The whole of Judea, as well as all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, went out to him; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent apart, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him,

And he was there in the Wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and among the wild beasts, while the angels ministered to him.

They left their nets at once, and followed him.

Jesus at once called them, and they left their father Zebediah in the boat with the crew, and went after him.

But Jesus rebuked the spirit: "Be silent! Come out from him."

The foul spirit threw the man into a fit, and with a loud cry came out from him.

And they were all so amazed that they kept asking: "What is this? Strange teaching indeed! He gives his commands with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!"

Jesus cured many who were ill with various diseases, and drove out many demons, and would not permit them to speak, because they knew him to be the Christ.

But Simon and his companions hastened after him;

and, when they found him, they exclaimed: "Every one is looking for you!"

One day a leper came to Jesus and, falling on his knees, begged him for help. "If only you are willing," he said, "you are able to make me clean."

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying as he did so: "I am willing; become clean."

And then Jesus, after sternly warning him, immediately sent him away, and said to him:

The man, however, went away, and began to speak about it publicly, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town, but stayed outside in lonely places; and people came to him from every direction.

And some people came bringing to him a paralyzed man, who was being carried by four bearers.

Being, however, unable to get him near to Jesus, owing to the crowd, they removed the roofing below which Jesus was; and, when they had made an opening, they let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

Jesus went out again to the Sea; and all the people came to him, and he taught them.

As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: "Follow me." Levi got up and followed him.

And later on he was in his house at table, and a number of tax-gatherers and outcasts took their places at table with Jesus and his disciples; for many of them were following him.

"Look!" the Pharisees said to him, "why are they doing what is not allowed on the Sabbath?"

And they watched Jesus closely, to see if he would cure the man on the Sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him.

Immediately on leaving the Synagogue, the Pharisees and the Herodians united in laying a plot against Jesus, to put him to death.

And a great number, hearing of all that he was doing, came to him from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Edom, from beyond the Jordan, and from the country round Tyre and Sidon.

So Jesus told his disciples to keep a small boat close by, for fear the crowd should crush him.

For he had cured many of them, and so people kept crowding upon him, that all who were afflicted might touch him.

The foul spirits, too, whenever they caught sight of him, flung themselves down before him, and screamed out: "You are the Son of God"!

But he repeatedly warned them not to make him known.

And Jesus made his way up the hill, and called those whom he wished; and they went to him.

And he appointed twelve--whom he also named 'Apostles'--that they might be with him, and that he might send them out as his Messengers, to preach,

And Judas Iscariot, the man that betrayed him.

When his relations heard of it, they went to take charge of him, for they said that he was out of his mind.

And the Teachers of the Law, who had come down from Jerusalem, said: "He has Baal-zebub in him, and he drives the demons out by the help of Baal-zebub, their chief."

So Jesus called them to him, and answered them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

No man who has got into a strong man's house can carry off his goods, without first securing him; and not till then will he plunder his house.

This was said in reply to the charge that he had a foul spirit in him.

And his mother and his brothers came, and stood outside, and sent to ask him to come to them.

There was a crowd sitting round Jesus, and some of them said to him: "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you."

Then he looked around on the people sitting in a circle round him, and said: "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Jesus again began to teach by the Sea; and, as an immense crowd was gathering round him, he got into a boat, and sat in it on the Sea, while all the people were on the shore at the water's edge.

Afterwards, when he was alone, his followers and the Twelve asked him about his parables;

So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him.

Jesus was in the stern asleep upon the cushion; and the disciples roused him and cried: "Teacher! is it nothing to you that we are lost?"

But they were struck with great awe, and said to one another: "Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

And who made his home in the tombs. No one had ever been able to secure him, even with a chain;

For, though he had many times been left secured with fetters and chains, he had snapped the chains and broken the fetters to pieces, and no one could master him.

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed to the ground before him,

And he asked him: "What is your name?" "My name," he said, "is Legion, for there are many of us;"

When they came to Jesus, they found the possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind--the very man who had had the 'Legion' in him--and they were awe-struck.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the possessed man begged him to let him stay with him.

So the man went, and began to proclaim in the district of the Ten Towns all that Jesus had done for him; and every one was amazed.

By the time Jesus had re-crossed in the boat to the opposite shore, a great number of people had gathered to meet him, and were standing by the Sea.

So Jesus went with him. A great number of People followed Jesus, and kept pressing round him.

Jesus at once became aware of the power that had gone out from him, and, turning round in the crowd, he said: "Who touched my clothes?"

Then the woman, in fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and threw herself down before him, and told him the whole truth.

And he allowed no one to accompany him, except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

They began to laugh at him; but he sent them all out, and then, with the child's father and mother and his companions, went into the room where she was lying.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the Synagogue; and the people, as they listened, were deeply impressed. "Where did he get this?" they said, "and what is this wisdom that has been given him? and these miracles which he is doing?

Is not he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters, too, living here among us?" This proved a hindrance to their believing in him;

He called the Twelve to him, and began to send them out as his Messengers, two and two, and gave them authority over foul spirits.

Now King Herod heard of Jesus; for his name had become well known. People were saying--"John the Baptizer must have risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are active in him."

But when Herod heard of him, he said--"The man whom I beheaded--John--he must be risen!"

For Herod himself had sent and arrested John, and put him in prison, in chains, to please Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because Herod had married her.

So Herodias was incensed against John, and wanted to put him to death, but was unable to do so,

Because Herod stood in fear of John, knowing him to be an upright and holy man, and protected him. He had listened to John, but still remained much perplexed, and yet he found pleasure in listening to him.

And when his daughter--that is, the daughter of Herodias--came in and danced, she delighted Herod and those who were dining with him. 'Ask me for whatever you like,' the King said to the girl, 'and I will give it to you';

And he swore to her that he would give her whatever she asked him--up to half his kingdom.

When the Apostles came back to Jesus, they told him all that they had done and all that they had taught.

When it grew late, his disciples came up to him, and said: "This is a lonely spot, and it is already late.

"How many loaves have you?" he asked; "Go, and see." When they had found out, they told him: "Five, and two fishes."

But, when they saw him walking on the water, they thought it was a ghost, and cried out;

For all of them saw him, and were terrified. But Jesus at once spoke to them. "Courage!" he said, "it is I; do not be afraid!"

So wherever he went--to villages, or towns, or farms--they would lay their sick in the market-places, begging him to let them touch only the tassel of his cloak; and all who touched were made well.

For while Moses said 'Honor thy father and thy mother,' and 'Let him who reviles his father or mother suffer death,'

Why, then you do not allow him to do anything further for his father or mother!

Then Jesus called the people to him again, and said: "Listen to me, all of you, and mark my words.

There is nothing external to a man, which by going into him can 'defile' him; but the things that come out from a man are the things that defile him."

When Jesus went indoors, away from the crowd, his disciples began questioning him about this saying.

"What, do even you understand so little?" exclaimed Jesus. "Do not you see that there is nothing external to a man, which by going into a man, can 'defile' him,

"It is what comes out from a man," he added, "that defiles him,

For a woman, whose little daughter had a foul spirit in her, heard of him immediately, and came and threw herself at his feet--

The woman was a foreigner, a native of Syrian Phoenicia--and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and almost dumb, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

Jesus took him aside from the crowd quietly, put his fingers into the man's ears, and touched his tongue with saliva.

About that time, when there was again a great crowd of people who had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said:

Here the Pharisees came out, and began to argue with Jesus, asking him for some sign from the heavens, to test him.

They came to Bethsaida. There some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and begged him to touch him.

Taking the blind man's hand, Jesus led him to the outskirts of the village, and, when he had put saliva on the man's eyes, he placed his hands on him, and asked him: "Do you see anything?"

Jesus sent him to his home, and said: "Do not go even into the village."

On which Jesus charged them not to say this about him to anyone.

This statement he made openly. But Peter took Jesus aside, and began to rebuke him.

Calling the people and his disciples to him, Jesus said: "If any man wishes to walk in my steps, let him renounce self, take up his cross, and follow me.

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my teaching, in this unfaithful and wicked generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his Father's Glory with the holy angels."

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain alone by themselves. There his appearance was transformed before their eyes,

Then a cloud came down and enveloped them; and from the cloud there came a voice--"This is my Son, the Beloved; him you must hear."

But I tell you that Elijah has come, and people have treated him just as they pleased, as Scripture says of him."

But, as soon as they saw Jesus, all the people, in great astonishment, ran up and greeted him.

"Teacher," answered a man in the crowd, "I brought my son to see you, as he has a dumb spirit in him;

And, wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, and he is pining away. I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they failed."

They brought him to Jesus; but no sooner did the boy see him than the spirit threw him into convulsions; and he fell on the ground, and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.