John was baptizing in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism about repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Now John was dressed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist. He ate grasshoppers and wild honey.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

He was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan. He was among wild animals, and angels were ministering to him.

While Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the sea because they were fishermen.

Then they went to Capernaum. As soon as it was the Sabbaths, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

The people were utterly amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one with authority, and not like their scribes.

All of a sudden, there was a man in their synagogue who had an unclean spirit! He screamed,

Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying in bed, sick with a fever, so they promptly told Jesus about her.

When evening came, after the sun had set, people started bringing to him everyone who was sick or possessed by demons.

He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. However, he wouldn't allow the demons to speak because they knew who he was.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went to a deserted place and prayed there.

Instantly the leprosy left him, and he was clean.

Several days later, Jesus returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home.

Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn't room for them, even in front of the door. Jesus was speaking his message to them

Since they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

As he was walking along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector's desk. Jesus told him, "Follow me!" So Levi got up and followed him.

Later, he was having dinner at Levi's house. Many tax collectors and sinners were also eating with Jesus and his disciples, because there were many who were following him.

How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?"

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

Jesus went into the synagogue again, and a man with a paralyzed hand was there.

Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held it out, and his hand was restored to health.

Jerusalem, Idumea, from across the Jordan, and from the region around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they kept hearing about everything he was doing.

But he sternly ordered them again and again not to tell people who he was.

A crowd was sitting around him. They told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you."

He began teaching them many things in parables. While he was teaching them he said,

As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up.

Others fell on stony ground, where they didn't have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once, because the soil wasn't deep.

But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown."

When he was alone with the Twelve and those around him, they began to ask him about the parables.

Some people are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown."

He was also saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds on the ground.

He was also saying, "How can we show what the kingdom of God is like, or what parable can we use to describe it?

A violent windstorm came up, and the waves began breaking into the boat, so that the boat was rapidly becoming swamped.

But Jesus was in the back of the boat, asleep on a cushion. So they woke him up and asked him, "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to die?"

Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and told the sea, "Calm down! Be still!" Then the wind stopped blowing, and there was a great calm.

Now a large herd of pigs was grazing on a hillside nearby.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging him to let him go with him.

So the man left and began proclaiming in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was utterly amazed.

Now there was a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years.

Her bleeding stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her illness.

While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader's home and said, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?"

They laughed and laughed at him. But when he had driven all of them outside, he took the child's father and mother, along with the men who were with him, and went into the room where the child was.

The young lady got up at once and started to walk. She was twelve years old. Instantly they were overcome with astonishment.

He was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went around to the villages and continued teaching.

King Herod heard about this, because Jesus' name had become well-known. He was saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead! That's why he is able to do these miracles."

because Herod was afraid of John. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man, and so he protected him. Whenever he listened to John, he did much of what he said. In fact, he liked listening to him.

The king was deeply saddened, yet because of his oaths and his guests he was reluctant to refuse her.

When it was quite late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and it's already late.

When evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, while he was alone on the land.

He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he came to them, walking on the sea. He intended to go up right beside them,

but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and began to scream.

They ran all over the countryside and began carrying the sick on their mats to any place where they heard he was.

Wherever he went, whether into villages, towns, or farms, people would place their sick in the marketplaces and beg him to let them touch even the tassel of his garment, and everyone who touched it was healed.

(The Pharisees and indeed all the Jewish people don't eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders.

He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Jesus left that place and went to the territory of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house, not wanting anyone to know he was there. However, it couldn't be kept a secret.

So she went home and found her child lying in bed, and the demon was gone.

Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and he saw clearly. His sight was restored, and he saw everything perfectly, even from a distance.

Then Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he was asking his disciples, "Who do people say I am?"

He was speaking about this matter quite openly.

Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone with him. His appearance was changed in front of them,

The whole crowd was very surprised to see Jesus and ran to welcome him.

Then Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He said, "Since he was a child.

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that won't let him talk or hear I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!"

The spirit screamed, shook the child violently, and came out. The boy was like a corpse, and many said that he was dead.

because he was teaching his disciples, "The Son of Man will be betrayed into human hands. They will kill him, but after being dead for three days he will be raised."

Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was at home, he asked the disciples, "What were you arguing about on the road?"

But they kept silent, because they had argued on the road with one another about who was the greatest.

John told Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us."

Then Jesus left that place and went into the territory of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him as usual, and he began to teach them again as was his custom.

But Jesus told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote this command for you.

As Jesus was setting out again, a man ran up to him, knelt down in front of him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

The man replied to him, "Teacher, I have obeyed all of these since I was a young man."

Once again, Jesus took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. "Pay attention! We're going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and the scribes, and they'll condemn him to death. Then they'll hand him over to the unbelievers,

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus) was sitting by the road.

When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Then Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the Temple and looked around at everything. Since it was already late, he went out with the Twelve to Bethany.

Seeing in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing except leaves because it wasn't the season for figs.

When the high priests and elders heard this, they began to look for a way to kill him, because they were afraid of him, since the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Then they went into Jerusalem again. While Jesus was walking in the Temple, the high priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him

Was John's authority to baptize from heaven or from humans? Answer me."

But if we say, "From humans'"?" They were afraid of the crowd, because everyone really thought John was a prophet.

Then the man sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.

This was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?"

While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "How can the scribes say that the Messiah is David's son?

As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts.

As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples told him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what beautiful buildings!"

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were asking him privately,

Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death,

While Jesus was in Bethany sitting at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman arrived with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Irritated, some who were there asked one another, "Why was the perfume wasted like this?

Just then, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. A crowd armed with swords and clubs was with him. They were from the high priests, the scribes, and the elders.

Day after day I was with you in the Temple teaching, yet you didn't arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled."

A certain young man, who was wearing nothing but a linen sheet, was following Jesus. When the men grabbed him,

Peter followed Jesus at a distance as far as the high priest's courtyard. He was sitting with the servants and warming himself at the fire.

While Peter was down in the courtyard, one of the high priest's servant girls came by.

As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.