As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "Here I send my messenger on before you; He will prepare your way;

Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Get the Lord's way ready, Make his paths straight,' "

And this was his message: "After me there is coming one stronger than I am, one whose shoes I am not fit to stoop down and untie.

And just as he was coming up out of the water he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit coming down like a dove to enter into him,

saying, "The time has come and the reign of God is near; repent, and believe this good news."

As he was passing along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen.

"What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are God's holy One!"

And they were all so amazed that they discussed it with one another, and said, "What does this mean? It is a new teaching! He gives orders with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!"

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the house of Simon and Andrew.

He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the neighboring country towns, so that I may preach in them, too, for that is why I came out here."

As they could not get him near Jesus on account of the crowd, they broke open the roof just over his head, and through the opening they lowered the mat with the paralytic lying on it.

"Why does this man talk so? This is blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Which is easier, to say to this paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say to him, "Get up and pick up your mat and walk'?

And as he was passing along he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.

Jesus heard it, and said to them, "It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor. I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. And people came and asked him, "Why is it that when John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are keeping the fast, yours are not keeping it?"

Jesus said to them, "Can wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

And no one pours new wine into old wine-skins; or if he does, the wine bursts the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins too. New wine has to be put into fresh skins."

He happened to be passing through the wheat fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick the heads of wheat as they made their way through.

And the Pharisees said to him, "Look! Why are they doing what it is against the law to do on the Sabbath?"

How is it that he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the Presentation Loaves, which it is against the law for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions too?"

and so the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath."

And he said to them, "Is it allowable to do people good on the Sabbath, or to do them harm? To save life or kill?" But they made no answer.

He told his disciples to have a boat always ready for his use, to prevent his being crushed by the crowd.

James the son of Zebedee, and John, James's brother (he named them Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),

If a kingdom is disunited, that kingdom cannot last.

And if a household is disunited, that household cannot last.

And if Satan has rebelled against himself and become disunited, he cannot last but is coming to his end.

But whoever reviles the holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of an unending sin."

This was because they said, "He is possessed by a foul spirit."

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

and as he was sowing, some of the seed chanced to fall by the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

And he said to them, "To you has been intrusted the secret of the reign of God, but to those outsiders, everything is offered in figures,

What the sower sows is the message.

The ones by the path are those into whose hearts the message falls, and as soon as they hear it Satan comes and carries off the message that has been sown in their hearts.

It is so too with the ones sown on the rocky ground; they gladly accept the message as soon as they hear it,

It is different with those sown among the thorns. They are people who listen to the message,

"The reign of God," he said, "is like a man scattering seed on the ground,

The ground of itself is productive, putting forth first a blade, then a head, then fully developed wheat in the head.

But as soon as the crop will let him, the man goes in with his sickle, for the harvest time has come.

"How can we find any comparison," he said, "for the reign of God, or what figure can we use to describe it?

It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the world,

With many such figures he told them the message, as far as they were able to receive it.

That same day when it was evening he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side."

As soon as he got out of the boat, a man possessed by a foul spirit came out of the burial places near by to meet him.

He asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "My name is Legion, for there are many of us."

And they implored him, "Send us among the pigs, let us go into them."

As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to go with him.

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him as he stood on the shore.

and appealed to him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live!"

And he said to her, "My daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace and be free from your disease."

Even as he spoke people came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead. Why should you trouble the Master any further?"

And he went into the house and said to them, "What is the meaning of all this confusion and crying? The child is not dead, she is asleep."

And he grasped her hand and said to her, "Taleitha, koum!"??hat is to say, "Little girl, I tell you, get up!"

Is he not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not his sisters live here among us?"

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

If any place refuses to receive you or to listen to you, when you leave it shake off the very dust from the soles of your feet as a warning to them."

John said to Herod, "It is not right for you to be living with your brother's wife."

When it grew late his disciples came up to him and said, "This is a lonely place and it is getting late.

for they all saw him and were terrified. But he immediately spoke to them and said, "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid."

As soon as they came ashore, the people recognized Jesus,

But he said to them, "It was about you hypocrites that Isaiah prophesied so finely, in the words, " 'This people honor me with their lips, Yet their hearts are far away from me.

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

But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is Korban," ' that is, consecrated to God,

Nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him. It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him."

since it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then is disposed of?" So he declared all food clean.

He went on to say, "It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him.

For it is from inside, from men's hearts, that designs of evil come; immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

but a woman whose little daughter was possessed by a foul spirit immediately heard about him and came and threw herself at his feet.

He said to her, "Let the children first eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

For if anyone is ashamed of me and my teachings in this unfaithful and sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes back in his Father's glory, with the holy angels."

Then Peter spoke, and said to Jesus, "Master, how good it is that we are here! Let us put up three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."

And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice, "This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him,"

As they were going down the mountain, he cautioned them to let no one know what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead.

Why, I tell you, not only has Elijah come, but people have treated him just as they pleased, as the Scripture says about him."

One of the crowd answered, "Master, I brought my son to you, for he is possessed by a dumb spirit,

and wherever it seizes him it convulses him, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth; and he is wasting away. I told your disciples to drive it out, and they could not do it."

And they brought the boy to him. As soon as the spirit saw him, it convulsed the boy, and he fell down on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

"From his childhood, and many a time it has thrown him into the fire or into the water, to put an end to him. But if there is anything you can do, take pity on us and help us!"

Jesus said to him, " 'If there is anything I can do!' Everything is possible for one who has faith!"

for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and three days after he is killed he will rise again."

"Whoever welcomes one child like this on my account is welcoming me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but him who has sent me."

But Jesus said, "Do not tell him not to do so, for there is no one who will use my name to do a mighty act, and be able soon after to abuse me.

For the man who is not against us is for us.

where the worm that feeds upon them never dies and the fire is never put out.

Salt is a good thing, but if salt loses its strength, what will you use to season it? You must have salt within you, and live in peace with one another."

And he left that place and went into the district of Judea and crossed the Jordan, and crowds of people again gathered about him, and again he taught them as he was accustomed to do.

and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she is an adulteress."

When Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they.

As he was starting again on his journey, a man came running up to him, and knelt at his feet and asked him, "Good master, what must I do to make sure of eternal life?"

But Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God himself.

And Jesus looked at him and loved him, and he said to him, "There is one thing that you lack. Go, sell all you have, and give the money to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come back and be a follower of mine."

But the disciples were amazed at what he said. And Jesus said to them again, "My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God!"

Jesus looked at them and said, "For men it is impossible, but not for God, for anything is possible for God."

Jesus said, "I tell you, there is no one who has given up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news,

but will receive now in this life a hundred times as much in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands, though not without persecution??nd in the coming age eternal life.

As they went on their way up to Jerusalem, Jesus walked ahead of them, and they were in dismay, and those who still followed were afraid. And he took the Twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

And Zebedee's two sons, James and John, came up to him and said, "Master, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

They said to him, "Let us sit one at your right hand and one at your left, in your triumph."