During the reign of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron.

But his mother replied, "No! He must be named John."

At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon who was righteous and devout, looking for the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him.

When morning came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:

Simon (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,

Then a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue, came up. Falling at Jesus' feet, he pleaded with him to come to his house,

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest.

She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he said.

But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores,

Now a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd appeared, and the man named Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He walked up to Jesus to kiss him.

Now there was a man named Joseph who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man.

Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days?"