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.

And at once they forsook their nets and followed Him.

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.

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."

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went home with Simon and Andrew, in company with James and John.

And Simon's mother-in-law was confined to her bed with a fever. So they at once told Him about her.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?"

Jesus answered them, "The wedding guests cannot fast, can they, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

But a time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

I solemnly say to you, men will be forgiven for all their sins and all the abusive things they say.

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

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."

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.

Some fell among the thorn seed, and the thorns grew up and choked them out and they yielded no grain.

'They may look and look and yet not see, And listen and listen and yet not understand, Lest, perchance, they should turn and be forgiven.'"

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,

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

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?"

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

So they landed on the other side of the sea in the region of Gerasa.

And they kept on earnestly begging Him not to send them out of that country.

And they begged Him, "Send us among the hogs, so that we can get into them."

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.

Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.

They came to the home of the leader of the synagogue, and there He saw confusion, and people weeping and wailing without restraint.

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!

Is He not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not His sisters live here among us?" And so they found a cause for stumbling over him.

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

So they went out and preached that men should repent,

When his disciples heard of it, they came and carried off his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

The apostles returned and met Jesus and reported to Him everything, how many things they had done and taught.

And He said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a little while." For there was an endless stream of people coming and going, and they had no time even to eat.

So they got off in their boat to be by themselves in a quiet place.

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.

But He answered them, "Give them something to eat yourselves." Then they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy forty dollars' worth of bread and give it to them to eat?"

Then He asked them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." They found out and told Him, "Five, and two fish."

And so they tumbled down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

And they all ate and had plenty.

And the pieces they took up from the loaves made twelve basketfuls besides the pieces from the fish.

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.

But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost and screamed aloud,

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.

They crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret and anchored the boat.

As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Him

and hurried all over the countryside and began to bring the sick to Him on their pallets, wherever they heard He was.

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 will never eat until they have carefully washed their hands, and they never eat anything brought from the market until they wash it; and they have many other religious practices which they got from their forefathers, as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pans.

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

But He was saying to her, "Let the children first eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it out to the house dogs."

And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and almost dumb, and they begged Him to lay His hand upon him.

Then He charged them not to tell anybody about it, but the more He kept charging them, the more they kept spreading the news.

In those days when a great crowd again had gathered and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him, and said,

"My heart goes out in pity for these people, for they have been staying with me three days now, and they have nothing left to eat.

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

Then He asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They answered, "Seven."

So He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves and gave thanks and broke them in pieces and gave them to His disciples to pass, and they passed them to the people.

And they had a few small fish, and He blessed them and told them to pass these, too, to the people,

And they ate and had plenty. And they took up the pieces left over, which made seven hamper-basketfuls.

Now they had forgotten to bring any bread; that is, they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

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

Do you not remember how many basketfuls of pieces you picked up when I broke the five loaves in pieces for the five thousand?" They said to Him, "Twelve."

"And how many hamper-basketfuls of pieces when I broke the seven loaves in pieces for the four thousand?" They said to Him, "Seven."

Then they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him.

He looked up and answered, "I see the people, but they look to me like trees moving around."

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

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

And as quick as a flash, on looking around, they saw no one with them but Jesus by Himself.

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 they held that caution fast in their minds, as they continued to discuss among themselves what rising from the dead meant.

Then they asked Him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?"

But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and people treated him just as they pleased, as the Scripture says about him."

When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them.

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

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."