As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way;

And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;

and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”

Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.

They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

And the whole city had gathered at the door.

And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

He *said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

and He *said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.

The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

and to have authority to cast out the demons.

And He *came home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?

Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?

For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.

And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.

For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.

And He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,

yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.”

With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;

And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,

and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened.

Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine.

And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

One of the synagogue officials named Jairus *came up, and on seeing Him, *fell at His feet

and *implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.”

and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—

But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.

But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”

They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was.

And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him.

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.

And He wondered at their unbelief.And He was going around the villages teaching.

And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;

Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”

They went out and preached that men should repent.

And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”

But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.”

And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)

When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late;

send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

And He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.”

They all ate and were satisfied,