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

He announced, "After me one who is mightier will come, and I am not fit to stoop and untie the string of his sandals:

then said a voice from heaven, 'Thou art my Son, the Beloved, in thee is my delight.'

he said, "The time has now come, God's reign is near: repent and believe in the gospel."

Now as he passed along the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon's brother Andrew netting fish in the sea ??for they were fishermen;

They then entered Capharnahum. As soon as the sabbath came, he at once began to teach in the synagogue;

"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."

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!"

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.

and discovered him; they told him, "Everybody is looking for you,"

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 as they could not get near Jesus on account of the crowd they tore up the roof under which he stood and through the opening they lowered the pallet on which the paralytic lay.

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

Which is the easier thing, to tell the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to tell him, 'Rise, lift your pallet, and go away'?

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.

As the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were observing a fast, people came and asked him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, and your disciples do not fast?"

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.

A time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then they will fast, on that day.

No one stitches a piece of undressed cloth on an old coat, otherwise the patch breaks away, the new from the old, and the tear is made worse:

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 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."

so that the Son of man is Lord even over the sabbath."

Again he entered the synagogue. Now a man was there whose hand was withered,

and they watched to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so as to get a charge against him.

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

Jerusalem, Idumaea, the other side of the Jordan, and the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, as they had heard of his doings.

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."

If a realm is divided against itself, that realm cannot stand:

if a household is divided against itself, that household cannot stand:

and if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, he comes to an end.

but whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit is never forgiven, he is guilty of an eternal sin."

Whoever does the will of God, that is my brother and sister and mother."

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

and he said to them: "The open secret of the Realm of God is granted to you, but these outsiders get everything by way of parables,

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.

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.

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?

Nothing is hidden except to be disclosed, nothing concealed except to be revealed.

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;

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

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

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

That same day when evening came he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side;"

so, leaving the crowd, they took him just as he was in the boat, accompanied by some other boats.

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

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

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

As he was stepping into the boat the lunatic begged that he might accompany him;

with earnest entreaties. "My little girl is dying," he said, "do come and lay your hands on her that she may recover and live,"

He was still speaking when a message came from the house of the synagogue-president, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher to come any further?"

and on entering he asked them, "Why make a noise and wail? The child is not dead but asleep."

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;

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!

Is this not the joiner, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters settled here among us?" So they were repelled by him.

And if any place will not receive you and the people will not listen to you, shake off the very dust under your feet when you leave, as a warning to them."

Now this came to the hearing of king Herod, for the name of Jesus had become well known; people said, "John the Baptizer has risen from the dead, that is why miraculous powers are working through him;"

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

So when Jesus disembarked he saw a large crowd, and out of pity for them, as they were like sheep without a shepherd, he proceeded to teach them at length.

Then, as the day was far gone, his disciples came up to him, saying, "It is a desert place and the day is now far gone;

but when he saw them buffeted as they rowed (for the wind was against them) he went to them about the fourth watch of the night walking on the sea. He meant to pass them,

but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and shrieked aloud ??50 for they all saw him and were terrified. Then he spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

They noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with 'common' (that is, unwashed) hands.

He said to them, "Isaiah made a grand prophecy about you hypocrites ??as it is written, This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me:

vain is their worship of me, for the doctrines they teach are but human precepts.

Yes, forsooth," he added, "you set aside what God commands, so as to maintain your own tradition.

Thus, Moses said, Honour your father and mother, and, He who curses his father or mother is to suffer death.

But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'This money might have been at your service, but it is Korban' (that is, dedicated to God),

he is exempt, so you hold, from doing anything for his father or mother.

That is repealing the word of God in the interests of the tradition which you keep up. And you do many things like that."

nothing outside a man can defile him by entering him; it is what comes from him that defiles him.

"No," he said, "it is what comes from a man, that is what defiles him.

a woman heard of him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, and she came in and fell at his feet

He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first of all; it is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

and as they also had a few small fish, he blessed them too and told the disciples to serve them out as well.

He began to see and said, "I can make out people, for I see them as large as trees, moving."

but he turned on him and noticing his disciples reproved Peter, telling him, "Get behind me, you Satan! Your outlook is not God's but man's."

What profit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?

What could a man offer as an equivalent for his soul?

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this disloyal and sinful generation, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

and his clothes glistened white, vivid white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

So Peter addressed Jesus, saying, "Rabbi, it is a good thing we are here; let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"

Then a cloud came overshadowing them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him."

As they went down the hill, he forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen, till such time as the Son of man rose from the dead.

He said to them, "Elijah does come first, to restore all things; but what is written about the Son of man as well? This, that he is to endure great suffering and be rejected.

As for Elijah, I tell you he has come already, and they have done to him whatever they pleased ??as it is written of him."

and whenever it seizes him it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth. He is wasting away with it; so I told your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

"it has thrown him into fire and water many a time, to destroy him. If you can do anything, do help us, do have pity on us."

Now as Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he checked the unclean spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "leave him, I command you, and never enter him again."

And it did come out, after shrieking aloud and convulsing him violently. The child turned like a corpse, so that most people said, "he is dead";

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out daemons in your name; but he does not follow us, and so we stopped him."

He who is not against us is for us.

And whoever is a hindrance to one of these little ones who believe, it were better for him to have a great millstone hung round his neck and be thrown into the sea.

If your hand is a hindrance to you, cut it off: better be maimed and get into Life, than keep your two hands and go to Gehenna, to the fire that is never quenched.

If your foot is a hindrance to you, cut it off: better get into Life a cripple, than keep your two feet and be thrown into Gehenna.

If your eye is a hindrance to you, tear it out: better get into God's Realm with one eye, than keep your two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna,