the point of death.

for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue."

So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the captain sent some friends to him, to say to him, "Master, do not take any more trouble, for I am not a suitable person to have you under my roof.

That is why I did not think I was fit to come to you. But simply say the word, and have my servant cured.

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished at him, and turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such faith as this even in Israel!"

As he came up to the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out; he was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A crowd of the townspeople was with her.

and he called two of them to him, and sent them to the Master to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?"

And the men went to him and said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?' "

When John's messengers were gone, he began to speak to the crowds about John. "What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind?

Now there was a woman in the town who was leading a sinful life, and when she learned that he was having dinner at the Pharisee's house, she got an alabaster flask of perfume,

and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and sickness??ary, who was called Mary of Magdala, out of whom seven demons had been driven,

When a great throng was gathering and people were coming to him from one town after another, he said in his figurative way,

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the path and was trodden on, and the wild birds ate it up.

And they went to him and woke him up, and said to him, "Master! Master! We are lost!" Then he awoke and reproved the wind and the rough water, and they ceased, and there was a calm.

And when he landed, he met a man possessed by demons, who was coming out of the town. He had worn no clothing for a long time, and did not live in a house but in the tombs.

For he was commanding the foul spirit to get out of the man. For it had often seized him, and though he had been fastened with chains and fetters, and was closely watched, he would snap his bonds and the demon would drive him away to the desert.

Now there was a large drove of pigs feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to give them leave to go into them. And he did so.

And those who had seen it told them how the man who had been possessed was cured.

And a man named Jairus came up??e was leader of the synagogue??nd he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house,

because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he was going, the crowds of people almost crushed him.

Jesus said, "Who was it who touched me?" And as everyone denied having done so, Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and they are crowding you."

And they laughed at him, for they knew that she was dead.

Herod the governor heard of all that was happening, and he was perplexed because some people said that John had risen from the dead,

Once when he was praying by himself, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?"

It was about eight days after Jesus said this that he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

And as he was praying, the look of his face changed and his clothes turned dazzling white.

and they appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was to go through with at Jerusalem.

Just as they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, how good it is that we are here! Let us put up three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah!" For he did not know what he was saying.

At the sound of the voice, they saw that Jesus was alone. And they kept silence, and said nothing about it to anyone at that time.

Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him, but Jesus reproved the foul spirit and cured the boy and gave him back to his father.

And they were all amazed at the power of God. While everybody was full of wonder at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples,

But they did not understand what he meant, indeed it was concealed from them, in order that they might not comprehend it, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

But Jesus knew the question that was in their minds and he took a child and made him stand by his side,

As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem,

And the people there would not receive him, because he was going to Jerusalem.

At that moment he was inspired with joy, and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the learned and intelligent, and revealing it to children! Yes, I thank you, Father, for choosing to have it so!

Jesus replied, "A man was on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went off leaving him half dead.

But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon him, and when he saw him he pitied him,

She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Master's feet, and listened to what he was saying.

But Martha was worried with all she had to do for them, and she came up and said, "Master, does it make no difference to you that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me."

Once as he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, "Master, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

Once he was driving out a dumb demon, and when the demon was gone the dumb man spoke. And the people were amazed.

Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and in the end the man is worse off than he was before."

The Pharisee noticed that he did not wash before the meal, and he was surprised.

See how the lilies grow. They do not toil or spin, but, I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was never dressed like one of them.

But you may be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into.

One Sabbath he was teaching in one of the synagogues,

and there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten herself up at all.

One Sabbath, when he went to take a meal at the house of a member of the council who was a Pharisee, they were watching him closely.

There was a man in front of him who had dropsy.

So the slave went back, and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his slave, 'Hurry out into the streets and squares of the city, and bring the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame in here!'

And he was ready to fill himself with the pods the pigs were eating, and no one would give him anything.

And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and pitied him, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

for my son here was dead, and he has come to life; he was lost, and he is found!' So they began to celebrate.

But his elder son was in the field. When he came in and approached the house, he heard music and dancing,

But he was angry and would not go into the house. And his father came out and urged him.

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because your brother was dead, and has come to life, and was lost and is found!' "

And he said to his disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and it was reported to him that this man was squandering his property.

Until John came, it was the Law and the Prophets. From that time the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone has been crowding into it.

"There was once a rich man, who used to dress in purple and fine linen, and to live in luxury every day.

And a beggar named Lazarus was put down at his gate covered with sores

and eager to satisfy his hunger with what was thrown away from the rich man's table. Why, the very dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came about that the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to the companionship of Abraham, and the rich man too died and was buried.

And in Hades he looked up, tormented as he was, and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus beside him.

And as he was going into one village he met ten lepers, and they stood at some distance from him,

But one of them, when he saw that he was cured, came back, loudly praising God,

and fell on his face at Jesus' feet, and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.

Was no one found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner?"

He was once asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, and he answered, "The Kingdom of God is not coming visibly,

In the time of the Son of Man it will be just as it was in the time of Noah.

Or as it was in Lot's time; they went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building,

and he said, "There was once in a city a judge who had no fear of God and no respect for men.

There was a widow in the city and she came to him and said, 'Protect me from my opponent.'

"Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector.

I tell you, it was he who went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted."

And he said, "I have obeyed all these commandments ever since I was a child."

But when he heard that, he was much cast down, for he was very rich.

They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by.

And he went into Jericho and was passing through it.

Now there was a man named Zaccheus, the principal tax-collector, a rich man,

who wanted to see who Jesus was, and he could not because of the crowd, for he was a small man.

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree, to see him, for Jesus was coming that way.

For the Son of Man has come to search for what was lost and to save it."

As they were listening to this, Jesus went on to give them an illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was immediately going to appear.

And he called in ten of his slaves and gave them each twenty dollars and told them to trade with it while he was gone.

for I was afraid of you, for you are a stern man. You pick up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.'