Now these were the circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, his mother, was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married it was found that she was about to become a mother through the influence of the holy Spirit.

But while he was thinking of doing this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not fear to take Mary, your wife, to your home, for it is through the influence of the holy Spirit that she is to become a mother.

She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for it is he who is to save his people from their sins."

But he did not live with her as a husband until she had had a son, and he named the child Jesus.

But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife on any ground, except unfaithfulness, makes her commit adultery, and anyone who marries her after she is divorced commits adultery.

And he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and waited on him.

Just as he said this to them, an official came up and bowing low before him said to him, "My daughter has just died. But come! Lay your hand on her and she will come to life!"

For she said to herself, "If I can just touch his cloak, I will get well."

he said, "You must go away, for the girl is not dead; she is asleep." And they laughed at him.

The queen of the south will rise with this age at the judgment and condemn it, for she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here!

and swore that he would give her anything she asked for.

But she, at her mother's instigation, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter!"

And his head was brought back on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.

But he would not answer her a word. And his disciples came up and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps screaming after us."

And she came and fell down before him, and said, "Help me, sir!"

But she said, "O yes, sir! For even dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters' table!"

He said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Give orders that these two sons of mine sit one at your right and one at your left, when you are king!"

At the resurrection which one's wife will she be? For they all married her."

it is that on your heads may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of Abel the upright to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar!

"But immediately after the misery of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the forces of the sky will shake.

But Jesus observed this and said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? It is a fine thing that she has done to me.

In pouring this perfume on me she has done something to prepare me for burial.

I tell you, wherever this good news is preached all over the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

And he went up to her, and grasping her hand, he made her rise. And the fever left her, and she waited on them.

and appealed to him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live!"

and had had a great deal of treatment from various doctors and had spent all that she had and had not been benefited at all but had actually grown worse,

had heard about Jesus. And she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his coat,

for she said, "If I can only touch his clothes, I shall get well."

The hemorrhage stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was cured.

And he went into the house and said to them, "What is the meaning of all this confusion and crying? The child is not dead, she is asleep."

And the little girl immediately got up and walked about, for she was twelve years old. The moment they saw it they were utterly amazed.

Herodias felt bitterly toward him and wanted him killed. But she could not bring it about,

When she had left the room she said to her mother, "What shall I ask him for?" But she said, "The head of John the baptizer."

And she hurried back at once to the king and asked him for it, saying, "I want you right away to give me John the Baptist's head on a platter."

Now the woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician birth. And she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

But she answered, "True, sir! and still the dogs under the table eat what the children leave!"

And she went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she is an adulteress."

At the resurrection, which one's wife will she be? For all seven of them married her."

For they all gave of what they had to spare, but she in her want has put in everything she possessed??ll she had to live on."

But in those days, when that misery is over, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light

Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, and as he was at table, a woman came in, with an alabaster flask of pure nard perfume, very expensive; she broke the flask and poured the perfume on his head.

And they grumbled at her. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you bother her? It is a fine thing that she has done to me.

She has done all she could; she has perfumed my body in preparation for my burial.

I tell you, wherever the good news is preached all over the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."

and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You were with this Jesus of Nazareth too!"

She went and told it to his old companions, while they were mourning and weeping.

When they heard that he was alive and that she had seen him, they would not believe it.

Soon afterward his wife Elizabeth began to expect a child, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months.

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to remove the disgrace I have endured."

But she was startled at what he said, and wondered what this greeting meant.

And your relative, Elizabeth, although she is old, is going to give birth to a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was said to be barren.

and she went to Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

and she gave a great cry, and said, "You are the most favored of women, And blessed is your child!

Blessed is she who has believed, For what the Lord has promised her will be fulfilled!"

Now the time came for Elizabeth's child to be born, and she gave birth to a son.

and she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped him up, and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them at the inn.

There was also a prophetess there named Hannah, the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She was very old, for after her girlhood she had been married for seven years,

and she had been a widow until she was now eighty-four. She never left the Temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer.

She came up just at that time and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were living in expectation of the liberation of Jerusalem.

the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

And he stood over her and reproved the fever and it left her, and she got up and waited on them.

As he came up to the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out; he was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A crowd of the townspeople was with her.

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 came and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with her hair, and kissed them, and put the perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were really a prophet, he would know who and what the woman is who is touching him, for she leads a wicked life."

And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss, but from the moment I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.

You did not put any oil upon my head, but she has put perfume upon my feet.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little."

because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he was going, the crowds of people almost crushed him.

When the woman saw that she had not escaped his notice, she came forward trembling, and fell down before him, and before all the people told why she had touched him, and how she had been cured at once.

But Jesus heard it and said to him, "Do not be afraid; just have faith, and she will get well."

And they were all wailing and beating their breasts for her. But he said, "Stop wailing! For she is not dead, she is asleep."

And they laughed at him, for they knew that she was dead.

And her spirit returned and she stood up immediately, and he directed them to give her something to eat.

She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Master's feet, and listened to what he was saying.

But Martha was worried with all she had to do for them, and she came up and said, "Master, does it make no difference to you that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me."

The queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation at the Judgment and will condemn them, for she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here!

This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute'??50 so that this age may be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the creation of the world,

and there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten herself up at all.

And he laid his hands on her, and she instantly became erect, and praised God.

Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light the lamp and sweep the house and look carefully until she finds it?

And when she finds it, she calls in her friends and neighbors, and says to them, 'Congratulate me, for I have found the coin that I lost!'

There was a widow in the city and she came to him and said, 'Protect me from my opponent.'

yet because this widow bothers me, I will protect her, so that she may not finally wear me out with her coming.' "

For they all gave from what they had to spare, but she in her want has put in all she had to live on."

She said to him, "You have nothing to draw water with, sir, and the well is deep. Where can you get your living water?

Many of the Samaritans in that town came to believe in him because of the testimony the woman gave when she said, "He has told me everything I ever did!"

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him, but Mary remained at home.

She said to him, "Yes, Master, I do indeed believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

With these words she went and called her sister Mary, whispering to her, "Here is the Master, asking for you."

When she heard it she sprang up and went to him,

The Jews who were sitting with her in the house, condoling with her, when they saw Mary spring up and go out, supposed that she was going to weep at the tomb, and followed her.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, and said, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"

Jesus shed tears.

When a woman is in labor she is sorrowful, for her time has come; but when the child is born, she forgets her pain in her joy that a human being has been brought into the world.

On the day after the Sabbath, very early in the morning while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb, and she saw that the stone had been removed from it.

So she ran away and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple who was dear to Jesus, and said to them, "They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put him."

But Mary stood just outside the tomb, weeping. And as she wept she looked down into the tomb,