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

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.

And out of the heavens came a voice, "You are my Son, my Beloved! In you I am delighted!"

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.

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

"What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, God's Holy One!"

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."

In the evening, when the sun had gone down, they kept on bringing to Him all the people who were sick or under the power of demons,

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.

"See that you tell nobody a single word about it. Be gone, show yourself to the priest, and to prove it to the people, make the offering for your purification which Moses prescribed."

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."

Some scribes were sitting there arguing and saying to themselves,

Now Jesus at once felt in His spirit that they were arguing about this, and said, "Why are you arguing to yourselves about this?

Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say to him, 'Get up, pick up your pallet and start walking!"

"I tell you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home."

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."

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.

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. So some people came and asked Him, "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples practice fasting, but yours never do?"

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."

So the Pharisees were saying to Him, "Just look! Why are they doing on the Sabbath what it is against the law to do?"

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

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 whenever the foul spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and screamed, "You are the Son of God."

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

Then His mother and His brothers came. They were standing outside and sent word to call Him.

And a crowd was sitting around Him when they told Him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you."

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.

Some fell upon rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up at once, because the soil was not deep;

but when the sun came up, they were scorched and withered away, because they had not taken root.

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

The ones along the path are those who have the message sown in their hearts, but as soon as it is sown there, Satan comes and carries off the message that has been sown in their hearts.

In like manner these are the ones sown on rocky ground; as soon as they hear the truth, they accept it with ecstasy,

but it does not take real root in them, and so they last only a little while; then when trouble or persecution comes on account of the truth, they at once fall by the way.

A different class are those people sown among the thorns. They are people who listen to the message,

And the people sown in rich soil are the people who listen to the message and welcome it and yield thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold."

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?

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

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

But a furious squall of wind came up, and the waves were dashing over into the boat, so that it was fast filling.

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 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?"

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.

When they came to Jesus and saw the man who had once been insane under the power of many demons, sitting, with his clothes on, and in his right mind, they were frightened.

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 kept earnestly begging Him, saying, "My dear little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live."

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

Even while He was saying this, people came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead; why trouble the Teacher any longer?"

But Jesus paid no attention to what was said, but said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only keep up your faith."

Then they began to laugh in His face. But He drove them all out, and took the little girl's father and mother and the men with Him, and went into the room where the little girl was.

And the little girl at once got up and started walking around, for she was twelve years old. And instantly they were completely dumbfounded.

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue. And the people were dumbfounded when they heard Him, and said, "Where did He get all these things? What sort of wisdom is it that has been given Him? And such mighty deeds are done by Him!

they were to go with plain sandals on their feet and not to wear two shirts.

And if any place refuses to welcome you or to listen to you, when you leave there 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 on everybody's lips, and people were saying that John the Baptist had risen from the dead, and that this was why such mighty powers were working in Him.

But others were saying that He was Elijah, and still others that He was a prophet like the prophets of old.

For John kept saying to Herod, "It is not right for you to be living with your brother's wife."

So when He got out of the boat, He saw a great crowd waiting, and His heart was moved with pity at the sight of them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and so He proceeded to teach them a number of things.

There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

And because He saw that they were struggling at the oars, for the wind was against them, a while before daybreak He started toward them walking on the sea, and He meant to go right up beside them.

for they all saw Him and were terrified. But He at once spoke to them and said, "Keep up courage! It is I; stop being afraid."

Then He went up to them and got into the boat, and the wind lulled. They were completely dumbfounded,

for they did not understand the lesson of the loaves; their minds were dull.

And whatever villages or towns or country places He came to, they would lay the sick in the market-places and beg Him to let them touch just the tassel of His coat, and everybody that touched it was cured.

They had noticed that some of His disciples were in the habit of eating their meals without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing to make them clean.

And so the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why is it that your disciples do not practice the customs handed down from our forefathers, but eat their meals without purifying their hands?"

But He answered them, "Isaiah beautifully prophesied about you hypocrites; as the Scripture says: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me;

Their worship of me is but an empty show; the things they teach are but men's precepts.'

you cling to what men hand down. You are fine teachers to cancel what God commanded, in order to keep what men have handed down!

For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and again, 'Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death,'

but you say if a man tells his father or mother, 'Everything I have that may be of use to you is Corban,' that is, consecrated to God,

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

Nothing that goes into a man from the outside can make him foul, but the things that come from the inside of a man are the things that make him foul."

Now when He had left the crowd and gone home, His disciples were asking Him the meaning of this story.

And He answered them, "Are you too without understanding yet? Do you not know that nothing from the outside that goes into a man can make him foul,

Then He said to her, "Because you have said this, go home; the demon has gone out of your daughter."

And his ears were opened and his tongue was untied, and he began to speak distinctly.

So the people were overwhelmingly dumbfounded, and kept saying, "How wonderfully He has done everything! He even makes deaf people hear and dumb people talk."

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

But His disciples answered Him, "Where can anyone get bread enough here in this destitute place, to give these people plenty?"

About four thousand people were there. Then He sent them away.

So they were discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

And as He noticed it He said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet know nor understand? Are your minds so dull?

They answered Him, "John the Baptist; others say, Elijah, and others that you are one of the prophets."

Then He began to ask them, "Who do you yourselves say that I am?" Peter answered Him, "You are the Christ."

and His clothes were shining as white as white could be, yea, whiter than any earthly bleacher could bleach them.

And Elijah appeared to them, accompanied by Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

And while they were going down the mountain, He cautioned them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead.

And all the people were utterly amazed when they saw Him, and ran up to Him and greeted Him.

Then He asked them, "Why are you arguing with them?"

Wherever it seizes him, it convulses him, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth; and he is wasting away. So I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they could not do it."

and many a time it has thrown him into the fire or into the water, to destroy him. But if there is anything you can do for him, do pity us and help us!"

When Jesus got home and was by Himself, His disciples were asking Him, "Why could not we drive it out?"