Now there was a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years.

John had been telling Herod, "It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

An opportunity came during Herod's birthday celebration, when he gave a banquet for his top officials, military officers, and the most important people of Galilee.

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."

He swore with an oath to her, "I'll give you anything you ask for, up to half of my kingdom."

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

He told them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while," because so many people were coming and going that they didn't even have time to eat.

When he got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

"you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.'

"I have compassion for the crowd, because they've already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat.

When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?" They told him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?" They told him, "Seven."

Then Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he was asking his disciples, "Who do people say I am?"

because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Indeed, what can a person give in exchange for his life?

Then Peter told Jesus, "Rabbi, it's good that we're here! Let's set up three shelters one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

The spirit has often thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us!"

Jesus told him, ""If you are able?' Everything is possible for the person who believes!"

because he was teaching his disciples, "The Son of Man will be betrayed into human hands. They will kill him, but after being dead for three days he will be raised."

Whoever is not against us is for us.

"If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

So if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life injured than to have two hands and go to hell, to the fire that cannot be put out.

In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.

In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.

Because everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.

Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

But Jesus told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote this command for you.

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Nobody is good except for one God.

Then Jesus looked around and told his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus told them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth to get into the kingdom of God!

It's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God."

Jesus looked at them intently and said, "For humans it's impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and told him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you."

He asked them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Jesus told them, "You will drink from the cup that I'm going to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I'm going to be baptized. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right or my left. Those positions have already been prepared for others."

because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people."

Then Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man told him, "Rabbouni, I want to see again."

Seeing in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing except leaves because it wasn't the season for figs.

Then he began to teach them: "It is written, is it not, "My house is to be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you've turned it into a hideout for bandits!"

When the high priests and elders heard this, they began to look for a way to kill him, because they were afraid of him, since the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

I tell all of you with certainty, if anyone says to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' if he doesn't doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

That is why I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad.

"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother.

As for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

When Jesus saw how wisely the man answered, he told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask him another question.

"As for yourselves, be on your guard! People will hand you over to local councils, and you will be beaten in their synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings to testify to them because of me.

When they take you away and hand you over for trial, don't worry ahead of time about what you will say. Instead, say whatever is given to you at that time, because it won't be you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

"How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!

If the Lord had not shortened those days, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen, he has shortened those days.

He'll send out his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."

Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death,

This perfume could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and the money given to the destitute." So they got extremely angry with her.

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.

After they had listened to him, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he began to look for a good opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?"

Then he will show you a large upstairs room that is furnished and ready. Get everything ready for us there."

For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

He told them, "This is my blood of the covenant that is being poured out for many people.

He kept repeating, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want but what you want."

When he went back, he found his disciples asleep. "Simon, are you asleep?" he asked Peter. "You couldn't stay awake for one hour, could you?

Peter followed Jesus at a distance as far as the high priest's courtyard. He was sitting with the servants and warming himself at the fire.

Meanwhile, the high priests and the whole Council were looking for some testimony against Jesus in order to have him put to death, but they couldn't find any.

So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate do for them what he always did.

Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?"

But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead.

So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, "Listen! He's calling for Elijah!"

They used to accompany him and care for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there, too.

Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Council, who was waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

They kept saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

But he told them, "Stop being astonished! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. Look at the place where they laid him.

Finally he appeared to his eleven disciples while they were eating. He rebuked them for their unbelief and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen.

I, too, have carefully investigated everything from the beginning and have decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled, and fear overwhelmed him.

He is the one who will go before the Lord with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, and to prepare the people to be ready for the Lord."

Meanwhile, the people kept waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed in the sanctuary so long.

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

"This is what the Lord did for me when he looked favorably on me and took away my public disgrace."

Later on, Mary set out for a Judean city in the hill country.

As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.

How blessed is this woman for believing that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!"

because the Almighty has done great things for me. His name is holy.

His mercy lasts from generation to generation for those who fear him.

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

He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And everyone was amazed.

Suddenly, Zechariah could open his mouth, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak and to praise God.

Fear came over all their neighbors, and throughout the hill country of Judea all these things were being discussed.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! He has taken care of his people and has set them free.

He has raised up a mighty Savior for us from the family of his servant David,

He granted us deliverance from our enemies' grip so that we could serve him without fear

While they were there, the time came for her to have her baby,

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.

Then the angel told them, "Stop being afraid! Listen! I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.

And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough."