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

And the moment he rose from the water he saw the heavens cleft and the Spirit coming down upon him like a dove;

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

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.

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:

Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea, and a large number of people from Galilee followed him; also a large number came to him from Judaea,

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."

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

On catching sight of Jesus from afar he ran and knelt before him,

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?"

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be free from your complaint."

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?"

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;"

However a number of people who saw them start and recognized them, got to the place before them by hurrying there on foot from all the towns.

Now the Pharisees gathered to meet him, with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem.

they decline to eat what comes from the market till they have washed it; and they have a number of other traditions to keep about washing cups and jugs and basins [and beds].)

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:

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

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

Now when he went indoors away from the crowd, his disciples asked him the meaning of this parabolic saying.

It does not enter his heart but his belly and passes from that into the drain" (thus he pronounced all food clean).

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

From within, from the heart of man, the designs of evil come: sexual vice, stealing, murder,

all these evils issue from within and they defile a man."

So she went home and found the child lying in bed and the daemon gone from her.

So taking him aside from the crowd by himself, he put his fingers into the man's ears, touched his tongue with saliva,

Then his ears were [at once] opened and his tongue freed from its fetter ??he began to speak correctly.

Now the Pharisees came out and started to argue with him, asking him for a Sign from heaven, by way of tempting him.

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.

This order they obeyed, debating with themselves what 'rising from the dead' meant.

A man from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you; he has a dumb spirit,

Jesus asked his father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he said;

But from the beginning, when God created the world, Male and female, He created them:

"Teacher," he said, "I have observed all these commands from my youth."

Many also spread their clothes on the road, while others strewed leaves cut from the fields;

Then he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you after this!" The disciples heard him say it.

What about the baptism of John? Was it from heaven or from men?"

Now they argued to themselves, "[What are we to say?] If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why did you not believe him.'

No, let us say, From men" ??but they were afraid of the multitude, for the people all held John had been really a prophet.

When the season came round he sent a servant to the vine dressers to collect from the vine dressers some of the produce of the vineyard,

When people rise from the dead they neither marry nor are married, they are like the angels in heaven.

for those days will be days of misery, the like of which has never been from the beginning of God's creation until now ??no and never shall be.

the stars will drop from heaven, and the orbs of the heavens will be shaken.

Then he will despatch his angels and muster the elect from the four winds, from the verge of earth to the verge of heaven.

Then he went forward a little and fell to the earth, praying that the hour might pass away from him, if possible.

"Abba, Father," he said, "thou canst do anything. Take this cup away from me. Yet, not what I will but what thou wilt."

At that very moment, while he was still speaking, Judas [Iscariot] one of the twelve came up accompanied by a mob with swords and cudgels who had come from the high priests and scribes and elders.

Now at festival time he used to release for them some prisoner whom they begged from him.

They forced Simon a Cyrenian who was passing on his way from the country (the father of Alexander and Rufus) to carry his cross,

Come down from the cross and save yourself!"

Let 'the Christ,' 'the king of Israel' come down now from the cross! Let us see that and we will believe!" Those who were crucified with him also denounced him.

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

and on ascertaining this from the captain he bestowed the corpse on Joseph.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking on their way to the country.

Afterwards he appeared at table to the eleven themselves and reproached them for their unbelief and dulness of mind, because they had not believed those who saw him risen from the dead. [But they excused themselves, saying, "This age of lawlessness and unbelief lies under the sway of Satan, who will not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God; therefore," they said to Christ, "reveal your righteousness now." Christ answered them, "The term of years for Satan's power has now expired, but other terrors are at hand. I was delivered to death on behalf of sinners, that they might return to the truth and sin no more, that they might inherit that glory of righteousness which is spiritual and imperishable in heaven."]

while they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the miracles that endorsed it. (b) But they gave Peter and his companions a brief account of all these injunctions. And, after that, Jesus himself sent out by means of them from east to west the sacred and imperishable message of eternal salvation.