Now as he passed along the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon's brother Andrew netting fish in the sea ??for they were fishermen;

At once they dropped their nets and went after him.

Then going on a little further he saw James the son of Zebedaeus and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets;

he called them at once, and they left their father Zebedaeus in the boat with the crew and went to follow him.

They then entered Capharnahum. As soon as the sabbath came, he at once began to teach in the synagogue;

Then they were all so amazed that they discussed it together, saying, "Whatever is this?" "It's new teaching with authority behind it!" "He orders even unclean spirits!" "Yes, and they obey him!"

On leaving the synagogue they went straight to the house of Simon and Andrew, accompanied by James and John.

Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with fever, so they told him at once about her,

Now when evening came, when the sun set, they brought him all who were ill or possessed by daemons ??33 indeed the whole town was gathered at the door ??34 and he cured many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many daemons; but as the daemons knew him he would not let them say anything.

and discovered him; they told him, "Everybody is looking for you,"

and as they could not get near Jesus on account of the crowd they tore up the roof under which he stood and through the opening they lowered the pallet on which the paralytic lay.

Conscious at once that they were arguing to themselves in this way, Jesus asked them, "Why do you argue thus in your hearts?

And he rose, lifted his pallet at once, and went off before them all; at this they were all amazed and glorified God saying, "We never saw the like of it!"

So when some scribes of the Pharisees saw he was eating with sinners and taxgatherers they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat and drink with taxgatherers and sinners?"

Jesus said to them, "Can friends at a wedding fast while the bridegroom is beside them? As long as they have the bridegroom beside them they cannot fast.

A time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then they will fast, on that day.

Now it happened that he was passing through the cornfields on the sabbath, and as the disciples made their way through they began to pull the ears of corn.

The Pharisees said to him, "Look at what they are doing on the sabbath! That is not allowed."

and they watched to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so as to get a charge against him.

then he asked them, "Is it right to help or to hurt on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" They were silent.

Jerusalem, Idumaea, the other side of the Jordan, and the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, as they had heard of his doings.

And whenever the unclean spirits saw him they fell down before him, screaming, "You are the Son of God!"

Then he went up the hillside and summoned the men he wanted, and they went to him.

and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Then they went indoors,

And when his family heard this, they set out to get hold of him, for what they said was, "He is out of his mind."

I tell you truly, the sons of men shall be forgiven all their sins, and all the blasphemies they may utter,

(This was because they said, "He has an unclean spirit.")

Then came his brothers and his mother, and standing outside they sent to call him;

so that for all their seeing they may not perceive, and for all their hearing they may not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven."

As for those 'on the road,' when the seed is sown there ??as soon as they hear it, Satan at once comes and carries off the word sown within them.

but they have no root in themselves, they do not last; the next thing is that when the word brings trouble or persecution, they are at once repelled.

Another set are those who are sown 'among thorns'; they listen to the word,

In many a parable like this he spoke the word to them, so far as they could listen to it;

so, leaving the crowd, they took him just as he was in the boat, accompanied by some other boats.

He was sleeping on the cushion in the stern, so they woke him up saying, "Teacher, are we to drown, for all you care?"

But they were overawed and said to each other, "Whatever can he be, when the very wind and sea obey him?"

Then they reached the opposite side of the sea, the country of the Gerasenes.

And they begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

And Jesus gave them leave. Then out came the unclean spirits and entered the swine, and the drove rushed down the steep slope into the sea (there were about two thousand of them) and in the sea they were drowned.

and when they reached Jesus they saw the lunatic sitting down, clothed and in his sober senses ??the man who had been possessed by 'Legion.' That frightened them.

Then they began begging Jesus to leave their district.

So Jesus went away with him. Now a large crowd followed him; they pressed round him.

So they reached the president's house, where he saw a tumult of people wailing and making shrill lament;

They laughed at him. However, he put them all outside and taking the father and mother of the child as well as his companions he went in to where the child was lying;

The girl got up at once and began to walk (she was twelve years old); and at once they were lost in utter amazement.

When the sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and the large audience was astounded. "Where did he get all this?" they said. "What is the meaning of this wisdom he is endowed with? And these miracles, too, that his hands perform!

Is this not the joiner, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters settled here among us?" So they were repelled by him.

they were to wear sandals, but not to put on two shirts, he said.

So they went out and preached repentance;

also they cast out a number of daemons and cured a number of sick people by anointing them with oil.

When his disciples heard of it they went and fetched his body and laid it in a tomb.

Now the apostles gathered to meet Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

And he said to them, "Come away to some lonely spot and get a little rest" (for there were many people coming and going, and they could get no time even to eat).

So they went away privately in the boat to a lonely spot.

So when Jesus disembarked he saw a large crowd, and out of pity for them, as they were like sheep without a shepherd, he proceeded to teach them at length.

He replied, "Give them some food, yourselves." They said, "Are we to go and buy ten pounds' worth of food and give them that to eat?"

He said, "How many loaves have you got? Go and see." When they found out they told him, "Five, and two fish."

Then he gave orders that they were to make all the people lie down in parties on the green grass;

so they arranged themselves in groups of a hundred and of fifty;

They all ate and had enough;

but when he saw them buffeted as they rowed (for the wind was against them) he went to them about the fourth watch of the night walking on the sea. He meant to pass them,

but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and shrieked aloud ??50 for they all saw him and were terrified. Then he spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

And he got into the boat beside them, and the wind dropped. They were utterly astounded,

for they had not understood the lesson of the loaves; their minds were dull.

On crossing over they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore.

And when they had disembarked, the people at once recognized Jesus;

they hurried round all the district and proceeded to carry the sick on their pallets wherever they heard that he was;

whatever village or town or hamlet he went to, they would lay their invalids in the marketplace, begging him to let them touch even the tassel of his robe ??and all who touched him recovered.

They noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with 'common' (that is, unwashed) hands.

(The Pharisees and all the Jews decline to eat till they wash their hands up to the wrist, in obedience to the tradition of the elders;

they decline to eat what comes from the market till they have washed it; and they have a number of other traditions to keep about washing cups and jugs and basins [and beds].)

Then the Pharisees and scribes put this question to him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they take their food with 'common' hands?"

vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts.

all these evils issue from within and they defile a man."

Jesus forbade them to tell anyone about it, but the more he forbade them the more eagerly they made it public;

they were astounded in the extreme, saying, "How splendidly he has done everything! He actually makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!"

In those days, when a large crowd had again gathered and when they had nothing to eat, he called the disciples and said to them,

"I am sorry for the crowd; they have been three days with me now, and they have nothing to eat.

If I send them home without food they will faint on the road. Besides, some of them have come a long way."

He asked them, "How many loaves have you got?" They said, "Seven."

So he ordered the crowd to recline on the ground, and taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve out. They served them out to the crowd,

and as they also had a few small fish, he blessed them too and told the disciples to serve them out as well.

So the people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven baskets of fragments which were left over.

They had forgotten to bring any bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

"Leaven?" they argued to themselves, "we have no bread at all."

Do you not remember how many baskets full of fragments you picked up when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand?" They said, "Twelve."

"And how many basketfuls of fragments did you pick up when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand?" They said, "Seven."

Then they reached Bethsaida. A blind man was brought to him with the request that he would touch him.

"John the Baptist," they told him, "though some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the prophets."

I tell you truly," he said, to them, "there are some of those standing here who will not taste death till they see the coming of God's Reign with power."

(for he did not know what to say, they were so terrified).

And suddenly looking round they saw no one there except Jesus all alone beside them.

As they went down the hill, he forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen, till such time as the Son of man rose from the dead.

This order they obeyed, debating with themselves what 'rising from the dead' meant.

So they put this question to him, "Why do the [Pharisees and] scribes say that Elijah has to come first?"

As for Elijah, I tell you he has come already, and they have done to him whatever they pleased ??as it is written of him."

When they reached the disciples they saw a large crowd round them, and some scribes arguing with them.

and whenever it seizes him it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth. He is wasting away with it; so I told your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

So they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw Jesus it at once convulsed the boy; he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

On leaving there they passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know of their journey,