The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

As soon as He came up out of the water, He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending to Him like a dove.

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.

He was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels began to serve Him.

Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.

But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”

And the unclean spirit convulsed him, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.

Then they were all amazed, so they began to argue with one another, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.

When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all those who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.

and 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.

Simon and his companions went searching for Him.

They found Him and said, “Everyone’s looking for You!”

Then a man with a serious skin disease came to Him and, on his knees, begged Him: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.”

Immediately the disease left him, and he was healed.

Then He sternly warned him and sent him away at once,

telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But He was out in deserted places, and they would come to Him from everywhere.

Then they came to Him bringing a paralytic, carried by four men.

Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where He was. And when they had broken through, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

Then Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to Him, and He taught them.

Then, moving on, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.

While He was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also guests with Jesus and His disciples, because there were many who were following Him.

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry—

In order to accuse Him, they were watching Him closely to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath.

Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him because they heard about everything He was doing.

Then He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him.

Since He had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward Him to touch Him.

Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, those possessed fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

And He would strongly warn them not to make Him known.

Then He went up the mountain and summoned those He wanted, and they came to Him.

He also appointed 12—He also named them apostles—to be with Him, to send them out to preach,

and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him.

When His family heard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, “He’s out of His mind.”

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul in Him!” and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!”

Then His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to Him and called Him.

A crowd was sitting around Him and told Him, “Look, Your mother, Your brothers, and Your sisters are outside asking for You.”

And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

Again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around Him. So He got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was on the shore facing the sea.

When He was alone with the Twelve, those who were around Him asked Him about the parables.

So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was already in the boat. And other boats were with Him.

But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?”

And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

As soon as He got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him.

He lived in the tombs. No one was able to restrain him anymore—even with chains—

because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him.

For He had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

“What is your name?” He asked him.

“My name is Legion,” he answered Him, “because we are many.”

And he kept begging Him not to send them out of the region.

The demons begged Him, “Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them.”

Then they began to beg Him to leave their region.

As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to be with Him.

But He would not let him; instead, He told him, “Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.”

So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him while He was by the sea.

and kept begging Him, “My little daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay Your hands on her so she can get well and live.”

So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against Him.

Having heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His robe.

At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My robes?”

His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

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

He did not let anyone accompany Him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother.

They started laughing at Him, but He put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with Him, and entered the place where the child was.

He went away from there and came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him.

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands?

Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t His sisters here with us?” So they were offended by Him.

King Herod heard of this, because Jesus’ name had become well known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that’s why supernatural powers are at work in him.”

For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.

So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not,

because Herod was in awe of John and was protecting him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very disturbed, yet would hear him gladly.

The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John’s head. So he went and beheaded him in prison,

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught.

When it was already late, His disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late!

“You give them something to eat,” He responded.

They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.

When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out;

for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.

Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Him.

Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why don’t Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ritually unclean hands?”

“you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.

Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.

When He went into the house away from the crowd, the disciples asked Him about the parable.

And He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him?

Then He said, “What comes out of a person—that defiles him.

Instead, immediately after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at His feet.

Now the woman was Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

But she replied to Him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

They brought to Him a deaf man who also had a speech difficulty, and begged Jesus to lay His hand on him.

So He took him away from the crowd privately. After putting His fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, He touched his tongue.

Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).

His disciples answered Him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to fill these people?”

The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, demanding of Him a sign from heaven to test Him.