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

And all Judea and everybody in Jerusalem went out to him there, and accepted baptism from him in the Jordan River, acknowledging their sins.

It was in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

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,

and out of the heavens came a voice: "You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!"

The spirit immediately drove him out into the desert.

And they were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

Just then there was in their synagogue a man under the control of a foul spirit, and he cried out,

"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!"

Jesus reproved him, and said, "Silence! Get out of him!"

The foul spirit convulsed the man and gave a loud cry and went out of him.

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!"

and the whole town was gathered at the door.

And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and drove out many demons, and he would not let the demons speak, because they knew that he was Christ.

And Simon and his companions sought him out

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."

So he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out the demons.

And he pitied him and stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose! Be cured!"

But he went off and began to talk so much about it, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in unfrequented places, and people came to him from every direction.

Some days later he came back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home,

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.

Jesus, at once perceiving by his spirit that they were pondering over this, said to them, "Why do you ponder over this in your minds?

And he got up, and immediately picked up his mat and went out before them all, so that they were all astonished and acknowledged the power of God, saying, "We never saw anything like this before."

He went out of the town again and along the shore, and all the people came to him and he taught them.

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.

He was at table in his house, with many tax-collectors and irreligious people who were at table with him and his disciples, for there were many of them among his followers.

And when the scribes who were of the Pharisees' party saw that he was eating with irreligious people and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?"

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?"

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?"

He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he was in need and hungry, he and his men?

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 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.

And he looked around at them with anger, hurt by their obstinacy, and he said to the man, "Hold out your hand!" And he held it out, and his hand was cured.

And whenever the foul spirits saw him, they fell down before him and screamed out, "You are the Son of God!"

He appointed twelve of them, whom he called apostles, to be with him and to be sent out to preach,

with power to drive out the demons. These were the twelve he appointed:

His relatives heard of it and came over to stop him, for they said that he was out of his mind.

And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he was possessed by Beelzebub and drove out demons by the help of the prince of demons.

So he called them to him and spoke to them in figures, saying, "How can Satan drive Satan out?

And looking around at the people sitting about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Then he began again to teach by the seashore. And a crowd gathered around him so great that he got into a boat and sat in it, a little way from the shore, while all the people were on the land close to the water.

"Listen: A sower went out to sow,

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

Some of it fell on rocky ground, and where there was not much soil, and it sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,

but when the sun came up, it was scorched, and withered up, because it had no root.

Some of the seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out, and it yielded no grain.

so that " 'They may look and look and yet not see, And listen and listen and yet not understand, Lest possibly they should turn and be forgiven.' ",

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,

but it takes no real root in them and they last only a little while; then when trouble or persecution comes because of the message they give it up at once.

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

but the worries of the time and the pleasure of being rich and passions for other things creep in and choke the message out and it yields nothing.

And the ones sown in good ground are the people who listen to the message and welcome it and yield thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.

"Do people get out the lamp," he said to them, "and then put it under the peck-measure, or under the bed, instead of putting it up where it belongs?

For no one hides anything except for the purpose of sometime bringing it to light again, and people keep things secret only to reveal them some day.

"Take care what you hear," he said to them. "The measure you give will be given to you, and even more besides.

For people who have will have more given them, and from people who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

and then sleeping at night and getting up by day, while the seed sprouts and comes up, without his knowing it.

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

"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,

yet once sown, comes up and grows to be the largest of all the plants, and produces branches so large that the wild birds can roost under the shelter of it."

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."

And a heavy squall of wind came on and the waves dashed into the boat, so that it was beginning to fill.

He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him up and said to him, "Master, does it make no difference to you that we are sinking?"

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.

and screamed out, "What do you want of me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God's name, I implore you, do not torture me."

For he was saying to him, "You foul spirit, come out of this man."

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

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

So he gave them permission. And the foul spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned.

And the men who tended them ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around, and the people came to see what had happened.

And those who had seen it told them what had happened to the demoniac, and all about the pigs.

And he would not permit it, but said to him, "Go home to your own people, and tell them all the Lord has done for you and how he took pity on you."

And a man named Jairus, the leader of a synagogue, came up and seeing him threw himself at his feet,

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 had had a great deal of treatment from various doctors and had spent all that she had and had not been benefited at all but had actually grown worse,

The hemorrhage stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was cured.

His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?' "

But he still looked around to see the person who had done it.

The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came forward frightened and trembling, and threw herself down at his feet and told him the whole truth.

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

But Jesus paid no attention to what they said, but said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid, just have faith."

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 they laughed at him. But he drove them all out, and took the child's father and mother and the men who were with him and went into the room where the child was lying.

And the little girl immediately got up and walked about, for she was twelve years old. The moment they saw it they were utterly amazed.

And he strictly forbade them to let anyone know of it, and told them to give her something to eat.

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."

And he wondered at their want of faith. Then he went around among the villages teaching.

And he said to them, "Whenever you go to stay at a house, remain in it till you leave that place.

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."

So they went out and preached that men should repent,

and drove out many demons, and cured many sick people by anointing them with oil.

For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.

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

Herodias felt bitterly toward him and wanted him killed. But she could not bring it about,