I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their boat mending nets.

Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

But Jesus rebuked him: "Silence! Come out of him!"

So he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

He told him, "See that you do not say anything to anyone, but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."

But as the man went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely, so that Jesus was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still they kept coming to him from everywhere.

"Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," -- he said to the paralytic --

When Jesus heard this he said to them, "Those who are healthy don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?"

But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast.

how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?"

Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?" But they were silent.

Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd would not press toward him.

But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

But no one is able to enter a strong man's house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin"

Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.

But other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times."

He said to them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

so that although they look they may look but not see, and although they hear they may hear but not understand, so they may not repent and be forgiven."

But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

but worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it produces nothing.

But these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred."

He also said to them, "A lamp isn't brought to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn't it to be placed on a lampstand?

For whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.

So after leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat, and other boats were with him.

Now a great windstorm developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped.

But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"

Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him.

For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him.

But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, "Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you."

When Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea.

But he looked around to see who had done it.

But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, "Do not be afraid; just believe."

When he entered he said to them, "Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep."

And they began making fun of him. But he put them all outside and he took the child's father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was.

and to put on sandals but not to wear two tunics.

But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!"

So Herodias nursed a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not

But a suitable day came, when Herod gave a banquet on his birthday for his court officials, military commanders, and leaders of Galilee.

So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried on foot from all the towns and arrived there ahead of them.

But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins and give it to them to eat?"

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land.

for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them: "Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid."

Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished,

because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus.

The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?"

He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.'

But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, 'Whatever help you would have received from me is corban' (that is, a gift for God),

For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer." (This means all foods are clean.)

After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.

She answered, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man's ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.

Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more.

Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.

Now they had forgotten to take bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.

Regaining his sight he said, "I see people, but they look like trees walking."

He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ."

But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's."

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

But I tell you that Elijah has certainly come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him."

Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so."

It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us."

But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

They went out from there and passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know,

But they did not understand this statement and were afraid to ask him.

But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me.

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts.

But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.

and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Now people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, but the disciples scolded those who brought them.

But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.

The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

Jesus looked at them and replied, "This is impossible for mere humans, but not for God; all things are possible for God."

But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of them, and they were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

But Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?"

but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared."

But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

Then he began to teach them and said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!"

I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

But if we say, 'From people -- '" (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet).

Then he began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey.