Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested and taken into custody, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of [the kingdom of] God,

Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out [terribly from the depths of his throat],

saying, “What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

They were all so amazed that they debated and questioned each other, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits (demons), and they obey Him.”

Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they told Him about her.

Now when evening came, after the sun had set [and the Sabbath Day had ended, in a steady stream] they were bringing to Him all who were sick and those who were under the power of demons,

And Jesus healed many who were suffering with various diseases; and He drove out many demons, but would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him [recognizing Him as the Son of God].

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news [of his healing], to such an extent that Jesus could no longer openly enter a city [where He was known], but stayed out in the unpopulated places; yet people were still coming to Him from everywhere.

So many people gathered together that there was no longer room [for them], not even near the door; and Jesus was discussing with them the word [of God].

But some of the scribes were sitting there debating in their hearts [the implication of what He had said],

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has the authority and power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man,

When Jesus heard this, He said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but [only] those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners [who recognize their sin and humbly seek forgiveness].”

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting [as a ritual]; and they came and asked Jesus, “Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?”

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

But no one can go into a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first overpowers and ties up the strong man, and then he will ransack and rob his house.

Other seed fell on rocks where there was not much soil; and immediately a plant sprang up because the soil had no depth.

Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they [are offended and displeased at being associated with Me and] stumble and fall away.

And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness].

Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence [in Me]?”

and the man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains.

For he had often been bound with shackles [for the feet] and with chains, and he tore apart the chains and broke the shackles into pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue and tame him.

Now there was a large herd of pigs grazing there on the mountain.

and had endured much [suffering] at the hands of many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse.

And He allowed no one to go with Him [as witnesses], except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

He gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.

He told them to take nothing for the journey except a mere walking stick—no bread, no [traveler’s] bag, no money in their belts—

For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful [under Mosaic Law] for you to have your brother’s wife.”

And she rushed back to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter!”

Many [people] saw them leaving, and recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the [surrounding] cities, and got there ahead of them.

When the day was nearly gone, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it is already late;

He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five [loaves], and two fish.”

Now when evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on the land.

Now the Pharisees and some of the scribes came from Jerusalem and gathered around Him,

He replied, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders), as it is written [in Scripture],

‘These people honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.

then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother [since helping them would violate his vow of Corban];

so you nullify the [authority of the] word of God [acting as if it did not apply] because of your tradition which you have handed down [through the elders]. And you do many things such as that.”

Jesus got up and left there and went to the region of Tyre [and Sidon, the coastal area of Phoenicia]. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know about it; but it was impossible for Him to be hidden [from the public].

Now the woman was a Gentile (Greek), a Syrophoenician by nationality. And she kept pleading with Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.

“I feel compassion for the crowd; they have been with Me now for three days and have nothing [left] to eat.

He groaned and sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? I assure you and most solemnly say to you, no sign will be given to this generation!”

Now the disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

They began discussing this with one another, saying, “It is because we have no bread [that He said this].”

Jesus, aware of this [discussion], said to them, “Why are you discussing [the fact] that you have no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

Then Jesus strictly warned them not to tell anyone about Him.

For whoever is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

And Jesus said to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste (experience) death before they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

and His clothes became radiant and dazzling, intensely white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

For he did not [really] know what to say because they were terrified [and stunned by the miraculous sight].

Suddenly they looked around and no longer saw anyone with them, except Jesus alone.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus expressly ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

They went on from there and began to go through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know it,

But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.

For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will not lose his reward.

and the two shall become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but [are united as] one flesh.

Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone.

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not testify falsely, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

Jesus said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there is no one who has given up a house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,

who will not receive a hundred times as much now in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms—along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

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

But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism [of suffering and death] with which I am baptized?”

Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their powerful men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them].

When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and say, “Jesus, Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!”

Many sternly rebuked him, telling him to keep still and be quiet; but he kept on shouting out all the more, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!”

He said to it, “No one will ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening [to what He said].

So they replied to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and will give the vineyard to others.

And they were looking for a way to seize Him, but they were afraid of the crowd; for they knew that He spoke this parable in reference to [and as a charge against] them. And so they left Him and went away.

They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and have no personal bias toward anyone; for You are not influenced by outward appearances or social status, but in truth You teach the way of God. Is it lawful [according to Jewish law and tradition] to pay the poll-tax to [Tiberius] Caesar, or not?

Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Him, and began questioning Him, saying,

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us [a law] that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but leaves no child, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

There were seven brothers; the first [one] took a wife, and died leaving no children.

The second brother married her, and died leaving no children; and the third likewise;

and so all seven [married her and died, and] left no children. Last of all the woman died also.

In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven [brothers] were married to her.”

Jesus said to them, “Is this not why you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures [that teach the resurrection] nor the power of God [who is able to raise the dead]?

This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him;

When Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.

David himself calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) ‘Lord’; so how can it be that He is David’s Son?” The large crowd enjoyed hearing Jesus and listened to Him with delight.

Jesus began to say to them, “Be careful and see to it that no one misleads you.

When they take you and turn you over [to the court], do not worry beforehand about what to say, but say whatever is given to you [by God] in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit [who will speak through you].

And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose [for Himself], He shortened the days.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and it puts out its leaves, you recognize that summer is near.

Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, know [for certain] that He is near, right at the door.

“Be on guard and stay constantly alert [and pray]; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.

Therefore, be continually on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

It was now two days before the Passover and [the festival of] Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were searching for a deceitful way to arrest Jesus and kill Him;

And He said to them, “This is My blood of the [new] covenant, [My blood] which is being poured out for many [for the forgiveness of sins].

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

And again He came back and found them sleeping, because their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know how to answer Him.

Now the betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away safely [under guard].”

Now the chief priests and the entire Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus [which they could use] to have Him [condemned and] executed, but they were not finding any.

But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” Then he went out [of the courtyard] to the porch, [and a rooster crowed.]

But he began to invoke a curse [on himself] and to swear [an oath], “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

Then Pilate again asked Him, “Have You no answer [to give]? See how many charges they are bringing against You!”

But Jesus gave no further answer; so Pilate was perplexed.

Now at the [Passover] feast Pilate used to set free for them any one prisoner whom they requested.