As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way,

People from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem were going out to him, and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

John wore a garment made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

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

After throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.

They were all amazed so that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him."

Simon's mother-in-law was lying down, sick with a fever, so they spoke to Jesus at once about her.

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and demon-possessed.

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.

Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer.

He replied, "Let us go elsewhere, into the surrounding villages, so that I can preach there too. For that is what I came out here to do."

So he went into all of Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean!"

The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean.

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.

Now after some days, when he returned to Capernaum, the news spread that he was at home.

When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Jesus. Then, after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

And immediately the man stood up, took his stretcher, and went out in front of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Jesus went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.

As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him. And he got up and followed him.

When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

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

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

Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way.

So the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?"

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

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.

After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

So the Pharisees went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him.

And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."

and to have authority to cast out demons.

Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat.

When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and, "By the ruler of demons he casts out demons."

So he called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan cast out Satan?

And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

"Listen! A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.

When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, it withered.

Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.

These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy.

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?

And he said to them, "Take care about what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure you receive, and more will be added to you.

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

He also asked, "To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to present it?

It is like a mustard seed that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground --

when it is sown, it grows up, becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds can nest in its shade."

So he got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Be quiet! Calm down!" Then the wind stopped, and it was dead calm.

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

Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Then he cried out with a loud voice, "Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God -- do not torment me!"

(For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!")

Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region.

Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.

Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs.

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."

So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.

Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came up, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.

She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.

At once the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

But he looked around to see who had done it.

Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

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

The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). They were completely astonished at this.

He strictly ordered that no one should know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did he get these ideas? And what is this wisdom that has been given to him? What are these miracles that are done through his hands?

Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren't his sisters here with us?" And so they took offense at him.

Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

If a place will not welcome you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

So they went out and preached that all should repent.

They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Now King Herod heard this, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him."

For John had repeatedly told Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

because Herod stood in awe of John and protected him, since he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, and yet he liked to listen to John.

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."

So she went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" Her mother said, "The head of John the baptizer."

Although it grieved the king deeply, he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

So the king sent an executioner at once to bring John's head, and he went and beheaded John in prison.

He brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

When John's disciples heard this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

He said to them, "Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while" (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).

When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is an isolated place and it is already very late.

Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something for themselves to eat."

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?"

He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five -- and two fish."

They all ate and were satisfied,

Now there were five thousand men who ate the bread.

He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. As the night was ending, he came to them walking on the sea, for he wanted to pass by them.

When they saw him walking on the water they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,

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

After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there.