And to love him from your whole heart and from your whole understanding and from your whole strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

And when Jesus saw that he gave a wise answer, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And every man after that was in fear of questioning him any more.

For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit from my right hand, till I set thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.

And in his teaching he said to them, Look away from the scholars, those who desire to go about in long robes, and salutations in the marketplaces,

Sitting across from the temple treasury, He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums.

For they all cast in from that which is abundant to them, but she from her need cast in all, as many things she had, her whole living.

And as he was going out from the temple, one of his disciples said to him: Teacher, see what stones and what buildings!

While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple complex, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately,

Then Jesus began saying to them, "Pay attention so that no one leads you astray [i.e., from the truth].

People will come in my name, saying, I am he; and a number will be turned from the true way.

You will be hated by all people because you belong to me, but the person who holds out [i.e., remains faithful to God] until the end [i.e., the end of this time of severe persecution] will be saved [from destruction].

let not him that is on the house-top go down into his house, nor enter in to take any thing from his house;

For in those days there will be sorrow, such as there has not been from the time when God made the world till now, and will not ever be again.

And if the Lord had not made the time short, no flesh would have been kept from destruction; but because of the saints he has made the time short.

Because there will be false Christs and false prophets, and they will give signs and wonders in the hope of turning even the saints from the true way.

And the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers which are in the heavens will be moved.

And then he will send out the angels, and will get together his saints from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.

Take an example from the fig-tree: when its branches become soft and put out their leaves, you see that the summer is near;

It is as when a man who is in another country for a time, having gone away from his house, and given authority to his servants and to everyone his work, gives the porter an order to keep watch.

Now the Passover Festival and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were held two days later. [Note: This was the annual Jewish Festival week commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership. The unleavened bread was specially baked bread containing no yeast, which was eaten for seven days as part of the celebration]. And the leading priests and experts in the law of Moses were looking for a way to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head.

And, as they were reclining and eating, Jesus said - Verily, I say unto you - One from among you, will deliver me up, he that is eating with me.

And he took a cup, and when he had given praise, he gave it to them: and they all had a drink from it.

but this I tell you, I will never more drink of this fruit of the vine, from this time forth to that day, when I shall drink with you of the spiritual wine in the kingdom of God.

And Jesus said to them, You will all be turned away from me: for it is in the Writings, I will put the keeper of the sheep to death, and the sheep will be put to flight.

But after I have come back from the dead, I will go before you into Galilee.

But Peter said to him, Though the others may be turned away from you, I will not.

And he went forward a little, and falling down on the earth, made request that, if possible, the hour might go from him.

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me: but even so let not my pleasure, but yours be done.

And straight away, while he was still talking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great band with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and the scribes and those in authority.

And they all went away from him in fear.

but he, leaving the linen cloth behind him, fled from them naked.

And Peter followed him from a distance, right inside, into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the officers and warming himself by the fire.

And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting from the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.

Now when Peter was in the courtyard downstairs [i.e., from where the Sanhedrin was having its meeting. See verse 55], one of the head priest's servant girls came in,

and seeing Peter warming himself by the fire, she looked at him and said, "You were with Jesus from Nazareth, too."

And the servant girl having seen him, she began again to say to those who stood by, This man is from them.

But he again denied it. And after a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, Surely thou are from them, for thou are a Galilean, and thy accent is similar.

Now at the Festival it was customary for Pilate to release to the Jews any one prisoner whom they might beg off from punishment;

For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up from envy.

And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

And they made one, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was going by, coming from the country, go with them, so that he might take his cross.

And with him they crucify two robbers; one from the right, and one from the left.

Keep yourself from death, and come down from the cross.

In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were ridiculing and mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others [from death]; He cannot save Himself!

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and have belief. And those who were put on crosses with him said evil things against him.

Now from the sixth hour the whole land was cover'd with darkness until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus said in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

Then one of the soldiers ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink, saying, "Let him alone; let us see if Elijah comes to take him down [from the cross]."

And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end.

And when the centurion, who stood from opposite him, saw that he expired, having cried out this way, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

And there were women watching from a distance: among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome,

These women had ministered to Jesus' needs when they followed Him from Galilee. Others watching were many women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.

Joseph, from Arimathea, a highly respected member of the [Jewish] Council, who was expecting the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate [i.e., the Roman appointed governor] and asked [him] for the body of Jesus.

And when he had news of it from the captain, he let Joseph have the body.

And [after] purchasing a linen cloth [and] taking him down, he wrapped [him] in the linen cloth and placed him in a tomb that had been cut from the rock. And he rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb.

[Now] Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of Joseph [See verse 40] saw where the body was laid.

Now when the Sabbath day was over [i.e., after sunset on Saturday evening], Mary from Magdala; Mary the mother of James [i.e., the "other Mary" of Matt. 28:1, who was probably Jesus' mother. See Matt. 27:56]; and Salome [i.e., the mother of James and John and wife of Zebedee. See Matt. 27:56], bought spices [i.e., consisting of aloes and other aromatic perfumes] in order to apply them to His body [i.e., as a means of embalming].

And they were saying among themselves, Who will get the stone rolled away from the door for us?

And he said to them, Do not be troubled: you are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been put to death on the cross; he has come back from the dead; he is not here: see, the place where they put him!

And they went out quickly from the place, because fear and great wonder had come on them: and they said nothing to anyone, because they were full of fear that ...

Now when he came back from the dead early on the first day of the week, he went first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had sent out seven evil spirits.

And when they heard that Jesus was alive and had been seen by Mary from Magdala, they refused to believe it.

And later he was seen by the eleven themselves while they were taking food; and he said sharp words to them because they had no faith and their hearts were hard, and because they had no belief in those who had seen him after he had come back from the dead.

The person who believes [i.e., the Gospel] and is immersed will be saved [i.e., from condemnation], but whoever does not believe it will be condemned.

And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.][And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]

As they were handed down to us by those who saw them from the first and were preachers of the word,

it seemed best to me also--[because I] have followed all [things] carefully from the beginning--to write [them] down in orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus,

In order that you may be able to satisfy yourself of the accuracy of the story which you have heard from the lips of others.]

It happened that in the days of Herod, king of Judea, [there was] a certain priest, Zechariah by name, of the division of Abijah. And {he had a wife} from the daughters of Aaron, and her name [was] Elizabeth.

Just then an angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the incense altar.

For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord; he will not take wine or strong drink; and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth.

After that time, Elisabeth, being certain that she was to become a mother, kept herself from men's eyes for five months, saying,

"This wise hath God dealt with me, in the days when he looked on me, to take from me the rebuke that I suffered among men."

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee, named Nazareth,

Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have received favor from God.

The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

For no word from God will be impossible.

So Mary said, "Behold, the Lord's female slave! May it happen to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

Then she spoke out in a loud voice and said, " [Mary], you are [truly] blessed [from] among [all] women, and the child you will bear [i.e., Jesus] is blessed [as well].

And from where is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

And blessed [is] she who believed that [there] will be a fulfillment to what was spoken to her from the Lord!"

For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me.

For behold from now all generations call me blessed; because the Mighty One did great things unto me, and His name is holy;

He shows His mercy from age to age to those who fear him.

He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.

He has put down kings from their seats, lifting up on high the men of low degree.

And they said unto her - There is, no one from among thy kindred, who is called by this name!

"May the Lord be praised, [who is] the God of the Israelites, for He has come to [the aid of] His people and bought them back [i.e., from bondage].

He has provided a horn of salvation [i.e., His saving strength] for us from a descendant of His servant King David [i.e., Jesus, born of Mary]

(As he said, by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the earliest times,)

Salvation from those who are against us, and from the hands of those who have hate for us;

That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us, might give him worship,

Because of the loving mercies of our God, by which the dawn from heaven has come to us,

Now it came about in those days that an order went out from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a numbering of all the world.

And Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judaea, to Beth-lehem, the town of David, because he was of the house and family of David,

[Suddenly] an angel from the Lord [was seen] standing near them and the glorious presence of the Lord shone around them, and they were very afraid.

And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying,

And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us.

For mine eyes have seen the saviour sent from thee: