He said, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!"

Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people."

When they found him, they said, "Everyone is looking for you."

Now a leper came to him and fell to his knees, asking for help. "If you are willing, you can make me clean," he said.

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

Now immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, he said to them, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," -- he said to the paralytic --

As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him. And he got up and followed him.

When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

When Jesus heard this he said to them, "Those who are healthy don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?"

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

So the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?"

He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry --

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

So he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Stand up among all these people."

Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?" But they were silent.

After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and, "By the ruler of demons he casts out demons."

(because they said, "He has an unclean spirit").

A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

He answered them and said, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"

And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.

He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching said to them:

And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.

Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.

But other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times."

And he said, "Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!"

He said to them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

He said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? Then how will you understand any parable?

He also said to them, "A lamp isn't brought to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn't it to be placed on a lampstand?

And he said to them, "Take care about what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure you receive, and more will be added to you.

He also said, "The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.

He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

It is like a mustard seed that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground --

On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go across to the other side of the lake."

But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"

So he got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Be quiet! Calm down!" Then the wind stopped, and it was dead calm.

And he said to them, "Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?"

They were overwhelmed by fear and said to one another, "Who then is this? Even the wind and sea obey him!"

So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes.

(For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!")

Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

But Jesus did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, "Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you."

When Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea.

Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, 'Who touched me?'"

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, "Do not be afraid; just believe."

When he entered he said to them, "Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep."

Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up."

Then Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, and among his relatives, and in his own house."

He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the area.

Others said, "He is Elijah." Others said, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets from the past."

But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!"

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."

So she went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" Her mother said, "The head of John the baptizer."

He said to them, "Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while" (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).

When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is an isolated place and it is already very late.

But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins and give it to them to eat?"

He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five -- and two fish."

Then he directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

He also said to them, "You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition.

For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.'

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand.

He said to them, "Are you so foolish? Don't you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?

He said, "What comes out of a person defiles him.

He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs."

Then he said to her, "Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter."

Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, "Ephphatha" (that is, "Be opened").

People were completely astounded and said, "He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples and said to them,

Then he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So they served the crowd.

Sighing deeply in his spirit he said, "Why does this generation look for a sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to this generation."

Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.

When he learned of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Have your hearts been hardened?

Then he said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

Regaining his sight he said, "I see people, but they look like trees walking."

Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again. And he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

They said, "John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets."

But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's."

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

So Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters -- one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

He said to them, "Elijah does indeed come first, and restores all things. And why is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised?

A member of the crowd said to him, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute.

Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood.

Then Jesus said to him, "'If you are able?' All things are possible for the one who believes."

Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He is dead!"

After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us."

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me.

They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her."