It is said in the Prophet Isaiah--'Behold! I send my Messenger before thy face; He shall prepare thy way.'

"Come and follow me," Jesus said, "and I will set you to fish for men."

But Jesus said to them: "Let us go somewhere else, into the country towns near, that I may make my proclamation in them also; for that was why I came."

One day a leper came to Jesus and, falling on his knees, begged him for help. "If only you are willing," he said, "you are able to make me clean."

And then Jesus, after sternly warning him, immediately sent him away, and said to him:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man: "Child, your sins are forgiven."

Jesus, at once intuitively aware that they wee debating with themselves in this way, said to them: "Why are you debating in your minds about this?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins on earth"--here he said to the paralyzed man--

The man got up, and immediately took up his mat, and went out before them all; at which they were amazed, and, as they praised God, they said: "We have never seen anything like this!"

As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: "Follow me." Levi got up and followed him.

When the Teachers of the Law belonging to the party of the Pharisees saw that he was eating in the company of such people, they said to his disciples: "He is eating in the company of tax- gatherers and outcasts!"

Hearing this, Jesus said: "It is not those who are in health that need a doctor, but those who are ill. I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast."

"Look!" the Pharisees said to him, "why are they doing what is not allowed on the Sabbath?"

"Stand out in the middle," Jesus said to the man with the withered hand;

And to the people he said: "Is it allowable to do good on the Sabbath--or harm? to save a life, or destroy it?"

As they remained silent, Jesus looked round at them in anger, grieving at the hardness of their hearts, and said to the man: "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out; and his hand had become sound.

The foul spirits, too, whenever they caught sight of him, flung themselves down before him, and screamed out: "You are the Son of God"!

When his relations heard of it, they went to take charge of him, for they said that he was out of his mind.

And the Teachers of the Law, who had come down from Jerusalem, said: "He has Baal-zebub in him, and he drives the demons out by the help of Baal-zebub, their chief."

This was said in reply to the charge that he had a foul spirit in him.

There was a crowd sitting round Jesus, and some of them said to him: "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you."

Then he looked around on the people sitting in a circle round him, and said: "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Jesus again began to teach by the Sea; and, as an immense crowd was gathering round him, he got into a boat, and sat in it on the Sea, while all the people were on the shore at the water's edge.

Then he taught them many truths in parables; and in the course of his teaching he said to them:

And presently, as he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path; and the birds came, and ate it up.

Some of the seed fell among brambles; but the brambles shot up and completely choked it, and it yielded no return.

And Jesus said: "Let any one who has ears to hear with hear."

And he said: "To you the hidden truth of the Kingdom of God has been imparted; but to those who are outside it all teaching takes the form of parables, that--

The People meant by the seed that falls along the path are these--where the Message is sown, but, as soon as they have heard it, Satan immediately comes and carries away the Message that has been sown in them.

So, too, those meant by the seed sown on the rocky places are the people who, when they have heard the Message, at once accept it joyfully;

Those meant by the seed sown among the brambles are different; they are the people who hear the Message,

But the people meant by the seed sown on the good ground are those who hear the Message, and welcome it, and yield a return, thirty, sixty, and even a hundred fold."

And Jesus said to them: "Is a lamp brought to be put under the corn-measure or under the couch, instead of being put on the lampstand?

Take care what you listen to," said Jesus. "The measure you mete will be meted out to you, and more will be added for you.

Jesus also said: "This is what the Kingdom of God is like-- like a man who has scattered seed on the ground,

And then sleeps by night and rises by day, while the seed is shooting up and growing--he knows not how.

Jesus also said: "To what can we liken the Kingdom of God?

By what can we illustrate it? Perhaps by the growth of a mustard-seed. This seed, when sown in the ground, though it is smaller than all other seeds,

In the evening of the same day, Jesus said to them: "Let us go across."

Jesus rose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: "Hush! Be still!" Then the wind dropped, and a great calm followed.

But they were struck with great awe, and said to one another: "Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

And they came to the other side of the Sea--the country of the Gerasenes;

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed to the ground before him,

For Jesus had said: "Come out from the man, you foul spirit."

And he asked him: "What is your name?" "My name," he said, "is Legion, for there are many of us;"

There was a large drove of pigs close by, feeding on the hill- side.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the possessed man begged him to let him stay with him.

But Jesus refused. "Go back to your home, to your own people," he said, "and tell them of all that the Lord has done for you, and how he took pity on you."

"My little daughter," he said, "is at the point of death; I beg you to come and place your hands on her, that her life may be spared."

"If I can only touch his clothes," she said, "I shall get well!"

Jesus at once became aware of the power that had gone out from him, and, turning round in the crowd, he said: "Who touched my clothes?"

"Daughter," he said, "your faith has delivered you. Go, and peace be with you; be free from your complaint."

Before he had finished speaking, some people from the house of the President of the Synagogue came and said: "Your daughter is dead! Why should you trouble the Teacher further?"

But Jesus, overhearing what they were saying, said to the President of the Synagogue: "Do not be afraid; only have faith."

"Why this confusion and weeping?" he said on entering. "The little child is not dead; she is asleep."

Taking her hand, Jesus said to her: "Taleitha, koum!"--which means 'little girl, I am speaking to you--Rise!'

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the Synagogue; and the people, as they listened, were deeply impressed. "Where did he get this?" they said, "and what is this wisdom that has been given him? and these miracles which he is doing?

On which Jesus said: "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relations, and in his own home."

"Whenever you go to stay at a house," he said, "remain there till you leave that place;

So they set out, and proclaimed the need of repentance.

Others again said--"He is Elijah," and others--"He is a Prophet, like one of the great Prophets."

But when Herod heard of him, he said--"The man whom I beheaded--John--he must be risen!"

For John had said to Herod--'You have no right to be living with your brother's wife.'

And when his daughter--that is, the daughter of Herodias--came in and danced, she delighted Herod and those who were dining with him. 'Ask me for whatever you like,' the King said to the girl, 'and I will give it to you';

The girl went out, and said to her mother 'What must I ask for?' 'The head of John the Baptizer,' answered her mother.

So she went in as quickly as possible to the King, and made her request. 'I want you,' she said, 'to give me at once, on a dish, the head of John the Baptist.'

"Come by yourselves privately to some lonely spot," he said, "and rest for a while"--for there were so many people coming and going that they had not time even to eat.

So they set off privately in their boat for a lonely spot.

On getting out of the boat, Jesus saw a great crowd, and his heart was moved at the sight of them, because they were 'like sheep without a shepherd'; and he began to teach them many things.

When it grew late, his disciples came up to him, and said: "This is a lonely spot, and it is already late.

And they sat down in groups--in hundreds, and in fifties.

Taking the five loaves and the two fishes, Jesus looked up to Heaven, and said the blessing; he broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples for them to serve out to the people, and he divided the two fishes also among them all.

For all of them saw him, and were terrified. But Jesus at once spoke to them. "Courage!" he said, "it is I; do not be afraid!"

Hurried over the whole country-side, and began to carry about upon mats those who were ill, wherever they heard he was.

His answer was: "It was well said by Isaiah when he prophesied about you hypocrites in the words--'This is a people that honor me with their lips, While their hearts are far removed from me;

Wisely do you set aside God's commandments," he exclaimed, "to keep your own traditions!

For while Moses said 'Honor thy father and thy mother,' and 'Let him who reviles his father or mother suffer death,'

Then Jesus called the people to him again, and said: "Listen to me, all of you, and mark my words.

Then, looking up to Heaven, he sighed, and said to the man: "Ephphatha!" which means 'Be opened.'

About that time, when there was again a great crowd of people who had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said:

"My heart is moved at the sight of all these people, for they have already been with me three days and they have nothing to eat;

Jesus told the crowd to sit down upon the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, and, after saying the thanksgiving, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve out; and they served them out to the crowd.

They had also a few small fish; and, after he had said the blessing, he told the disciples to serve out these as well.

Sighing deeply, Jesus said: "Why does this generation ask for a sign? I tell you, no sign shall be given it."

So Jesus gave them this warning. "Take care," he said, "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

And, noticing this, Jesus said to them: "Why are you talking about your being short of bread? Do not you yet see or understand? Are your minds still so slow or comprehension?

When I broke up the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets of broken pieces you picked up?" "Twelve," they said.

And when the seven for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you pick up?" "Seven," they said.

The man looked up, and said: "I see the people, for, as they walk about, they look to me like trees."

Then Jesus again placed his hands on the man's eyes; and the man saw clearly, his sight was restored, and he saw everything with perfect distinctness.

Jesus sent him to his home, and said: "Do not go even into the village."

Jesus, however, turning round and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter. "Out of my sight, Satan!" he exclaimed. "For you look at things, not as God does, but as man does."

Calling the people and his disciples to him, Jesus said: "If any man wishes to walk in my steps, let him renounce self, take up his cross, and follow me.

"Rabbi," said Peter, interposing, "it is good to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

As they were going down the mountain-side, Jesus cautioned them not to relate what they had seen to any one, till after the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead.

With a loud cry the spirit threw the boy into repeated convulsions, and then came out from him. The boy looked like a corpse, so that most of them said that he was dead.

"A spirit of this kind," he said, "can be driven out only by prayer."

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said: "If any one wishes to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all."

Then Jesus took a little child, and placed it in the middle of them. Folding it in his arms, he said to them:

"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he did not follow us."