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.

After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news from God,

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.

But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and when that day comes, they will fast.

No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old coat; or if he does, the patch tears away, the new from the old, and makes the hole worse than ever.

So Jesus retired with his disciples to the seashore, and a great many people from Galilee followed him, and from Judea

and Jerusalem and Idumea and from the other side of the Jordan and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon a great many who had heard of the things he was doing came to him.

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.

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.

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

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,

Jesus instantly perceived that healing power had passed from him, and he turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

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

Even as he spoke people came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead. Why should you trouble the Master any further?"

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."

King Herod heard of him, for his name was now well known, and people were saying that John the baptizer had risen from the dead, and that that was why he was endowed with these extraordinary powers.

But when Herod heard of him he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead."

And many people saw them start and knew of it, and hurried around by land from all the neighboring towns, and got ahead of them.

And whatever village or town or farm he went to, they would lay their sick in the market-place and beg him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak, and all who touched it were cured.

The Pharisees gathered about him with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem.

For the Pharisees and all the Jews observe the rules handed down from their ancestors, and will not eat until they have washed their hands in a particular way,

and they will not eat anything from the market without first purifying it by sprinkling it, and they have a number of other observances which have come down to them, in the way of washing cups, pitchers, and basins.

But he said to them, "It was about you hypocrites that Isaiah prophesied so finely, in the words, " 'This people honor me with their lips, Yet their hearts are far away from me.

you let him off from doing anything more for his father or mother,

Nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him. It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him."

And he said to them, "Have not even you any understanding then? Do you not see that nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him,

For it is from inside, from men's hearts, that designs of evil come; immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, abusiveness, arrogance, folly??23 all these evils come from inside, and they pollute a man."

He took him off by himself away from the crowd, and put his fingers in the man's ears, and touched his tongue with saliva.

And if I send them home hungry they will give out on the way, for some of them come from a distance."

The Pharisees came out and began a discussion with him, testing him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice, "This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him,"

As they were going down the mountain, he cautioned them to let no one know what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead.

And they did not forget what he said, but discussed with one another what he meant by the rising from the dead.

"From his childhood, and many a time it has thrown him into the fire or into the water, to put an end to him. But if there is anything you can do, take pity on us and help us!"

But from the beginning of the creation, 'God made them male and female.

And many of the people spread their coats in the road, and others cut straw from the fields and scattered it in his path.

Blessed be the reign of our father David which is coming! God bless him from on high!"

And he spoke to the tree and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you any more!" And his disciples heard it.

Was John's baptism from heaven or from men? Answer me."

And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'It was from heaven,' he will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

Yet can we say, 'It was from men'?" For they were afraid of the people, because all the people thought John was really a prophet.

At the proper time he sent a slave to the tenants to get from them a share of the vintage.

This came from the Lord And seems marvelous to us'?"

For when people rise from the dead, there is no marrying or being married, but they live as angels do in heaven.

And Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully, and he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God!" And no one ventured to ask him any more questions.

As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him, apart from the others,

and the stars will fall from the sky and the forces in the sky will shake.

and then he will send out the angels and gather his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of the world to the other.

And he took the wine cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and they all drank from it.

and he said, "Abba!" that is, Father, "anything is possible for you! Take this cup away from me! Yet not what I please but what you do!"

Just at that moment, while he was still speaking, Judas, who was one of the Twelve, came up, and with him a crowd of men with swords and clubs, from the high priests, scribes, and elders.

And they forced a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross??ne Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

Come down from the cross and save yourself!"

Let this Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see it and believe!" And the men who were crucified with him abused him.

And the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two, from top to bottom.

There were some women also watching from a distance, among them Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome,

and when he learned from the captain that he was, he gave Joseph permission to take the body.

And he bought a linen sheet and took him down from the cross and wrapped him in the sheet, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the doorway of the tomb.

And they said to one another, "Who will roll the stone back from the doorway of the tomb for us?"

And they fled out of the tomb, for they were all trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing about it to anyone, for they were afraid to do so. AN ANCIENT APPENDIX But they reported briefly to Peter and his companions all they had been told. And afterward Jesus himself sent out by them from the east to the west the sacred and incorruptible message of eternal salvation. \b ANOTHER ANCIENT APPENDIX

Now after he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits.

Afterward he showed himself in a different form to two of them as they were walking along, on their way into the country.

Still later he appeared to the Eleven themselves when they were at table, and reproached them for their obstinacy and want of faith, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.