exactly as they were handed down to us by those [with personal experience] who from the beginning [of Christ’s ministry] were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word [that is, of the teaching concerning salvation through faith in Christ],

It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,

to perform his customary duties as a priest before God, he drew the responsibility [that day] of entering the Temple of the Lord to burn the incense offering. [Note: This was done on a golden Altar in the Temple by a priest twice a day].

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition [in prayer] was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

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.

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous [which is to seek and submit to the will of God]—in order to make ready a people [perfectly] prepared [spiritually and morally] for the Lord.”

And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.

"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."

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

And coming to her, the angel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Then Mary got up and went quickly into the high lands, to a town of Judah;

And she exclaimed loudly, “Blessed [worthy to be praised] are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

And Mary said: My soul gives glory to God;

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

And it came to the ears of her neighbours and relations that the Lord had been very good to her, and they took part in her joy.

And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

To show mercy [as He promised] to our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant [the promised blessing],

Yes, you [my] child [i.e., John], will be called the prophet of the Highest [i.e., God], for you will go ahead of the Lord's presence to prepare His ways.

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For a Savior has been born today in David's city [i.e., Bethlehem], who is Christ the Lord [i.e., God's specially chosen one].

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem of the name of Symeon, an upright and God-fearing man, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Now it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ [i.e., God's, specially chosen one].

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

and blessed God, and said, "Now, Lord, thou dismissest thy servant in peace, according to thy word;

[to be] a light for revealing [God's way of salvation] to the [unconverted] Gentiles, and a [source of] glory to your people, the Israelites."

Then Simeon [asked God to] bless them and said to Jesus' mother Mary, "Look, many Israelites will be caused to fall [i.e., into spiritual ruin] or rise [i.e., to spiritual renewal] because of Him. And [He will be] a 'sign' [for people] to speak against,

and thus reveal the thoughts of many hearts. Yes, and a sword will cut you [Mary] to the heart [i.e., causing you inward pain]."

And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks unto God, and spake of him to all them that were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

He went into the whole region around the Jordan River proclaiming that those immersed on the basis of their repentance [i.e., determining to change their hearts and lives] would receive the forgiveness of sins [from God].

as the book of the sermons of the prophet Isaiah says, "Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert, Get the Lord's way ready! Make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled up and every mountain and hill shall be cut down; and the crooked places shall be straight and the rough ways smooth.

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

He said to the crowds of people that went out [to the desert] to be immersed by him, "You children of snakes, who warned you to run away from the coming wrath [of God]?

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Taxgatherers also came to get baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what are we to do?"

And he said to them, Do not make an attempt to get more money than the right amount.

Now as people were anticipating [what would happen] and everyone was wondering in their hearts if perhaps John were the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one],

John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:

In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out.

With many other exhortations therefore preached he good tidings unto the people;

Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

because it is written, "God will put his angels in charge of you to watch over you carefully.

And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been as a child, and he went, as his way was, into the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and got up to give a reading.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised,

to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].”

They got up, drove Him out of town, and brought Him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff.

Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet and come out of him!”

And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.

And he got up and went out of the Synagogue and went into the house of Simon. And Simon's wife's mother was very ill with a burning heat; and in answer to their prayers for her

Standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and immediately she got up and began serving them [as her guests].

And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.

And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

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 he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, [and] asked him to put out from the land a little. And he sat down [and] began to teach the crowds from the boat.

Simon replied, "Master, we worked all night and got nothing! However, I will lower the nets at your command."

And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken;

And when they had got their boats to the land, they gave up everything and went after him.

Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus.

Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst before Jesus.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

Who can forgive sins but God only? And Jesus knowing their thoughts, answered and said to them, Why reason ye in your hearts?

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

But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," he said to the one who was paralyzed, "I say to you, 'Get up and pick up your stretcher [and] go to your home.'"

And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Jesus [as His disciple].

But Jesus replied to them, "It is not men in good health who require a physician, but the sick.

I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.

And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old.

And no man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is good.

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read what David did, when he himself was hungry and those that were with him? how he went into the house of God,

How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?

The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely [with malicious intent], to see if He would [actually] heal [someone] on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him.

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, Get up, and stand in the midst. And having risen up he stood there.

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 it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.