But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the heaven was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine over all the land,

And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha's time, and yet not one of them was cured except Naaman the Syrian."

Then all the people in the synagogue, on hearing these things, were filled with fury,

and they were completely astounded, because His message was spoken with authority.

"Ha! What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are God's Holy One."

Even demons came out of many people, shrieking and saying, "You are the Son of God!" But He reproved them and would not let them speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

Then He saw two boats lying up on the shore of the lake, but the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

When He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Push out into deep water, and set your nets for a haul."

as well as James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Stop being afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

Then He warned him not to tell anybody, but rather He said, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and, to prove it to the people, make the offering for your purification, just as Moses prescribed."

But the news about Him continued to spread, and great crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases.

One day as He was teaching, there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Him to cure people.

Now some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to get him in and lay him before Jesus.

When He saw their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

Jesus saw that they were arguing, and answered them: "Why are you arguing so in your hearts?

Which is easier, to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Get up and start walking'?

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- turning to the man who was paralyzed, He said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet, and go home."

Then an overwhelming wonder seized them all and they began to give praise to God. They were filled with awe and continued to say, "We have seen unthinkable wonders today!"

Then Levi gave a great reception for Him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others who were at table with them.

Now the Pharisees and their scribes were grumbling at His disciples, and were saying, "Why are you eating and drinking with tax-collectors and notorious sinners?"

After that they said to Him, "John's disciples rigidly practice fasting and offering up prayers; so do the Pharisees, but your disciples keep right on eating and drinking."

Then He told them a short story: "No one tears a piece from a new coat and puts it on an old one; or if he does, he will tear the new one too, and the patch from the new coat will not match the old one.

So no one puts fresh wine into old wine bottles; or, if he does, the fresh wine will burst the bottles, the wine will run out, and the bottles will be ruined.

One Sabbath He happened to be passing through the wheat fields, and His disciples were pulling and eating the heads of wheat, rubbing them in their hands.

And some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath?"

And the scribes and the Pharisees were closely watching Him to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath, in order to get a charge against Him.

But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand at the front." So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, "Is it right on the Sabbath to do people good, or to do them evil, to save life or to take it?"

Then He glanced around at them all and said to him, "Put out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was at once completely restored.

But they were filled with fury and began to discuss what they could do to Jesus.

Then He came down with them and took His stand on a level place, where there was a great throng of His disciples and a vast crowd of people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and the seacoast district of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases.

Even those who were troubled by foul spirits were being cured.

So all the people were trying to touch Him, because power continued to go forth from Him and to cure them all.

Then He fixed His eyes upon His disciples, and began to speak. "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours!

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be completely satisfied! Blessed are you who are weeping now, for you will laugh!

Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and denounce you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

Burst into joy on that day and leap for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way your forefathers used to treat the prophets.

But a curse on you who are rich, for you are now receiving your comforts in full.

But I say to you who listen now to me, practice loving your enemies, practice doing good to those who hate you,

To the man who strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other too; and from the man who takes away your coat, do not keep back your shirt either,

Practice giving to everyone who asks of you, and stop demanding back your goods from him who takes them away.

But you must practice loving your enemies, doing good to them, and lending to them, despairing of nothing; so that your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Continue to be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Practice forgiving others, and you will be forgiven. Practice giving to others, and they will give to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, people will pour into your lap. For the measure you use with others they in turn will use with you."

Why do you continue to look at the tiny speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the heavy girder in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me get that tiny speck out of your eye,' when you cannot see the girder in your own eye? You hypocrite! First get the girder out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to get out the tiny speck in your brother's eye.

For every tree is known by its fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or gather grapes from a bramble-bush.

for he loves our nation, and he is the man who built us our synagogue."

Soon afterwards He chanced to go to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great throng of people were going along with Him.

As He approached the gate of the town, look, there was being carried out a dead man, his mother's only son, and she was a widow! A considerable crowd of townspeople were with her.

So John called two of them to him and sent them to the Lord, to ask, "Are you the One who was to come, or should we continue to look for someone else?"

So 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 continue to look for someone else?'"

And so He answered them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind are seeing and the crippled are walking, the lepers are being healed and the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised and the poor are having the good news preached to them.

If not, what did you go out there to see? A man dressed in silks and satins? No. People who dress gorgeously and live luxuriously are found in royal palaces.

So to what can I compare the men of this age, and what are they like?

They are like little children sitting in the market-place and calling to their fellows in the game: "'We played the wedding march for you, but you did not dance. We sang the funeral dirge, but you did not mourn.'

But wisdom is vindicated by all who are truly wise."

So when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he said to himself, "If He were really a prophet, He would know who and of what character the woman is who is clinging to Him -- that she is a social outcast."

"Two men were in debt to a money-lender. One owed him a hundred dollars, the other ten.

Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled most." Then He said, "You are correct in your judgment."

And turning face to face with the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, as many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the one who has little to be forgiven loves me little."

And He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven!"

But He said to the woman, "It is your faith that has saved you; go on in peace."

Now as a great crowd was coming together and people were coming to Him from one town after another, He said by way of a story:

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and were trodden down, and the wild birds ate them up.

His disciples were asking Him what this story meant.

So He said, "You are granted the privilege of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others they are told in stories, so that they may look and not see, may hear and not understand.

And the portion of them falling among the thorns illustrates those who hear it, but as soon as they pass on they are choked out by the worries and wealth and pleasures of life, and thus yield no mature fruit.

"Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a pot or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.

So it was reported to Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you."

Then He answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's message and practice it."

Now as they were sailing along, He fell off to sleep. But a furious squall of wind rushed down upon the lake, and they were filling up and were in impending peril.

So they came to Him and woke Him up, and said, "Master, Master, we are perishing? Then He aroused Himself and reproved the wind and the surge of the water, and they stopped at once and instantly there came a calm.

Then He said to them, "Where is your faith?" But they were frightened and astounded, and continued to say to one another, "Who can He be? For He gives orders even to the winds and the water, and they obey Him."

So Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, "Legion!" For many demons had gone into him.

Then the demons came out of the man and went into the hogs, and the drove rushed over the cliff into the lake and were drowned.

So the people went out to see what had taken place, and they went to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, with his clothes on and in his right mind; and they were frightened.

Then all the inhabitants of the country around Gerasa asked Him to go away from them, because they were terribly frightened. So He got into a boat and went back.

"Go back to your home, and continue to tell what great things God has done for you." But he went off and told all over the town what great things Jesus had done for him.

Now as Jesus was returning, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all expecting Him.

Then Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" But as all were denying that they had done so, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are jamming you and jostling you."

So He said to her, "My daughter, it is your faith that has cured you; go on in peace."

While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead; stop troubling the Teacher anymore."

Now they were all weeping and wailing over her. But He said, "Stop weeping! For she is not dead but asleep."

And her parents were astounded, but He ordered them not to tell anyone what had taken place.

So He said to them, "Take nothing with you for your journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, nor even have two shirts.

And when you leave that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a protest against all the people who do not welcome you."

As the day began to decline, the Twelve came up and said to Him, "Send the crowd off to the villages and farms around, to get lodging and to find food there, for we are in a destitute place here."

For there were about five thousand men. So He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down in reclining groups of fifty each."

One day while He was praying in solitude, His disciples were nearby, and He asked them, "Who do people say that I am?"

For what benefit will it be to a man to gain the whole world and lose or forfeit himself?

And two men were talking with Him. They were Moses and Elijah,

who appeared in splendor and were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but all at once they became wide awake and saw His splendor and the two men who were standing with Him.

And just as they were starting to leave Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- although he did not know what he was saying.

But as he was saying this, a cloud came and was circling over them, and they were frightened as the two visitors entered into the cloud.

I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not."

"You must store away in your memories these words, for the Son of Man is going to be turned over to the hands of men!"

But they remained ignorant of what this meant; indeed, it had been hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.