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.

"The maiden will be pregnant and will have a son, And they will name him Immanuel."?? word which means "God with us."

They said, "At Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

So they obeyed the king and went, and the star which they had seen rise led them on until it reached the place where the child was, and stopped above it.

When they saw the star, they were very glad,

and they went into the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they threw themselves down and did homage to him. They opened their treasure boxes and presented the child with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.

When they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, "Wake up! Take the child and his mother and make your escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave. For Herod is going to look for the child in order to make away with him."

"A cry was heard in Ramah! Weeping and great lamenting! Rachel weeping for her children, And inconsolable because they were gone."

and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, in acknowledgment of their sins.

and said to him, "If you are God's son, throw yourself down, for the Scripture says, " 'He will give his angels orders about you, And they will lift you up with their hands So that you may never strike your foot against a stone!' "

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was afterward called Peter, and his brother, Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

They immediately dropped their nets and went with him.

And they immediately left the boat and their father, and went with him.

"Blessed are the mourners, for they will be consoled!

"Blessed are the humble-minded, for they will possess the land!

"Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for uprightness, for they will be satisfied!

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy!

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called God's sons!

Be glad and exult over it, for you will be richly rewarded in heaven, for that is the way they persecuted the prophets who went before you!

People do not light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure; they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Your light must burn in that way among men so that they will see the good you do, and praise your Father in heaven.

"They were told, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

"You have heard that they were told, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

"You have heard that they were told, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

So when you are going to give to charity, do not blow a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and the streets, to make people praise them. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get!

"When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the squares, to let people see them. I tell you, that is the only reward they will get!

And when you pray, do not repeat empty phrases as the heathen do, for they imagine that their prayers will be heard if they use words enough.

For if you forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will forgive you too.

But if you do not forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will not forgive you for your offenses.

"When you fast, do not put on a gloomy look, like the hypocrites, for they neglect their personal appearance to let people see that they are fasting. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get.

Look at the wild birds. They do not sow or reap, or store their food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more account than they?

Why should you worry about clothing? See how the wild flowers grow. They do not toil or spin,

"Do not give what is sacred to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.

In the evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove the spirits out with a word, and cured all who were sick,

And they came and woke him up, saying, "Save us, sir! We are lost!"

When he reached the other side, in the region of Gadara, two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and confronted him; they were so extremely violent that nobody could go along that road.

And they suddenly screamed out, "What do you want of us, you Son of God? Have you come here before the appointed time to torture us?"

And he said to them, "Begone!" And they came out and went into the pigs. And suddenly the whole drove rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the water.

And the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to go away from their district.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, "Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?

And when the crowd saw it, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such power to men.

And the Pharisees observed it, and they said to his disciples, "Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?"

Jesus said to them, "Can wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and they will fast then.

And people do not put new wine into old wine-skins, or if they do, the skins burst, and the wine runs out and the skins are spoiled. But people put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and so both are saved."

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

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came up to him, and he said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" They said to him, "Yes, sir."

But they went out and spread the news about him all over that part of the country.

But just as they were going out, some people brought to him a dumb man who was possessed by a demon,

But the sight of the crowds of people filled him with pity for them, because they were bewildered and dejected, like sheep that have no shepherd.

Then he called his twelve disciples to him, and gave them power over the foul spirits so that they could drive them out, and so that they could heal any disease or illness.

But be on your guard against men, for they will give you up to their courts, and have you flogged in their synagogues,

But when they give you up, you must have no anxiety about how to speak or what to say, for you will be told at the very moment what you ought to say,

But when they persecute you in one town, make your escape to another, for I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man arrives.

A pupil should be satisfied to come to be like his teacher, or a slave, to come to be like his master. If men have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they give to the members of his household!

But as they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. "What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind?

Then he began to reproach the towns in which his numerous wonders had been done, because they did not repent.

"Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago!

How is it that he went into the House of God and that they ate the Presentation Loaves which it was against the Law for him and his companions to eat, or for anyone except the priests?

Or did you never read in the Law how the priests in the Temple are not guilty when they break the Sabbath?

There was a man there with one hand withered. And in order to get a charge to bring against him, they asked him, "Is it right to cure people on the Sabbath?"

But when the Pharisees heard of it they said, "This man cannot drive out demons except by the aid of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."

But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to them, "Any kingdom that is disunited is on the way to destruction, and any city or household that is disunited cannot last.

But I tell you, for every careless word that men utter they will have to answer on the Day of Judgment.

Men of Nineveh will rise with this age at the judgment and condemn it, for when Jonah preached they repented, and there is more than Jonah here!

Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and in the end the man is worse off than he was before. That is the way it will be with this present wicked age."

He answered, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are not.

For people who have will have more given to them, and will be plentifully supplied, and from people who have nothing even what they have will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in figures, because though they look they do not see, and though they listen they do not hear or understand.

They are a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, " 'You will listen and listen, and never understand, And you will look and look, and never see!

For this nation's mind has grown dull, And they hear faintly with their ears, And they have shut their eyes, So as never to see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their minds, and turn back, And let me cure them!'

But blessed are your eyes, for they do see, and your ears, for they do hear.

He said to them, 'This is some enemy's doing.' And they said to him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?'

the Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather up out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and the wrongdoers

and throw them into the blazing furnace; there they will wail and grind their teeth.

When it was full, they dragged it up on the beach, and sat down and sorted the good fish into baskets and threw the bad away.

and throw them into the blazing furnace. There they will wail and grind their teeth.

"Do you understand all this?" They said to him, "Yes."

and went to his own part of the country. And he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished, and said, "Where did he get this wisdom, and the power to do these wonders?

And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is treated with honor everywhere except in his native place and at his home."

And while he wanted him killed, he was afraid of the people; for they considered him a prophet.

John's disciples came and took his body away, and buried him, and then they went and reported it to Jesus.

But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. Give them food yourselves."

They said to him, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed them, and he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to the disciples and they gave them to the people.

And they all ate and had enough. And the pieces left over that they gathered up filled twelve baskets.

And the disciples saw him walking on the sea, and they were terrified and said, "It is a ghost!" And they screamed with fear.

When they got into the boat, the wind went down.

And they crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret.

and they begged him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak, and all who touched it were cured.

"Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our ancestors? For they eat their bread without first washing their hands."

But their worship of me is all in vain, For the lessons they teach are but human precepts.' "

Leave them alone. They are blind guides! But if one blind man leads another, they will both fall into the ditch!"

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they pollute a man.

Then great crowds came to him bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, or dumb, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet, and he cured them,

so that the people were astonished to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, "I pity these people for they have been staying with me three days now and they have nothing left to eat, and I do not mean to send them away hungry, for they may give out on the way."

Jesus said to them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

And they all ate and satisfied their hunger. And the pieces that they left that were picked up filled seven baskets.