Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Get the Lord's way ready, Make his paths straight,' "

John's clothing was made of hair cloth, and the belt around his waist was leather, and he lived on dried locusts and wild honey.

And just as he was coming up out of the water he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit coming down like a dove to enter into him,

As he was passing 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 went on a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; they too were in their boat putting their nets in order.

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

And they were all so amazed that they discussed it with one another, and said, "What does this mean? It is a new teaching! He gives orders with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!"

Simon's mother-in-law was in bed, sick with a fever, and they immediately told him about her.

He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the neighboring country towns, so that I may preach in them, too, for that is why I came out here."

So he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out the demons.

saying to him, "See that you say nothing about this to anybody, but begone! show yourself to the priest, and in proof of your cure make the offerings for your purification which Moses prescribed."

But he went off and began to talk so much about it, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in unfrequented places, and people came to him from every direction.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

"Why does this man talk so? This is blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Which is easier, to say to this paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say to him, "Get up and pick up your mat and walk'?

And he got up, and immediately picked up his mat and went out before them all, so that they were all astonished and acknowledged the power of God, saying, "We never saw anything like this before."

And as he was passing along he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.

And when the scribes who were of the Pharisees' party saw that he was eating with irreligious people and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?"

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. And people came and asked him, "Why is it that when John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are keeping the fast, yours are not keeping it?"

and so the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath."

And they were watching him closely, to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, in order to get a charge to bring against him.

So Jesus retired with his disciples to the seashore, and a great many people from Galilee followed him, and from Judea

For he cured so many people that all who had any ailments pressed up to him to touch him.

And whenever the foul spirits saw him, they fell down before him and screamed out, "You are the Son of God!"

James the son of Zebedee, and John, James's brother (he named them Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),

So he called them to him and spoke to them in figures, saying, "How can Satan drive Satan out?

But no one can go into a strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man; after that he can plunder his house.

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

Then he began again to teach by the seashore. And a crowd gathered around him so great that he got into a boat and sat in it, a little way from the shore, while all the people were on the land close to the water.

"Listen: A sower went out to sow,

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

It is so too with the ones sown on the rocky ground; they gladly accept the message as soon as they hear it,

yet once sown, comes up and grows to be the largest of all the plants, and produces branches so large that the wild birds can roost under the shelter of it."

So they left the crowd and took him away in the boat in which he was sitting. There were other boats with him.

And a heavy squall of wind came on and the waves dashed into the boat, so that it was beginning to fill.

Then he awoke and reproved the wind, and said to the sea, "Hush! Silence!" And the wind went down and there was a great calm.

And they were very much frightened, and said to one another, "Who can he be? For even the wind and the sea obey him."

So they reached the other side of the sea, and landed in the region of Gerasa.

and screamed out, "What do you want of me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God's name, I implore you, do not torture me."

So he gave them permission. And the foul spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned.

And the men who tended them ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around, and the people came to see what had happened.

and appealed to him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live!"

So he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and pressed around him.

His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?' "

But he still looked around to see the person who had done it.

He let no one go with him but Peter, James, and James's brother John.

And they laughed at him. But he drove them all out, and took the child's father and mother and the men who were with him and went into the room where the child was lying.

And he grasped her hand and said to her, "Taleitha, koum!"??hat is to say, "Little girl, I tell you, get up!"

And the little girl immediately got up and walked about, for she was twelve years old. The moment they saw it they were utterly amazed.

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?"

So they went out and preached that men should repent,

For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.

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

And she hurried back at once to the king and asked him for it, saying, "I want you right away to give me John the Baptist's head on a platter."

and he immediately sent one of his guard with orders to get John's head.

So they set off by themselves in their boat for a secluded place.

And many people saw them start and knew of it, and hurried around by land from all the neighboring towns, and got ahead of them.

So when he got out of the boat, he found a great crowd gathered, and his heart was touched at the sight of them, because they were like sheep that have no shepherd; and he proceeded to teach them a great deal.

But he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." They looked, and told him. "Five, and two fish."

When evening came on, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on shore.

And he saw that they were straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, and toward morning he went out to them, walking on the sea, and was going to join them.

They saw him walking on the sea, and thought it was a ghost and screamed aloud,

for they all saw him and were terrified. But he immediately spoke to them and said, "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid."

But he said to them, "It was about you hypocrites that Isaiah prophesied so finely, in the words, " 'This people honor me with their lips, Yet their hearts are far away from me.

But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is Korban," ' that is, consecrated to God,

and so you nullify what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many such practices."

And he said to them, "Have not even you any understanding then? Do you not see that nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him,

since it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then is disposed of?" So he declared all food clean.

He went on to say, "It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him.

For it is from inside, from men's hearts, that designs of evil come; immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

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

He said to her, "If you can say that, go home; the demon has left your daughter."

He left the neighborhood of Tyre again and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, crossing the district of the Ten Towns.

He took him off by himself away from the crowd, and put his fingers in the man's ears, and touched his tongue with saliva.

His disciples replied, "Where can anyone get bread enough, here in this solitude, to satisfy these people's hunger?"

And he noticed it and said to them, "Why do you discuss your being without bread? Do you not yet see nor understand? Are your minds so dull?

When you have eyes can you not see, and when you have ears can you not hear? Do you not remember

He took him by the hand and led him outside of the village, and spitting in his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked him, "Do you see anything?"

He looked up and said, "I can see people, for they look to me like trees, only they are moving about."

Then he laid his hands on his eyes again, and he looked steadily and was cured, and saw everything plainly.

Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he questioned his disciples and said to them, "Who do people say that I am?"

They said to him, "John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and others that you are one of the prophets."

And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to him, "You are the Christ."

And he warned them not to say this about him to anyone.

For if anyone is ashamed of me and my teachings in this unfaithful and sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes back in his Father's glory, with the holy angels."

And he said to them, "I tell you, some of you who stand here will certainly live to see the reign of God come in its might."

For he did not know what to say, they were so frightened.

And suddenly, on looking around, they saw that there was now no one with them but Jesus alone.

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

He said to them, "Elijah does come first, and reforms everything, and does not the Scripture say of the Son of Man that he will suffer much and be refused?

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

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

And they brought the boy to him. As soon as the spirit saw him, it convulsed the boy, and he fell down on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" And he said,

The boy's father immediately cried out, "I have faith! Help my want of faith!"

And it gave a cry and convulsed him terribly, and went out of him. And the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said that he was dead.

John said to him, "Master, we saw a man driving out demons with your name, and we told him not to do so, for he was not one of our followers."

But Jesus said, "Do not tell him not to do so, for there is no one who will use my name to do a mighty act, and be able soon after to abuse me.

And whoever causes one of these humble believers to fall might better have a great millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea.

and so they are no longer two but one.