Now when Jesus was born at Bethlehem, belonging to Judaea, in the days of king Herod, magicians from the East arrived at Jerusalem,

A cry was heard in Rama, weeping and sore lamentation ??Rachel weeping for her children, and inconsolable because they are no more.

Now, produce fruit that answers to your repentance,

But Jesus answered him, "Come now, this is how we should fulfil all our duty to God." Then John gave in to him.

Now when Jesus had been baptized, the moment he rose out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove upon him.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee; ??13 he left Nazaret and settled at Capharnahum beside the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali

Let what you say be simply 'yes' or 'no'; whatever exceeds that springs from evil.

Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No,

When you give alms, make no flourish of trumpets like the hypocrites in the synagogues and the streets, so as to win applause from men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward.

When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Store up no treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrode, where thieves break in and steal:

No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other ??you cannot serve both God and Mammon.

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which blooms to-day and is thrown to-morrow into the furnace, will not he much more clothe you? O men, how little you trust him!

Well, if for all your evil you know to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

You will know them by their fruit; do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? No,

So you will know them by their fruit.

Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from my presence, you workers of iniquity.'

Now, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts upon them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock.

Now when evening came they brought him many demoniacs, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all the invalids ??17 that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, He took away our sicknesses and he removed our diseases.

Now a heavy storm came on at sea, so that the boat was buried under the waves. He was sleeping.

Now, some distance away, there was a large drove of swine grazing;

When Jesus heard it he said, "Those who are strong have no need of a doctor, but those who are ill.

No one sews a piece of undressed cloth on an old coat, for the patch breaks away from it, and the tear is made worse:

Now a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel of his robe;

Now when Jesus reached the official's house and saw the flute-players and the din the crowd were making,

and their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly charged them, "See, nobody is to know of this."

Now, when they bring you up for trial, do not trouble yourselves about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will come to you at the moment,

Have no fear of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul: rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent his disciples

I tell you truly, no one has arisen among the sons of women who is greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the Realm of heaven is greater than he is.

From the days of John the Baptist till now the Realm of heaven suffers violence, and the violent press into it.

And you, O Capharnahum! Exalted to heaven? No, you will sink to Hades! ??for if the miracles performed in you had been performed in Sodom, Sodom would have lasted to this day.

All has been handed over to me by my Father: and no one knows the Son except the Father ??nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Now a man with a withered hand was there; so in order to get a charge against him they asked him, "Is it right to heal on the sabbath?"

but as Jesus knew of it he retired from the spot. Many followed him, and he healed them all,

He will not wrangle or shout, no one will hear his voice in the streets.

As Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, "Any realm divided against itself comes to ruin, any city or house divided against itself will never stand;

He replied to them, "It is an evil and disloyal generation that craves a Sign, but no Sign will be given to it except the Sign of the prophet Jonah;

Some other seeds fell on stony soil where they had not much earth, and shot up at once because they had no depth of soil;

but when the sun rose they got scorched and withered away because they had no root.

Now, listen to the parable of the sower.

he has no root in himself, he does not last, but when the word brings trouble or persecution he is at once repelled.

As for him who is sown 'on good soil,' that is the man who hears the word and understands it; he bears fruit, producing now a hundredfold, now sixty, and now thirtyfold."

'No,' he said, 'for you might root up the wheat when you were gathering the weeds.

So he said to them, "Well then, every scribe who has become a disciple of the Realm of heaven is like a householder who produces what is new and what is old from his stores."

Now when Jesus had finished these parables he set out from there,

since John had told him, "You have no right to her."

When evening fell, the disciples came up to him and said, "It is a desert place and the day is now gone; send off the crowds to buy food for themselves in the villages."

but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, buffeted by the waves (for the wind was against them).

Then Jesus spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

Then the disciples came up and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees have taken offence at what they hear you say?"

But he made no answer to her. Then his disciples came up and pressed him, saying, "Send her away, she is wailing behind us."

"No, sir," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Then Jesus called his disciples and said, "I am sorry for the crowd; they have been three days with me now, and they have nothing to eat. I will not send them away starving, in case they faint on the road."

Now the Pharisees and Sadducees came up and, in order to tempt him, asked him to show them a Sign from heaven.

"It is an evil and disloyal generation that craves a Sign, and no Sign shall be given to it except the Sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.

When Jesus noted this he said, "How little trust you have in me! Why all this talk, because you have brought no bread?

Why do you not see that I was not speaking to you about bread? No, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Now when Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of man is?"

Now I tell you, Peter is your name and on this rock I will build my church; the powers of Hades shall not succeed against it.

but Jesus came forward and touched them, saying, "Rise, have no fear."

And on raising their eyes they saw no one except Jesus all alone.

Nay, I tell you Elijah has already come, but they have not recognized him ??they have worked their will on him. And the Son of man will suffer at their hands in the same way."

Now when his fellow-servants saw what had happened they were greatly distressed, and they went and explained to their master all that had happened.

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What God has joined, then, man must not separate."

The disciples said to him, "If that is a man's position with his wife, there is no good in marrying."

Then Peter replied, "Well, we have left our all and followed you. Now what are we to get?"

Jesus said to them, "I tell you truly, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me shall also sit on twelve thrones to govern the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now when evening came the master of the vineyard said to his bailiff, 'Summon the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and going on to the first.'

Now as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem he took the twelve aside by themselves and said to them as they were on the road,

Jesus replied, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can."

but Jesus called them and said, "You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them:

and noticing a fig tree by the roadside he went up to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you after this!" And instantly the fig tree withered up.

Jesus answered, "I tell you truly, if you have faith, if you have no doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree but even if you say to this hill, 'Take and throw yourself into the sea,' it will be done.

Where did the baptism of John come from? From heaven or from men?" Now they argued to themselves, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." He said to them, "No more will I tell you what authority I have for acting as I do.

Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these vinedressers?"

Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner: this is the doing of the Lord, and a wonder to our eyes?

When the high priests and Pharisees heard these parables they knew he was speaking about them;

But they paid no attention and went off, one to his estate, another to his business,

Now when the king came in to view his guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in a wedding-robe.

They sent him their disciples with the Herodians, who said, "Teacher, we know you are sincere and that you teach the Way of God honestly and fearlessly; you do not court human favour.

That same day some Sadducees came up to him, men who hold there is no resurrection. They put this question to him:

Now there were seven brothers in our number. The first married and died; as he had no children he left his wife to his brother.

Now at the resurrection whose wife will she be? They all had her."

No one could make any answer to him, and from that day no one ventured to put another question to him.

Jesus replied, "Take care that no one misleads you;

for there will be sore misery then, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now ??no and never shall be.

Let the fig tree teach you a parable. As soon as its branches turn soft and put out leaves, you know summer is at hand;

Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, but only my Father.

As were the days of Noah, so will the arrival of the Son of man be.

For as in the days before the deluge people ate and drank, married and were married, till the day Noah entered the ark;

and as they knew nothing till the deluge came and swept them all away; so will the arrival of the Son of man be.

Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come.

Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time?

that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know;

For although the stupid took their lamps, they took no oil with them,

But the sensible replied, 'No, there may not be enough for us and for you. Better go to the dealers and buy for yourselves.'

Now while they were away buying oil, the bridegroom arrived; those maidens who were ready accompanied him to the marriage-banquet, and the door was shut.

but he replied, 'I tell you frankly, I do not know you.'