Ye are bringing nigh on Mine altar polluted bread, And ye have said: 'In what have we polluted Thee?' In your saying: 'The table of Jehovah -- it is despicable,'

And when ye bring nigh the blind for sacrifice, 'There is no evil,' And when ye bring nigh the lame and sick, 'There is no evil;' Bring it near, I pray thee, to thy governor -- Doth he accept thee? or doth he lift up thy face? Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And now, appease, I pray thee, the face of God, And He doth favour us; From your own hand hath this been, Doth He accept of you appearances? Said Jehovah of Hosts.

Who is even among you, And he shutteth the two-leaved doors? Yea, ye do not kindle Mine altar for nought, I have no pleasure in you, said Jehovah of Hosts, And a present I do not accept of your hand.

For, from the rising of the sun to its going in, Great is My name among nations, And in every place perfume is brought nigh to My name, and a pure present, For great is My name among nations, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.

And cursed is a deceiver, who hath in his drove a male, And is vowing, and is sacrificing a marred thing to the Lord, For a great king am I, said Jehovah of Hosts, And My name is revered among nations!

If ye hearken not, and if ye lay it not to heart, To give honour to My name, said Jehovah of Hosts, I have sent against you the curse, And I have cursed your blessings, Yea, I have also cursed it, Because ye are not laying it to heart.

And ye have known that I have sent unto you this charge, For My covenant being with Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And ye, ye have turned from the way, Ye have caused many to stumble in the law, Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And ye have said, 'Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife.

For I hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He who hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words, And ye have said: 'In what have we wearied Him?' In your saying: 'Every evil-doer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, And in them He is delighting,' Or, 'Where is the God of judgment?'

Lo, I am sending My messenger, And he hath prepared a way before Me, And suddenly come in unto his temple Doth the Lord whom ye are seeking, Even the messenger of the covenant, Whom ye are desiring, Lo, he is coming, said Jehovah of Hosts.

And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Doth man deceive God? but ye are deceiving Me, And ye have said: 'In what have we deceived Thee?' The tithe and the heave-offering!

Bring in all the tithe unto the treasure-house, And there is food in My house; When ye have tried Me, now, with this, Said Jehovah of Hosts, Do not I open to you the windows of heaven? Yea, I have emptied on you a blessing till there is no space.

And I have pushed for you against the consumer, And He doth not destroy to you the fruit of the ground, Nor miscarry to you doth the vine in the field, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And declared you happy have all the nations, For ye are a delightful land, said Jehovah of Hosts.

Hard against Me have been your words, Said Jehovah, and ye have said: 'What have we spoken against Thee?'

Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

And they have been to Me, said Jehovah of Hosts, In the day that I am appointing -- a peculiar treasure, And I have had pity on them, As one hath pity on his son who is serving him.

For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch,

And ye have trodden down the wicked, For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day that I am appointing, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

But while he was contemplating this step, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to bring home your wife Mary, for she is with child through the Holy Spirit.

Now all this happened to fulfill what was declared by the Lord through the prophet when he said,

And Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had said to him, and took her as his wife;

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

After hearing what the king said, they went to Bethlehem, while, strange to say, the star they had seen in the east led them on until it came and stood over the place where the babe was.

Now when they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.”

And he was there until the death of Herod, in order that what was said by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Then what was declared by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled when he said,

But after Herod's death an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said to him,

“Get up! Take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”

And he came [and] lived in a town called Nazareth, in order that what was said by the prophets would be fulfilled: "He will be called a Nazarene."

"Repent," he said, "for the Kingdom of the Heavens is now close at hand."

This is the one who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the road for the Lord,
Make His highways straight (level, direct)!’”

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John protested. "It is I," he said, "who have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased and delighted!”

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then the Evil One took him to the holy town; and he put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him,

And he said [mockingly] to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command His angels concerning You [to serve, care for, protect and watch over You]’;

and

‘They will lift you up on their hands,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

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

The third time, the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain, and, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, said to him:

and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

in order that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said,

From that time Jesus began to preach. "Repent," He said, "for the Kingdom of the Heavens is now close at hand."

And He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.”

And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with their father, stitching up their nets; and he said, Come.

He proceeded to teach them, and said:

"Blessed are you when they have insulted and persecuted you, and have said every cruel thing about you falsely for my sake.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

And a leper came to Him, and throwing himself at His feet, said, "Sir, if only you are willing you are able to cleanse me."

So Jesus put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I am willing: be cleansed." Instantly he was cleansed from his leprosy;

And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one [about this]; but go, show yourself to the priest [for inspection] and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony (evidence) to them [of your healing].”

"Sir," he said, "my servant at home is lying ill with paralysis, and is suffering great pain."

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

in order that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said, "He himself took away our sicknesses, and carried away our diseases."

And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky [have] nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near.

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was [at once] a great and wonderful calm [a perfect peacefulness].

And the men were amazed and said, "What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!"

So the demons entreated Him. "If Thou drivest us out," they said, "send us into the herd of swine."

And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority and the power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.”

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew (Levi) sitting in the tax collector’s 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].” And Matthew got up and followed Him.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

Go then, and learn what is said, "I require mercy and not sacrifice:" for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Then the disciples of John came up to him and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast a great deal, and your disciples do not fast?"

And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

While He was thus speaking, a Ruler came up and profoundly bowing said, "My daughter is just dead; but come and put your hand upon her and she will return to life."

For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Now when Jesus had come into the house of the ruler, and had seen the flute-players and the wailing crowd, he said,

He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

So He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be to you."

Then their eyes were opened. And assuming a stern tone Jesus said to them, "Be careful to let no one know."

As soon as the demon had been driven out, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!"