As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You,
who will prepare Your way.

A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make His paths straight!

John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

As soon as He came up out of the water, He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending to Him like a dove.

They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority.

Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out,

“What do You have to do with us, Jesus—Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”

And the unclean spirit convulsed him, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.

Then they were all amazed, so they began to argue with one another, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.

The whole town was assembled at the door,

and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there.

So He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.”

Then He sternly warned him and sent him away at once,

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

Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But He was out in deserted places, and they would come to Him from everywhere.

When He entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that He was at home.

Immediately he got up, picked up the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Then Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to Him, and He taught them.

Then, moving on, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.

While He was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also guests with Jesus and His disciples, because there were many who were following Him.

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

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

He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry—

how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread—which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests—and also gave some to his companions?”

Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, those possessed fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

He also appointed 12—He also named them apostles—to be with Him, to send them out to preach,

and to have authority to drive out demons.

Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.

When His family heard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, “He’s out of His mind.”

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul in Him!” and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!”

So He summoned them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?

And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

“Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.

As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil.

When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root, it withered.

Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop.

Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.”

He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables

so that

they may look and look,
yet not perceive;
they may listen and listen,
yet not understand;
otherwise, they might turn back—
and be forgiven.”

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.

but the worries of this age, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

But the ones sown on good ground are those who hear the word, welcome it, and produce a crop: 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.”

He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand?

Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured and added to you.

For to the one who has, it will be given, and from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

And He said: “How can we illustrate the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it?

It’s like a mustard seed that, when sown in the soil, is smaller than all the seeds on the ground.

And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the vegetables, and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”

As soon as He got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him.

And always, night and day, he was crying out among the tombs and in the mountains and cutting himself with stones.

And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me!”

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

“What is your name?” He asked him.

“My name is Legion,” he answered Him, “because we are many.”

And he kept begging Him not to send them out of the region.

And He gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd of about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.

The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened.

The eyewitnesses described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs.

So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet

and kept begging Him, “My little daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay Your hands on her so she can get well and live.”

had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.

At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My robes?”

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came with fear and trembling, fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth.

But when Jesus overheard what was said, He told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.”

They started laughing at Him, but He put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with Him, and entered the place where the child was.

Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was 12 years old.) At this they were utterly astounded.

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

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands?

And He was amazed at their unbelief.

Now He was going around the villages in a circuit, teaching.

He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

So they went out and preached that people should repent.

And they were driving out many demons, anointing many sick people with olive oil, and healing them.

King Herod heard of this, because Jesus’ name had become well known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that’s why supernatural powers are at work in him.”

When Herod heard of it, he said, “John, the one I beheaded, has been raised!”

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

because Herod was in awe of John and was protecting him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very disturbed, yet would hear him gladly.

When Herodias’s own daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.”

Then she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”

“John the Baptist’s head!” she said.

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

When his disciples heard about it, they came and removed his corpse and placed it in a tomb.

He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

When it was already late, His disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late!

Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

“You give them something to eat,” He responded.

They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Everyone ate and was filled.

Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out;

for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat.

As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.

Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.