He will be the voice of a man shouting out in the desert, [urging people] to make the road for the Lord ready [to travel on]; to make a straight pathway for him."

And immediately upon emerging from the water, He saw the sky split open and the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a dove.

Immediately He called them [to become His followers] and they left their father, Zebedee, and went along with Him.

Jesus spoke sternly to him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him."

And the evil spirit caused the man to have a convulsion, then shouted with a loud voice and came out of him.

And all the people [in the synagogue] were so amazed they began asking one another, "What is this, some new teaching? And it is spoken with such authority He even orders evil spirits, and they obey him."

And news about Him quickly spread everywhere, [even] into all of Galilee and the surrounding regions.

And Simon and those who were with him [i.e., probably Andrew, James and John. See verse 29] followed Him.

When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for you."

Then a person with an infectious skin disease came to Jesus and, kneeling down before Him, begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the term "heal/healing" is originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

And being moved with deep pity, Jesus reached out His hand, touched him and said, "I do want to; be healed."

And immediately the infectious skin disease left him and he was healed.

Jesus sternly warned him, sending him directly out,

and saying to him, "Make sure you do not say anything to anyone. But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your healing with whatever Moses ordered [Lev. 14:1-9], as evidence to people [that you were completely healed]."

But [instead] the man went out telling everyone about the miracle of healing and spreading the story widely, so that Jesus was not able to enter a town publicly but had to remain outside in deserted places. [So], people went to Him there from all over the region.

And when they were unable to get near Jesus, because of the [large] crowd, they removed [a section of] the roof [directly above Him]. [Note: The roof was a flat area, where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., and easily accessible from an outside stairway]. And when they had broken open [a sizable hole], they lowered the cot on which the paralyzed man was lying.

Then Jesus went out again, walking along the shore of the lake, and [when] all the crowd came out to Him, He taught them.

And as He walked along He saw Levi [i.e., the same person as Matthew. See Matt. 9:9], the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the toll booth [i.e., collecting taxes]. He said to him, "Become my follower." And he got up and followed Him.

And it happened that Jesus was having a meal at Levi's house and many tax collectors and worldly people sat down with Him and His disciples, for many [of these kinds of people] became His followers.

And the Pharisees asked Him, "Look, why are they [i.e., Jesus' disciples] doing what is against the law of Moses on the Sabbath day?"

Or how he entered the house of God [i.e., the Temple] when Abiathar was head priest, and ate the 'Bread of Presence' which was not permissible, according to the law of Moses, for anyone but priests? He even gave [some of it] to those who were with him."

And the Pharisees were watching Him to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could [find a reason to] accuse Him.

And the Pharisees immediately went out and conferred with the Herodians against Jesus, plotting how they could kill Him. [Note: These Herodians were members of a political party favoring King Herod]

Jerusalem, Idumaea, the east side of the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon [i.e., cities on the northwest coast of Palestine] came to Him, having heard about the great things [i.e., miracles] He had been performing.

He told His disciples to have a small boat waiting for Him [i.e., from which He could address the people. See 4:1], to prevent His being thronged by the large crowd.

For He had healed so many people that large numbers of them who were plagued with serious illnesses were crowding around Him in hope of getting to touch Him.

And whenever they saw Him, [people possessed by] evil spirits fell to the ground in front of Him, shouting, "You are the Son of God."

He then went up into the mountain and summoned those He wanted to come to Him and they came.

He appointed twelve apostles to travel with Him, whom He could send out to preach

and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. Then Jesus went into a house.

When His relatives [or friends] heard about this [i.e., all that He was doing], they went out to take custody of Him [for safety reasons?], for people were saying, "He has lost his mind."

And the experts in the law of Moses who had come down from Jerusalem were saying [Note: This followed the incident of Jesus healing a man with an evil spirit. See Matt. 12:22-28], "He has Beelzebub [in him]," and "He is driving out evil spirits by [the power of] the chief of evil spirits."

And He called them to Him and began speaking to them in parables [i.e., brief stories to illustrate His teaching], saying, "How can Satan drive out Satan?

Jesus said all this because these experts in the law of Moses had been saying, "He has an evil spirit in him."

Then Jesus' mother and [half-] brothers came and stood outside [i.e., of a large house. See Matt. 12:46-13:1]. They sent a message to Him, asking Him to come out to them.

Someone in the large crowd that was sitting around Him said to Him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

Then He looked out over those gathered around Him and said, "Look, [here is] my mother and my brothers

Jesus again began teaching along the shore of the lake [of Galilee]. A huge crowd gathered around Him so that He had to sit in a boat out in the lake [to speak to them], while all the crowd stood on the shore.

And when He was alone those people who gathered around Him, along with the twelve apostles, asked Him what the parables meant.

For to the person who [already] has something, [more] will be given, and from the person who has [almost] nothing, even what [little] he has will be taken away from him."

And leaving the crowd, the disciples took Him in their boat just the way He was [i.e., this probably means without His making provision for the trip]. They were accompanied by other boats also.

Jesus was sleeping on a pillow in the stern of the boat. They awakened Him, shouting, "Teacher, do you not care that we are sinking?"

And they were extremely afraid, and said to one another, "Who can this man be that even the wind and water obey him?"

When Jesus left the boat, immediately a man with an evil spirit came from the graveyard to meet Him.

This man had been living in the graveyard and no one had been able to keep him tied up, not even with a chain.

He had often been bound with ropes and chains but had broken the chains off and torn the ropes to pieces. And no one had enough strength to subdue him.

When he saw Jesus from far away he ran to Him and worshiped Him.

For Jesus was saying to [the evil spirit in] him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit."

Then He asked [the evil spirit], "What is your name?" And he answered Him, "My name is 'Legion,' [Note: This word means a number consisting of between 5,000 and 6,000], for there are many of us [i.e., evil spirits]."

The evil spirits begged Him, saying, "Send us into those [wild] hogs, so we can enter their bodies."

As He entered the boat the man who had been dominated by evil spirits begged for permission to be allowed to go with Him.

But Jesus would not allow him, saying to the man, "Go home to your friends [and family?] and tell them about the great things the Lord has done for you and how He had pity on you."

But the man went away and began telling people throughout Decapolis about all of the great things Jesus had done for him. [Note: "Decapolis" means "ten cities" and was a region located east of the Jordan River].

When Jesus had crossed over again in a boat to the other side [i.e., to the northwest shore of the lake, probably in the vicinity of Capernaum], a large crowd gathered around Him along the shore of the lake.

About then a man named Jairus, one of the officials of the synagogue, came to Jesus and, upon seeing Him, fell to the ground at His feet.

He begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is about to die; [please] come and place your hands on her so she may be healed and live."

So, Jesus went along with the man, and was being thronged by a large crowd that followed Him.

Then a woman, who had been bleeding for twelve years, came to Him.

Just then Jesus perceived in Himself that [healing] power had gone out from Him so turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothing?"

And His disciples said to Him, "You see the large crowd thronging you and yet you ask 'Who touched me'?"

Then He looked around to see who had done this [i.e., touched Him and received healing].

But the woman became afraid and trembled with fear, for she knew what had happened to her [i.e., the healing], so she came and fell down in front of Jesus and told Him the whole truth.

He did not allow anyone to follow Him [i.e., to the official's house] except Peter, James and his brother John.

They laughed at Him scornfully. But after having all the people wait outside He took the child's father and mother, along with those who came with Him [i.e., Peter, James and John] and went in to where the [dead] child lay.

Then Jesus went out from there and came to His home town [i.e., Nazareth] and His disciples went with Him.

And when the Sabbath day came, He began teaching in the synagogue and many who heard Him were amazed, and asked [such questions as], "Where did this man get these things [i.e., knowledge, miracles, etc.]?" and "What kind of wisdom has been given to him?" and "What do these supernatural powers he performs mean?

And He could not perform any supernatural deed there [i.e., because of their lack of faith in Him], except He placed hands on a few sick people [i.e., accompanied by prayer ?] and healed them.

Then Jesus called to Him the twelve apostles and sent them out two by two. He gave them authority over evil spirits

For it was Herod himself who had sent for John and had him arrested and chained up in prison. He did this to please Herodias, who was [i.e., had been] his brother Philip's wife, but whom Herod had married.

Now [because of this] Herodias had a grudge against John and wanted to kill him, but had not been able to.

It was because Herod was afraid of John, knowing he was a righteous and holy man, so he protected him. And Herod became very disturbed whenever he listened to John, yet he heard him gladly.

And immediately the king sent a soldier who served as his guard and ordered him to bring John's head to him. So, he went and decapitated him in the prison,

Then the apostles got together with Jesus and told Him everything they had done and taught [on their mission].

And when the day was nearly over His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is deserted and the day is almost over;

And about then Jesus compelled His disciples to get into a boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side [i.e., to the west side of Lake Galilee] to Bethsaida [Note: This was apparently a different "Bethsaida" from the one mentioned in Luke 9:10, which was on the east side of Lake Galilee], while He Himself sent the crowd away.

But when they saw Him walking on the water they thought it was a spirit, so shouted out,

becoming [very] frightened when they saw Him. But He immediately spoke to them and said, "Take courage, and do not be afraid, it is I."

And wherever He entered towns, cities or the countryside, they placed sick people at the open shopping markets and begged Him to allow them to touch even the edge of His robe. And all those who touched Him were made well.

you are not allowing him to do anything for his father or mother anymore.

Then He called the crowd to Him again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand [what I am saying].

There is nothing that enters a person's body from the outside that can [spiritually] corrupt him, but it is what proceeds out of a person's life that [spiritually] corrupts him." {{Verse

And when He had gone into the house away from the crowd His disciples asked Him about this parable.

He said to them, "Are you also as lacking in understanding [as the others]? Do you not understand that whatever enters a person's body from the outside cannot [spiritually] corrupt him?

And He said, "Whatever proceeds out of a man's life is what [spiritually] corrupts him.

All these evil things proceed from within [man's heart] and [spiritually] corrupt him."

Now the woman was a Greek [i.e., a Gentile], a Syrophoenician by nationality. [Note: This was a region just north of Galilee and consisted of Syria and Phoenicia]. She begged Him to drive out the evil spirit from her daughter.

But she answered Him, "Yes Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs dropped by the children."

And they brought to Him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and they begged Him to place His hand on him [for healing].

So, Jesus took him away from the crowd by himself and put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue [i.e., with His saliva]

And His disciples replied to Him, "Where will a person get enough bread to feed these people in such a deserted place like this?"

The Pharisees and Sadducees [i.e., these were strict sects of the Jewish religion], came out and began disputing with Jesus, asking for a [supernatural] sign from Him, [in an attempt] to test Him.

When I divided the five loaves of bread among the five thousand persons, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you gather up?" They said to Him, "Twelve baskets full."

He again asked, "And when the seven loaves were divided among the four thousand persons, how many large basketfuls of broken pieces did you gather up?" And they said to Him, "Seven large basketfuls."

And when they came to Bethsaida some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Him to touch him [i.e., for healing].

[So], He took hold of the blind man by his hand and brought him out of the village. When Jesus spit [and put His saliva] on his eyes [See 7:33 for a similar use of His saliva in healing] and placed His hands on him [for healing], He asked him, "Can you see anything?"

Then Jesus sent him home, saying, "Do not even go through the village [on your way]."

And they answered Him, " [Some say] you are John the Immerser; others say [the prophet] Elijah, but others say [you are] one of the prophets."

Then He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered Him, "You are the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one]."

And He spoke about this freely. But Peter took Jesus aside and began rebuking Him [i.e., for saying such things].

But He turned around, and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying to him, "Get away from me, Satan; for you are not thinking about God's things but about men's."