As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, Here I send my messenger before your face to prepare the way for you:

and the whole of Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him and got baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.

John was dressed in camel's hair, with a leather girdle round his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

Now it was in those days that Jesus arrived from Nazaret in Galilee and got baptized in the Jordan by John.

At once they dropped their nets and went after him.

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;

and people were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them like an authority, not like the scribes.

Now there was a man with an unclean spirit in their synagogue, who at once shrieked out,

"Jesus of Nazaret, what business have you with us? Have you come to destroy us? We know who you are, you are God's holy One."

But Jesus checked it; "Be quiet," he said, "come out of him."

And after convulsing him the unclean spirit did come out of him with a loud cry.

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!"

So his fame at once spread in all directions through the whole of the surrounding country of Galilee.

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

and he went up to her and taking her hand made her rise; the fever left her at once and she ministered to them.

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.

Then in the early morning, long before daylight, he got up and went away out to a lonely spot.

He was praying there when Simon and his companions hunted him out

but he said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the adjoining country-towns, so that I may preach there as well; that is why I came out here."

And he went preaching in their synagogues throughout the whole of Galilee, casting out daemons.

so he stretched his hand out in pity and touched him saying, "I do choose, be cleansed."

And the leprosy at once left him and he was cleansed.

Then he sent him off at once with the stern charge,

"See, you are not to say a word to anybody; away and show yourself to the priest and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing, to notify men."

But he went off and proceeded to proclaim it aloud and spread news of the affair both far and wide. The result was that Jesus could no longer enter any town openly; he stayed outside in lonely places, and people came to him from every quarter.

When he entered Capharnahum again after some days it was reported that he was at home,

and a large number at once gathered, till there was no more room for them, not even at the door. He was speaking the word to them,

"What does the man mean by talking like this? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins, who but God alone?"

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!"

Then he went out again by the seaside, and all the crowd came to him and he taught them.

As he passed along he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-office; he said to him, "Follow me," and he rose and followed him.

Now Levi was at table in his own house, and he had many taxgatherers and sinners as guests along with Jesus and his disciples ??for there were many of them among his followers.

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.

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."

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

He went into the house of God (Abiathar was high priest then) and ate the loaves of the Presence which no one except the priests is allowed to eat, and also shared them with his followers."

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

Then glancing round him in anger and vexation at their obstinacy he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was quite restored.

On this the Pharisees withdrew and at once joined the Herodians in a plot against him, to destroy him.

So he told his disciples to have a small boat ready; it was to prevent him being crushed by the crowd,

with the power of casting out daemons;

but the crowd gathered again, so that it was impossible even to have a meal.

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."

But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and "It is by the prince of daemons that he casts out daemons."

So he called them and said to them by way of parable, "How can Satan cast out Satan?

And glancing at those who were sitting round him in a circle he said, "There are my mother and my brothers!

"Listen, a sower went out to sow,

and as he sowed it chanced that some seed fell on the road, and the birds came and ate it up;

some other seed fell on stony soil where it had not much earth, and it shot up at once because it had no depth of earth,

but when the sun rose it got scorched and withered away, because it had no root;

some other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it, so it bore no crop;

some other seed fell on good soil and bore a crop that sprang up and grew, yielding at the rate of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

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.

Similarly those who are sown 'on stony soil' are the people who on hearing the word accept it with enthusiasm;

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.

but the worries of the world and the delight of being rich and all the other passions come in to choke the word; so it proves unfruitful.

As for those who were sown 'on good soil,' these are the people who listen to the word and take it in and bear fruit at the rate of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

He also said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be placed under a bowl or a bed? Is it not to be placed upon the stand?

Also he said to them, "Take care what you hear; the measure you deal out to others will be dealt out to yourselves, and you will receive extra.

For he who has, to him shall more be given; while as for him who has not, from him shall be taken even what he has."

And he said, "It is with the Realm of God as when a man has sown seed on earth;

he sleeps at night and rises by day, and the seed sprouts and shoots up ??he knows not how.

But whenever the crop is ready, he has the sickle put in at once, as harvest has come."

He said also, "To what can we compare the Realm of God? how are we to put it in a parable?

It is like a grain of mustard-seed ??less than any seed on earth when it is sown on earth;

but once sown it springs up to be larger than any plant, throwing out such big branches that the wild birds can roost under its shadow."

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

Then he said to them, "Why are you afraid like this? Have you no faith yet?"

And as soon as he stepped out of the boat a man from the tombs came to meet him, a man with an unclean spirit

shrieking aloud, "Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me? By God, I adjure you, do not torture me."

(For he had said, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.")

Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he said, "there is a host of us."

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.

The herdsmen fled and reported it to the town and the hamlets. So the people came to see what had happened,

And those who had seen it related to them what had happened to the lunatic and the swine.

So he went off and began to proclaim throughout Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; it made everyone astonished.

A president of the synagogue called Jairus came up, and on catching sight of him fell at his feet

And at once the hemorrhage stopped, and she felt in her body that she was cured of her complaint.

Jesus was at once conscious that some healing virtue had passed from him, so he turned round in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

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

But he kept looking round to see who had done it,

and the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came forward in fear and trembling and fell down before him, telling him all the truth.

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.

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

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!

He was astonished at their lack of faith. Then he made a tour round the villages, teaching.

And summoning the twelve he proceeded to send them out two by two; he gave them power over the unclean spirits,

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.

others said, "It is Elijah," others again, "It is a prophet, like one of the old prophets."

But when Herod heard of it he said, "John has risen, the John I beheaded."

Herodias had a grudge against him; she wanted him killed but she could not manage it,

The daughter of Herodias went in and danced to them, and Herod and his guests were so delighted that the king said to the girl, "Ask anything you like and I will give you it."

He swore to her, "I will give you whatever you want, were it the half of my realm."