even as it is written in the prophet Isaiah, Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face to prepare your way.

He made proclamation. "There is One mightier than I coming after me, and I am not worthy to stoop down and unfasten his sandal strap;

and as soon as he rose from the water he saw the sky cleft asunder, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him,

and a voice from the sky. "Thou art my Son, my beloved; in thee is my delight."

"The time is now come," he said, "and the kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the gospel."

And as he was passing along by the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen;

As he went a little farther on he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in their boat mending the nets.

So they came to Capernaum, and as soon as the Sabbath Day came he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

"What business have you with us, you Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God."

and told him, "Every one is looking for you."

"Let us go away," he answered, "to the neighboring country towns, that I may preach there, too; because for that purpose I came forth."

One day a leper cane to him and besought him as he knelt down to him, saying, "If you choose, you are able to cleanse me."

Some days later when Jesus entered Capernaum again the news spread, "He is in the house";

"Why does this man speak like this? He blasphemes. Who is able to forgive sins but One, God himself?"

"Why do you reason thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your cot and walk'?

As he was passing by he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax-office; and he said to him, "Follow me." So he rose and followed him.

But when some scribes of the Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax-gatherers, they said to his disciples, "Is he eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?"

On hearing this Jesus said to them. "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Now the disciples of John and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, and people came to ask him, "How is it that the disciples of John and the Pharisees are fasting, but your disciples are not?"

"Can friends of the bridegroom fast while he is still with them?" asked Jesus. "As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

No one ever sews a piece of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment, otherwise the patch tears away from it??he new from the old??nd a worse tear is made.

And no one ever pours new wine into old wine-skins, else the wine would burst the skins, and both wine and skins would be lost. New wine is poured into fresh wine-skins.

One Sabbath he was walking along through the wheat-fields, and his disciples, as they began to make their way across, were pulling the heads of wheat.

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

so the Son of man is Master even of the Sabbath."

And they kept watching Jesus to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath; so as to have some charge to bring against him.

Then he asked them. "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day, or to do harm? to save a life, or to destroy it?"

As soon as they came out, the Pharisees plotted against him with the Herodians, in order to destroy him.

For he had healed so many that all the people who had ailments pressed upon him so as to touch him.

and James(them he surnamed Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),

When his relatives heard of it, they came to take possession of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The Scribes also who had come down from Jerusalem, said, "He is Beelzebub," and, "He casts out demons by the power of the Prince of the demons."

and if Satan has revolted against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand. Nay, he meets his end!

but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is never forgiven. Nay, he is in the grasp of an eternal sin."

"Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother."

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

He went on to say to them. "The secret truth concerning the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside everything is told in parables,

"What the Sower sows is the Word. There are those 'on the wayside' where the Word is sown.

As soon as they hear it, Satan immediately comes and snatches away the Word which has been sown in them.

He went on to say. "Is the lamp brought in to be put under the bushel or the bed? Is it not rather to be put on the lamp-stand?

There is nothing hidden except what is to be disclosed, and nothing concealed except what is to be revealed.

"It is with the kingdom of God," he continued, "as if a man should have sown seed in the earth;

night and day he sleeps and wakes while the seed is sprouting and growing tall, he knows not how.

Then as soon as the crop is ready the man has the sickle put in at once, because harvest-time is come.

It is like a mustard-seed, which, when sown in the soil, is the smallest seed in the world;

With many such illustrations Jesus used to tell his message to people as far as they were able to receive it;

On the evening of that same day Jesus said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."

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

As he caught sight of Jesus from afar, he ran and knelt before him,

He continued asking him, "What is your mane?" "Legion is my name, for we are many."

So the spirits begged him, saying, "Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them."

As he was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging to go with him; but he said,

Then one of the wardens of the synagogue, named Jairus, came up, and as soon as he saw Jesus, fell at his feet, with many entreaties,

"My little daughter," he said, "is dying. I beseech you, come and lay your hands on her, that she may recover and live."

While he was still speaking men came from the house of the warden of the synagogue to tell him, "Your daughter is dead, why trouble the Teacher any further?"

As they came to the house of the warden of the synagogue, he gazed upon a tumult, many weeping and wailing shrilly.

"The child is not dead, but asleep." And they began to laugh him to scorn. Then he put them all outside, took the father and mother of the child and those he brought with him, and entered the room where the child was lying.

Then he took the child's hand and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," that is to say, "Little girl, I am speaking to you; arise!"

When it came Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; many, as they listened, were deeply impressed. "Where did he get all this?" they asked; "What is the wisdom that is given to this man, and miracles such as these that happen at his hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?"

So they disapproved of him. Then Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native land and among his relatives and in his home."

and if any place does not receive you, or listen to you, as you go out of it shake off the dust under your feet, as a warning to them."

King Herod heard it, for the name of Jesus had become well known, People were saying, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and on that account these powers are working in him."

"He is Elijah," said others. And still others were saying, "He is a prophet, like one of the old prophets."

For John had often told Herod, "It is not right for you to live with your brother's wife."

Then when the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him and said: "This place is desert, and the day is now far spent.

But he at once spoke with them, saying. "Courage! It is I. Do not be afraid!"

As soon as they got out of the boat, the people at once recognized him,

They had noticed that some of his disciples were eating with "common," that is to say, unwashed hands.

and when they come from the market-place they do not eat without bathing first. and they have many other customs which they have received and observe, such as the washing of cups and jugs and copper pans.

"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites," he answered. "As it is written, 'This people honor me with their lips, While their hearts are far from me;

But in vain do they worship me, For their teaching is only human precepts.'"

"It is praiseworthy, is it," he exclaimed, "to reject the command of God that you may keep your tradition!

you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'This money which otherwise you would have received from me, is Korban' (that is, a thing devoted to God),

"Listen to me, all of you, and understand; there is nothing outside a man which by entering in can defile him; but it is what comes from him that defiled him."

"What comes out of a man," he continued, "is what defiles him.

Forthwith a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet

"Let the children be filled first," he said to her. "It is unseemly to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

then looking up to heaven with a sigh, he said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened.")

The man looked up and said, "I can make out the people, for as they move about, I see them like trees."

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and wicked generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Here in their presence he was transfigured; and his clothes also became glistering with a radiant whiteness, such as no bleaching on earth could give.

"Master," said Peter, addressing Jesus, "it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Then there came a cloud overshadowing them; and there came a voice out of the cloud. "This is my Son, my beloved. Listen to him."

And suddenly as they looked around, they saw no one any more beside them, but Jesus alone.

As they came down the mountain he strictly forbade them to narrate to any one what they had seen, until after the Son of man had risen from the dead.

So they asked him, "How is it that the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?"

"Elijah does indeed first come," he said, "and restores all things, But how is it written about the Son of Man, that he will endure great suffering, and be rejected?

"Elijah indeed has already come," he added, "and they have done to him whatever they pleased, even as it is written of him."

As soon as they saw him, all the people were astounded and ran up to greet him.

and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and is wasting away. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

"From childhood," he answered; "and often it has thrown him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

"Master," said John, "we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he did not follow us."

"Do not try to stop him," Jesus answered, "for there is no one who performs a miracle in my name who can soon speak evil of me.

He who is not against us is for us.

"If your hand cause you to stumble, cut it off! It is better to be maimed and to enter into life than to have two hands and go away into hell, into the fire that cannot be put out.

If your foot cause you to stumble, cut it off! It is better to enter into the life a cripple, than to have two feet and be cast into hell.

If your eye cause you to stumble, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God one-eyed that to keep both your eyes and be cast into hell,

salt is excellent, but if the salt has lost its savor, what will you use to restore its saltness? Then have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

On leaving that place Jesus came into the borders of Judea, on the other side of the Jordan, Once more the people flocked about him, and again, as usual, he began teaching them.