John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, athe Son of God.1

²bAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet,2

c“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way,

³dthe voice of one crying in the wilderness:

e‘Prepare3 the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

⁴fJohn appeared, baptizing in gthe wilderness and proclaiming ha baptism of irepentance jfor the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, kconfessing their sins. ⁶Now John was lclothed with camel's hair and lwore a leather belt around his waist and ate mlocusts and nwild honey. ⁷And he preached, saying, o“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸pI have baptized you with water, but qhe will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

⁹rIn those days Jesus scame from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And when he came up out of the water, immediately he tsaw uthe heavens being torn open vand the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And wa voice came from heaven, x“You are my beloved Son;4 with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

¹²yThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³yAnd he was in the wilderness forty days, being ztempted by aSatan. And he was with the wild animals, and bthe angels were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹⁴cNow after John was arrested, Jesus dcame into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, e“The time is fulfilled, and fthe kingdom of God is at hand;5 grepent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁶hPassing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ifishers of men.”6 ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

²¹jAnd they went into Capernaum, and immediately kon the Sabbath lhe entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²²And mthey were astonished at his teaching, mfor he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴n“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? oI know who you are—pthe Holy One of God.” ²⁵But Jesus qrebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶And the unclean spirit, rconvulsing him and scrying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷And they were all tamazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? uA new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many

²⁹vAnd immediately he7 wleft the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now xSimon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹And he came and ytook her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or zoppressed by demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴aAnd he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And bhe would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

³⁵cAnd rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and dthere he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷and they found him and said to him, e“Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for fthat is why I came out.” ³⁹gAnd hhe went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

⁴⁰iAnd a leper8 came to him, imploring him, and jkneeling said to him, k“If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³And lJesus9 sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴and said to him, m“See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, nshow yourself to the priest and ooffer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, pfor a proof to them.” ⁴⁵qBut he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter ra town, but was out in rdesolate places, and speople were coming to him from every quarter.

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Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹And when he returned to tCapernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ³uAnd they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, vthey removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵And when Jesus wsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, xyour sins are forgiven.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like that? yHe is blaspheming! zWho can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸And immediately Jesus, aperceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that bthe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and cglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and dall the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴eAnd as he passed by, he saw fLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house, many gtax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶And hthe scribes of1 the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, g“Why does he eat2 with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. iI came not to call the righteous, jbut sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸Now kJohn's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, l“Why do John's disciples and mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, n“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and pthen they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²And no one puts new wine into old qwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”3

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

²³rOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples sbegan to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, twhy are they doing uwhat is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, v“Have you never read wwhat David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of4 xAbiathar the high priest, and ate ythe bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And he said to them, z“The Sabbath was made for man, anot man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

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A Man with a Withered Hand

¹cAgain dhe entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ²And ethey watched Jesus,1 to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴And he said to them, f“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And he glooked around at them with anger, grieved at htheir hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” iHe stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶jThe Pharisees went out and immediately jheld counsel with kthe Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

⁷lJesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ma great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and nIdumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around oTyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. ⁹And he told his disciples to phave a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they qcrush him, ¹⁰for rhe had healed many, so that all who had sdiseases pressed around him tto touch him. ¹¹uAnd whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they vfell down before him and cried out, “You are wthe Son of God.” ¹²And xhe strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

¹³yAnd he went up on the mountain and called to him those zwhom he desired, and they came to him. ¹⁴yAnd he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach ¹⁵yand have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶He appointed the twelve: aSimon (to whom bhe gave the name Peter); ¹⁷cJames the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and dMatthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,2 ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

²⁰Then he went ehome, and the crowd gathered again, fso that they could not even eat. ²¹gAnd when hhis family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He iis out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²²And jthe scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, k“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³lAnd he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷But mno one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. nThen indeed he may plunder his house.

²⁸o“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹but whoever pblasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

³¹qAnd his mother and his rbrothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³²And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers3 are outside, seeking you.” ³³And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴And slooking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵tFor whoever udoes the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

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The Parable of the Sower

¹Again vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ²And xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³“Listen! Behold, ya sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ait withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ca hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, f“To you has been given gthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for hthose outside everything is in parables, ¹²iso that

“‘they jmay indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they kshould turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³lAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴mThe sower sows nthe word. ¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it owith joy. ¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but pendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately qthey fall away.1 ¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹but rthe cares of sthe world and tthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ubear fruit, vthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

²¹wAnd he said to them, x“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ²²yFor nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ²³zIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: awith the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵bFor to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶And he said, c“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; dhe knows not how. ²⁸The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once ehe puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰fAnd he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹It is like ga grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³hWith many such parables he spoke ithe word to them, jas they were able to hear it. ³⁴He did not speak to them kwithout a parable, but lprivately to his own disciples he mexplained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

³⁵nOn that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷And a great windstorm arose, and the waves owere breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And he awoke and prebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and qthere was a great calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you rso afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, s“Who then is this, that even tthe wind and the sea obey him?”

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Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

¹uThey came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.1 ²And when Jesus2 had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ³vHe lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ⁶And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and wfell down before him. ⁷And xcrying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, ySon of zthe Most High God? aI adjure you by God, do not torment me.” ⁸For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is bLegion, for we are many.” ¹⁰And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, ¹²and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” ¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

¹⁴The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed3 man, the one who had had cthe legion, sitting there, dclothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ¹⁶And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. ¹⁷And ethey began to beg Jesus4 to depart from their region. ¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and ftell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in gthe Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter

²¹And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. ²²hThen came one of ithe rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet ²³and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and jlay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” ²⁴And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and kthronged about him. ²⁵And there was a woman lwho had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, ²⁶and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. ²⁸For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” ²⁹mAnd immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her ndisease. ³⁰And Jesus, perceiving in himself that opower had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” ³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³²And he looked around to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ³⁴And he said to her, “Daughter, pyour faith has made you well; pgo in peace, and be healed of your ndisease.”

³⁵While he was still speaking, there came from qthe ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why rtrouble sthe Teacher any further?” ³⁶But overhearing5 what they said, Jesus said to qthe ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷And he allowed no one to follow him except tPeter and James and uJohn the brother of James. ³⁸They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus6 saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹And when he had entered, he said to them, v“Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but wsleeping.” ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. But he xput them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ⁴¹yTaking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, zarise.” ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. ⁴³And ahe strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

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