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.

With them he came down the hill and stood on a level spot. There was a great company of his disciples with him, and a large multitude of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to get cured of their diseases.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are you who hunger now [for righteousness, actively seeking right standing with God], for you will be [completely] satisfied. Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are you who weep now [over your sins and repent], for you will laugh [when the burden of sin is lifted].

Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people hate you, and exclude you [from their fellowship], and insult you, and scorn your name as evil because of [your association with] the Son of Man.

But woe to you -- the rich, because ye have got your comfort.

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

bless and show kindness to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again.

Now if you practice loving only those who love you, what credit do you get for that? Why, even notorious sinners practice loving those who love them.

And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

And if you lend [to those] from whom you expect to receive [back], what kind of credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may get back an equal [amount]!

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged: do not give punishment to others, and you will not get punishment yourselves: make others free, and you will be made free:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

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

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is not from thorns that men gather figs, nor from the bramble that they can get a bunch of grapes.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

He is like a man building a house, who went deep and put the base of it on a rock; and when the water came up and the river was driving against that house, it was not moved, because the building was good.

So, Jesus went with them. And when He got close to the military officer's house, the officer sent [his] friends to Jesus, saying to Him [i.e., speaking on behalf of the military officer], "Sir, do not trouble yourself, for I do not deserve for you to come into my house;

And I had the feeling that I was not even good enough to come to you: but say the word only, and my servant will be well.

And they who had been sent returning to the house found the bondman, who was ill, in good health.

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

And he came up [and] touched the bier, and those who were carrying [it] stopped. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"

And the dead man got up, and words came from his lips. And he gave him to his mother.

And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

And he answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good tidings preached to them.

Blessed [joyful, spiritually favored] is he who does not take offense at Me.”

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

It proves that [God's] wise counsel is right in the eyes of all of her children [i.e., in the eyes of people known for their wisdom]."

Now there was a woman in the town who was leading a sinful life, and when she learned that he was having dinner at the Pharisee's house, she got an alabaster flask of perfume,

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,