As it is written in the prophet Isaiah: "Here I send my messenger ahead of you; He will prepare your way.

He is a voice of one who shouts in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make the paths straight for Him.'"

Now John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he used to live on dried locusts and wild honey.

He kept preaching the following message, "After me there is coming One who is stronger than I am, whose shoes I am not fit to stoop down and untie.

I have baptized you in water, but He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."

And just as soon as He started to come up out of the water, He saw the heavens split open and the Spirit coming down like a dove to enter Him.

And He stayed in the desert forty days, while He was being tempted by Satan; yea, He was with the wild beasts, but the angels continued to wait upon Him.

As He was walking along the shore of the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen.

He walked on a little farther and saw James, the Son of Zebedee, and his brother John; they too were in their boats getting their nets in order.

He at once called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went after Him.

They went into Capernaum, and as soon as the first Sabbath came, He went into the synagogue and began to teach.

And they were dumbfounded at His teaching, for He was teaching them like one who had authority to teach, and not like the scribes.

Just at that moment there was a man in their synagogue who was under the spell of a foul spirit, and so he screamed,

They were all so dumbfounded that they kept discussing it among themselves, and asking, "What does this mean? It is a new teaching. He gives orders with authority even to foul spirits, and they obey Him."

Then He went up to her, grasped her hand, and had her get up. The fever left her, and she began to wait upon them.

And He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and drove out many demons, and would not let the demons speak a word, because they knew who He was.

Early in the morning, long before daybreak, He got up and went out to a lonely spot, and stayed praying there.

And He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the neighboring towns, to preach in them, too, for that is why I came out here."

So He went all over Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

And His heart was moved with pity for him, so He stretched out His hand and touched him, and said, "I do want to! Be cured!"

And the leprosy at once left him, and he was cured.

But he went out and began to publish it so much and to spread the story so far, that Jesus could not any more go into any town openly, but had to stay out in thinly settled places. But the people kept coming to Him from every quarter.

After some days He came back to Capernaum, and it was reported that He was at home,

and so many people gathered there that there was no longer any room even around the door. He was telling them His message.

And as they could not get him near to Jesus, on account of the crowd, they dug through the roof over the spot where He was standing and let the pallet down that the paralyzed man was lying on.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

"Why is He talking this way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

But to show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth," turning to the paralyzed man He said,

Then he got up and at once picked up his pallet, and went out before them all. The result was that they were all dumbfounded and began to praise God and say, "We have never seen anything like this before."

He went out of the town again and along the seashore, and all the people kept coming to Him and He kept teaching them.

And as He was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting in the tax-collector's office, and He said to him, "Follow me." Then he got up and followed Him.

Levi was at table in his house, and he had many tax-collectors and notorious sinners as guests, along with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many of them, and they began to follow Him.

And when the scribes who belonged to the Pharisees' party saw that He was eating with notorious sinners and tax-collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why does He eat with tax-collectors and notorious sinners?"

No one sews a patch of brand-new goods on an old coat; or, if he does, the patch tears away, the new from the old, and the hole becomes bigger than ever.

No one puts new wine into old wine-bottles, or, if he does, the wine will break the bottles, and the wine is lost, and the bottles too. New wine is to be put up in new bottles."

On the Sabbath He was passing through the wheat fields, and His disciples started to make a path by pulling off the wheat heads.

He answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his soldiers were in need and hungry?

How is it that he went into the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the sacred loaves, which it is against the law for anyone except the priests to eat, and gave part of them to his soldiers, too?"

Then He said to them, "The Sabbath was made to serve man and not man to keep the Sabbath.

Then He went into a synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.

And they kept closely watching Him, to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath, to get a charge to bring against Him.

But He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up in the crowd."

Then He asked them, "Is it right to do people good on the Sabbath, or to do them evil, to save life or to take it?" But they had nothing to say.

So Jesus looked around at them in anger, because He was pained over their stubbornness of mind, and said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and his hand was cured.

and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from the other side of the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon -- yes, a vast throng of people, as they kept hearing of the great things that He was doing, came to Him.

So He told His disciples to keep a little boat ready for Him all the time, to prevent the crowds from crushing Him.

For He cured so many people that all who had ailments kept crowding up against Him to touch Him.

But He charged them time after time not to tell who He was.

Then He went up on the hillside and summoned to Him those whom He wanted, and they went to Him.

And He appointed the Twelve, to whom He gave the title, apostles, to be with Him, to send them forth to preach,

The Twelve whom He appointed were: Peter, the name which He gave to Simon,

James the son of Zebedee, and John, James's brother (He named them Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder),

and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. Then He went home.

His kinsmen heard of it and came over to get hold of Him, for they kept saying, "He has gone crazy."

And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem kept saying, "He is under the spell of Beelzebub and by the help of the prince of the demons He drives out the demons."

So He called them to Him, and continued speaking to them in short stories, as follows: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

And if Satan has made an insurrection against himself and become disunited, he cannot last but is surely coming to an end.

But no one can get into a giant's house and carry off his goods, unless he first binds the giant; after that he can make a clean sweep of his house.

He said so, because they kept saying, "He is under the spell of a foul spirit."

He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"

Then looking around at the people sitting about Him, He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.

Then He began again to teach by the seashore. And a crowd gathered around Him so great that He got into a boat and was sitting in it, just off the shore, while all the people were on the land close to the sea.

He continued teaching them by many stories. In His teaching He spoke to them as follows:

As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

And He said, "Let him who has ears listen!"

When He was by Himself, those who stayed about Him with the Twelve began to ask Him about the stories.

Then He said to them, "To you the secret of the kingdom of God has been entrusted, but to those who are on the outside everything is presented in stories, so that

Then He said to them: "If you do not understand this story, how, indeed, can you understand any of my stories?

Then He put a question to them: "A lamp is not brought to be put under a peck-measure or under a bed, is it? Is it not rather to be put on the lamp-stand?

And He was saying to them: "Take care what you hear. The measure you give will come back to you, and more besides.

For whoever has will have more given to him, but whoever has nothing, even what he has will be taken away."

He also was saying: "The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground,

then continues sleeping by night and getting up by day, while the seed sprouts and comes up without his knowing how.

But as soon as the crop Will permit it, he puts in the sickle, for the reaping time has come."

Then He kept on saying: "How can I further picture the kingdom of God, or by what story can I illustrate it?

With many stories like these He kept on telling them the message, as far as they could understand it.

He did not tell them anything except by stories, but to His own disciples He kept on privately explaining everything.

That same day when it was evening, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other Side."

So they left the crowd and took Him in the boat in which he was sitting. And there were other boats with Him.

He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, "Teacher, is it no concern to you that we are going down?"

Then He aroused Himself and reproved the wind, and said to the sea, "Hush! Be still." And the wind lulled, and there was a great calm.

Then He asked them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith yet?"

They were very much frightened, and said to one another, "Who can He be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

As soon as He got out of the boat, a man under the power of a foul spirit and from the tombs met Him.

for he had often been fastened with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one was strong enough to overpower him.

All night and all day he kept screaming among the tombs and on the hills, and kept gashing himself with stones.

On catching a glimpse of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell down on his knees before Him,

and screamed aloud, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name, I beg you, do not torture me."

He asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

So He let them do so. And the foul spirits came out of the man and got into the hogs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the cliff and into the sea and were drowned.

And those who had seen it told them how it occurred to the man who had been under the power of the demons, and about the hogs.

And as He was getting into the boat, the once insane man kept begging Him to let him go with Him.

However, He did not let him, but said to him, "Go home to your folks, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and has taken pity on you."

And so he went away and began to tell everybody in the Ten Cities how much Jesus had done for him; and everybody was dumbfounded.

When Jesus again had crossed in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him, as He was standing on the seashore.

And a man named Jairus, a leader of a synagogue, came up, and when he saw Jesus he flung himself at His feet

So He went off with him, and a great crowd kept following Him, and jostling Him.

Jesus at once perceived that power had gone out of Him, and so He turned around in the crowd, and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

Still He kept looking around to see her who had done it.

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