And when eight days were completed for circumcising him, his name was called Jesus, as it had been called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb.

Now when the period of their purification ended, in accordance with the law of Moses, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, to do as it is written in the law of the Lord,

(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

And they also offered a sacrifice as commanded in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons."

And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and as the parents brought in the child Jesus that they might do for him according to the custom of the law,

Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said;

but Symeon blessed them, and to his mother Mary he said, "This child is destined for the downfall as well as for the rise of many a one in Israel; destined to be a Sign for man's attack ??35 to bring out the secret aims of many a heart. And your own soul will be pierced by a spear."

Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed -- and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!"

and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the [area of the] temple, but was serving and worshiping night and day with fastings and prayers.

Then, as soon as they had accomplished all that the Law required, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the Feast;

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

And then, as they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching everywhere for him.

And all of them who heard Him were amazed at His understanding [i.e., of spiritual matters] and His answers [to questions they would ask Him].

And He answered, “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and did as he was ordered: and his mother kept all these words in her heart.

And as Jesus grew older He gained in both wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.

As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Therefore produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]. And do not even begin to say to yourselves [as a defense], ‘We have Abraham for our father [and so our heritage assures us of salvation]’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham [for God can replace the unrepentant, regardless of their heritage, with those who are obedient].

The crowds would ask him, "Then what ought we to do?"

Some soldiers asked him, “And what about us, what are we to do?” And he replied to them, “Do not extort money from anyone or harass or blackmail anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

he answered the question by saying to them all, "As for me, I am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose very sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So then indeed, as to many things and various, he exhorted, and continued telling his glad-message unto the people.

But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him as to Herodias, the wife of his brother, and as to all the wicked things which Herod had done,

When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As He was praying, heaven opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

And as soon as the devil had ended all his temptations, he departed from him for a season.

And He was honored by everyone [as] He taught in their [Jewish] synagogues.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah),
Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy),

then he closed the book, and returning it to the minister, he sat down: and as the eyes of the whole synagogue were fix'd with attention upon him,

He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

And he said unto them, 'Certainly ye will say to me this simile, Physician, heal thyself; as great things as we heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country;'

And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things;

And, rising up, they thrust him forth outside the city, and led him as far as a brow of the hill on which their city was built, - so that they might throw him down headlong.

All were amazed, and began to ask one another, saying. "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out."

And having risen out of the synagogue, he entered into the house of Simon, and the mother-in-law of Simon was pressed with a great fever, and they did ask him about her,

And when the sun went down, all, as many as had persons sick with divers diseases, brought them to him, and having laid his hands on every one of them, he healed them;

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.

As soon as it was day, he departed and went away into a desert place, and the people sought him and came to him, and kept him that he should not depart from 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."

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

And as He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a haul.

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were [at the point of] breaking;

and they beckoned to their comrades in another ship, having come to assist them, And they came, and filled both ships, so as to sink them.

at sight of this, Simon Peter fell on his knees before Jesus, and said, Lord, withdraw from such a sinful man as I:

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."

After they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].

And it came to pass as he was in one of the cities, that behold, there was a man full of leprosy, and seeing Jesus, falling upon his face, he besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me.

Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so: "I am willing; become clean." Instantly the leprosy left the man;

And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

And as they could find no way to get him in, on account of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his mat through the tiles, among the people in front of Jesus.

After this Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].”

This led the Pharisees and Scribes of their party to expostulate with His disciples and ask, "Why are you eating and drinking with these tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"

I came not to call saints, but sinners to repentance. Then they ask'd him, how comes it that John's disciples,

Again they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and pray, as do also those of the pharisees; but yours eat and drink."

Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Then, as an illustration, Jesus said to them: "No man ever tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old one; for, if he does, he will not only tear the new garment, but the piece from the new one will not match the old.

And it came to pass, on the second-first sabbath, as he is going through the corn fields, that his disciples were plucking the ears, and were eating, rubbing with the hands,

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him;

He went into the house of God, took the loaves of the Presence and ate them, giving them to his men as well ??bread that no one is allowed to eat except the priests."

and the scribes and Pharisees watched to see if he would heal on the sabbath, so as to discover some charge against him.

but as he knew their thoughts, he said to the man, whose hand was paralytic, rise up, and stand there in the middle. and he arose, and stood before him.

Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?

And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

But, they, were filled with folly, and began conversing one with another, as to, what they might do with Jesus.

And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:

[They were] Simon, also called Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John [also brothers], Philip, Bartholomew [i.e., the same as Nathaniel. See John 1:45],

Matthew [i.e., the same as Levi. See Mark 2:14], Thomas [i.e., the same as Didymus. See John 11:16], James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, called the Zealot [i.e., the same as the Cananean. See Matt. 10:4],

Judas, the son of James [i.e., the same as Thaddaeus. See Matt. 10:3] and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor [to Jesus].

as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed.

Then, raising his eyes and looking at his disciples, Jesus spoke as follows: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

But as for you, who hear me, love your enemies: do good to those, who hate you: bless those, who curse you:

[Ask God's] blessing on those who curse you; pray for those who treat you spitefully.

Whoever strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other one also [simply ignore insignificant insults or losses and do not bother to retaliate—maintain your dignity]. Whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

And, if ye love them that love you, what sort of thanks are there for you? for, even sinners, love, such as love them.

if you return one kind office by another, where's the obligation? the heathen themselves do as much.

And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

But love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; for your reward will be great (rich, abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High; because He Himself is kind and gracious and good to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over [with no space left for more]. For with the standard of measurement you use [when you do good to others], it will be measured to you in return.”

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

There is no such thing as a good tree bearing worthless fruit, or, on the other hand, a worthless tree bearing good fruit.

Why call ye me 'Master, Master': and do not as I bid you?

When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant's life.

Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith [as this man’s].”

And as he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she a widow, and a very considerable crowd of the city was with her.

And this story about Jesus spread all through Judea, and in the neighboring countries as well.

and sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the Coming One, or should we wait for someone else?"

So the men came to Jesus and said, “John the Baptist sent us to You to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One (the Messiah), or should we look for someone else?’”

And, answering, he said unto them - Go and bear tidings unto John, as to what ye have seen and heard: The blind, are receiving sight, the lame, walk, lepers, are cleansed, and, the deaf, hear, the dead, are raised, the destitute, are told the glad-message;

When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to ask the crowds about John. "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?