It was at that time that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan;

And at that very moment, there in their synagogue, a man in the grip of an unclean spirit shrieked out.

and every one was amazed so that they began questioning among themselves. "What does this mean? A new teaching with authority? He lays commands even upon unclean spirits and they obey him."

And at once his fame spread everywhere through that part of Galilee.

"Let us go away," he answered, "to the neighboring country towns, that I may preach there, too; because for that purpose I came forth."

But he went out and began to tell every one and to publish it broadcast, so that Jesus could no longer enter any town openly; but he had to remain outside in lonely places, and people kept coming to him from every quarter.

and at once such a crowd gathered that there was no longer room for them, even around the door.

Jesus clearly perceived at once be the Spirit that they were thus reasoning in their hearts and said to them.

But to let you see that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins"??e said to the paralytic??11 "I bid you rise, take up your cot, and go home."

Now the disciples of John and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, and people came to ask him, "How is it that the disciples of John and the Pharisees are fasting, but your disciples are not?"

But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them; then, on that day, they will fast.

For he had healed so many that all the people who had ailments pressed upon him so as to touch him.

Twelve of them whom he also called "Apostles," he appointed to be with him, and also that he might send them out to preach,

and James(them he surnamed Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),

Then he went into a house, but again such a multitude assembled that they could not get their food.

If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand;

if a household be divided against itself, that household cannot stand;

In solemn truth I tell you that the sons of men shall be forgiven all their sins and all the blasphemies they may utter,

"Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother."

Afterwards Jesus began to teach by the seaside, and a vast multitude of people gathered about him, so that he went on board a boat on the sea, and sat there, while all the people stayed on shore, at the water's edge.

and as he sowed, it happened that some seed fell on the road, and birds came and picked it up;

Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it, so that it yielded no crop.

But some seed fell into good soil and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased, yielding thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

so that, "for all their looking they may not see, and for all their hearing, they may not understand, lest perchance they should turn and be pardoned.

When they have heard the Word, the anxieties of life and the snares of wealth, and all sorts of other ambitions, come in to choke the Word, so that it proves unfruitful.

But those, on the other hand, who were sown on that good soil, are those who listen to the Word, and welcome it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold."

yet when sown shoots up and becomes larger than any plant, sending out such branches that the wild birds build their nests under its shadow."

On the evening of that same day Jesus said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."

But a great gale of wind came up, and the waves were dashing into the boat so that it began to fill.

Then they were awestruck, and said one to another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him!"

So the spirits begged him, saying, "Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them."

So he went and began to publish abroad in the District of the Ten Towns all that Jesus had done for him; and every one was astonished and all men marveled.

"My little daughter," he said, "is dying. I beseech you, come and lay your hands on her, that she may recover and live."

and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, but was no better; on the contrary, rather grew worse.

At once the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was cured of her complaint.

Jesus, instantly conscious that the power within him had gone forth, turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

Then he took the child's hand and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," that is to say, "Little girl, I am speaking to you; arise!"

Jesus left that place, and accompanied by his disciples, came into his own part of the country.

When it came Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; many, as they listened, were deeply impressed. "Where did he get all this?" they asked; "What is the wisdom that is given to this man, and miracles such as these that happen at his hands?

And he was unable to do any miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them.

King Herod heard it, for the name of Jesus had become well known, People were saying, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and on that account these powers are working in him."

But when Herod heard, he said, "That John whom I beheaded has come back to life."

but she could not, for Herod was afraid of John because he knew that he was a just and holy man. So he kept him safe. When he listened to John he was much exercised, yet he found pleasure in listening to him.

He even swore to her that whatever she asked, he would give it to her, up to half his kingdom.

Send the people away so that they may go to the farms and villages about here, and buy themselves something to eat."

and began running over that whole country, and carrying the sick about on their beds, wherever they heard he was.

They had noticed that some of his disciples were eating with "common," that is to say, unwashed hands.

"It is praiseworthy, is it," he exclaimed, "to reject the command of God that you may keep your tradition!

you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'This money which otherwise you would have received from me, is Korban' (that is, a thing devoted to God),

Thus by your tradition which you have handed down you set at naught the word of God; and you do many other things like that."

"Listen to me, all of you, and understand; there is nothing outside a man which by entering in can defile him; but it is what comes from him that defiled him."

"Are even you without understanding?" he said. "Do you not perceive that nothing whatever from without can defile a man by entering him,

After he rose and left that place, he went away into the region of Tyre and Sidon. Here he went into a house and wished no one to know it but he could not be hid.

"For that saying of yours, go home," he replied; "the demon has departed from your daughter."

then looking up to heaven with a sigh, he said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened.")

They ate and were filled and they took up of broken pieces that were left, seven hampers.

They that had eaten were about four thousand.

At this Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit, and said: "Why does the present generation seek a sign? In solemn truth I tell you that no sign shall be given this generation."

And they told him. "Some say John the Baptist, others, Elijah, and others that you are one of the prophets."

and he began to explain to them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and the Scribes, and be put to death, and after two days rise again.

So they asked him, "How is it that the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?"

"Elijah does indeed first come," he said, "and restores all things, But how is it written about the Son of Man, that he will endure great suffering, and be rejected?

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit. "You dumb and deaf spirit," he said, "come out of him, I command you, and never enter him again."

So with a loud shriek it came out, after throwing the boy into convulsion after convulsion. The boy looked like a corpse, so that most of them said that he was dead.

Jesus and his disciples, after leaving that place, passed through Galilee; but he was unwilling that any one should know it,

for he was explaining to his disciples that the Son of man was to be betrayed into the hands of men, and that they would put him to death, but that after he had been put to death, he would rise again after three days,

For whoever gives you even a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, in solemn truth I tell you, that he shall certainly not lose his reward.

"If your hand cause you to stumble, cut it off! It is better to be maimed and to enter into life than to have two hands and go away into hell, into the fire that cannot be put out.

If your eye cause you to stumble, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God one-eyed that to keep both your eyes and be cast into hell,

On leaving that place Jesus came into the borders of Judea, on the other side of the Jordan, Once more the people flocked about him, and again, as usual, he began teaching them.

But Jesus said to them. "Moses gave you that command because of the hardness of your hearts;

so that they are no more two, but one flesh.

I tell you true that unless a man receives the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not even enter it."

"I tell you solemnly," said Jesus, "that there is no man who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's,

"You know not what you are asking," said Jesus. "Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

They answered him, "We can." "You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism that I am baptized with shall you be baptized,

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make them feel their authority.

Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began shouting and saying, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me!"

"What do you want me to do?" said Jesus, addressing him. And the blind man answered, "O Rabboni, that I might receive my sight!"

Jesus sent two of his disciples and told them. "Go to that village in front of you, and immediately on entering it you will find a colt tied, upon which no man has ever sat; untie him and bring him here.

And if any man asks you, 'Why are you doing that?" answer, 'The Lord has need of him, and he will immediately send him back.'"

And some of the bystanders began to say to them, "What are you trying to do, untying that colt?"

"In solemn truth I tell you that if any one shall say to this mountain, 'Up and hurl yourself into the sea!' and shall not doubt in his heart, but on the contrary shall believe that what he says will happen, it will be granted him.

That is why I am telling you that whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be yours.

And whenever you stand up to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any one, that so your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

On the other hand, if we say, 'From men'!" They were afraid, however, of the people, for every one held that John had been really a prophet.

And they kept seeking to lay hold on him, but were afraid of the crowd, for they knew well that he had spoken this parable about them; so they left him and went away.

So when they came, they said: "Teacher, we know that you are sincere and are not afraid of any one, for you do not regard the face of men; nay, but you reach the way of God in truth. Is it right to pay poll-tax to Caesar or not?

And Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's." They were amazed at him.

"Teacher, Moses taught us that if a man's brother die, and leave a wife behind him, but no child, that his brother is to marry the widow and to raise up a family for his brother.

"Is not this the reason for your error," Jesus answered them, "that you know not the Scripture nor the power of God?

Just then up came one of the Scribes who had heard them arguing, and realized that Jesus had answered them admirably. "What commandment," he asked, "is the first of all?"

"Admirably said, O Teacher," exclaimed the Scribe. "You have truthfully said that He is one,

and that beside him there is none other, and to love him with all one's heart and with all one's understanding and with all one's might, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is far beyond all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Jesus saw that he had answered with discrimination, and said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one ventured to question him.

While he was teaching in the Temple courts, Jesus in his turn asked. "How is it that the Scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

On this he called his disciples to him, and said: "I tell you solemnly that this poor widow has put in more than all who have put their offerings into the treasury;

for they have all put in what they could spare out of their surplus, but she, out of her penury, has put in all that she possessed, her whole living."

"Tell us when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign that all these predictions are about to be fulfilled."

When, however, they are leading you all to trial, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but whatever is given you in that hour, that say, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.