Now Peter was sitting outside in a courtyard and a servant-girl approached him and said, "You also were with Jesus, the Galilean."

And when he had gone out by the gate, another servant-girl saw him and said to those nearby, "This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth."

Now when morning came, all the leading priests and the elders of the [Jewish] people conferred together against Jesus as to how they might put Him to death.

So, they chained Him, led Him away and turned Him over to Pilate, the [Roman] governor.

Then Judas, who had betrayed Him [to the Jewish leaders], when he saw that Jesus had been condemned to die, changed his mind [i.e., about betraying Him] and brought back the thirty silver coins [Note: See Matt. 26:15 for the amount of money involved] to the leading priests and [Jewish] elders,

[Thus the prophecy] spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet [Note: The passage actually appears to be Zech. 11:12-13], was fulfilled which said, "And they took the thirty silver coins, the amount charged for Him on whom certain Israelites had set a price,

Now Jesus stood in front of the governor [i.e., Pilate], who asked Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "You have said so."

Pilate then said to Him, "Do you not hear how many charges the witnesses are bringing against you?"

For he knew that the reason they had turned Jesus over to him was out of envy.

Then while he was seated in Pilate's courtroom of justice, Pilate's wife sent [word] to him, saying, "You should have nothing to do with that innocent man. For I was very troubled in a dream over him today." [Note: That is, she was troubled over a dream she had before waking up that morning].

Pilate replied, "Then what should I do to Jesus, who is called 'Christ'?" They all shouted, "Let him be crucified!"

And he said, "Why [should he be]? What wrong has he done?" But they shouted out even louder, "Let him be crucified!"

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus to Pilate's headquarters and assembled the entire company [i.e., about men] in front of Him.

They stripped off His clothing and placed a scarlet robe on Him [Note: Mark 15:17 calls this a "purple" robe because in that day, any color with a mixture of "red" in it was often called "purple," so the use of "scarlet" was appropriate].

Then they made a wreath out of thorns and placed it on His head and put a stick in His right hand. They knelt down in front of Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hey, king of the Jews!"

And they spat on Him and took the stick and beat Him on the head with it.

And after mocking Him [some more], they removed the [scarlet] robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him.

As they were leaving [i.e., probably the city of Jerusalem], they met a man from Cyrene [Note: This was a city in the northern African country of Libya]. His name was Simon and they forced him to go with them so he could carry Jesus' cross [i.e., probably only the cross-beam portion].

And after they had crucified Him, the soldiers divided His clothing among themselves by gambling for them.

Then they just sat there and watched Him [die].

They attached over His head [i.e., to the upright portion of the cross] the charge made against Him, which read, "This is Jesus, the king of the Jews."

They [also] crucified two thieves with Him, one at His right side and one at His left.

And those who passed by [the cross] shouted abuse at Him and shook their heads [in derision],

In the same way the leading priests, experts in the law of Moses and [Jewish] elders also mocked Him, saying,

"He saved other people, [but] he cannot [even] save himself [i.e., from dying]. He is 'the king of Israel;' let him now come down from the cross and then we will believe in him.

He trusted in God; now let God deliver him, if He wants [to save him from dying], for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

And the thieves who were crucified with Him also heaped the same abuse on Him.

But the rest of them said, "Let him alone; let us see if Elijah [really] comes to save him."

Now when the military man in charge, and those with him who were watching Jesus, saw [and felt] the earthquake and the [other] things that happened, they became extremely fearful, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."

went to [governor] Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. So, Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

And the guards shook with fear at seeing him, and became as dead men.

then go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has risen from the dead and is [now] going on ahead of you into Galilee. You will see Him there.' Now [that is all] I have to tell you."

Suddenly Jesus met them and gave them greetings. They approached Him and took hold of His feet [and knelt] to worship Him.

And if the governor hears about this [plot], we will persuade him [i.e., not to punish you for negligence], so you will not have to worry about that."

And when they met Him [there], they [knelt down] to worship Him; but some [still] had doubts [i.e., about His resurrection. See John 20:25].

He will be the voice of a man shouting out in the desert, [urging people] to make the road for the Lord ready [to travel on]; to make a straight pathway for him."

And immediately upon emerging from the water, He saw the sky split open and the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a dove.

Immediately He called them [to become His followers] and they left their father, Zebedee, and went along with Him.

Jesus spoke sternly to him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him."

And the evil spirit caused the man to have a convulsion, then shouted with a loud voice and came out of him.

And all the people [in the synagogue] were so amazed they began asking one another, "What is this, some new teaching? And it is spoken with such authority He even orders evil spirits, and they obey him."

And news about Him quickly spread everywhere, [even] into all of Galilee and the surrounding regions.

And Simon and those who were with him [i.e., probably Andrew, James and John. See verse 29] followed Him.

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

Then a person with an infectious skin disease came to Jesus and, kneeling down before Him, begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the term "heal/healing" is originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

And being moved with deep pity, Jesus reached out His hand, touched him and said, "I do want to; be healed."

And immediately the infectious skin disease left him and he was healed.

Jesus sternly warned him, sending him directly out,

and saying to him, "Make sure you do not say anything to anyone. But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your healing with whatever Moses ordered [Lev. 14:1-9], as evidence to people [that you were completely healed]."

But [instead] the man went out telling everyone about the miracle of healing and spreading the story widely, so that Jesus was not able to enter a town publicly but had to remain outside in deserted places. [So], people went to Him there from all over the region.

And when they were unable to get near Jesus, because of the [large] crowd, they removed [a section of] the roof [directly above Him]. [Note: The roof was a flat area, where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., and easily accessible from an outside stairway]. And when they had broken open [a sizable hole], they lowered the cot on which the paralyzed man was lying.

Then Jesus went out again, walking along the shore of the lake, and [when] all the crowd came out to Him, He taught them.

And as He walked along He saw Levi [i.e., the same person as Matthew. See Matt. 9:9], the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the toll booth [i.e., collecting taxes]. He said to him, "Become my follower." And he got up and followed Him.

And it happened that Jesus was having a meal at Levi's house and many tax collectors and worldly people sat down with Him and His disciples, for many [of these kinds of people] became His followers.

And the Pharisees asked Him, "Look, why are they [i.e., Jesus' disciples] doing what is against the law of Moses on the Sabbath day?"

Or how he entered the house of God [i.e., the Temple] when Abiathar was head priest, and ate the 'Bread of Presence' which was not permissible, according to the law of Moses, for anyone but priests? He even gave [some of it] to those who were with him."

And the Pharisees were watching Him to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could [find a reason to] accuse Him.

And the Pharisees immediately went out and conferred with the Herodians against Jesus, plotting how they could kill Him. [Note: These Herodians were members of a political party favoring King Herod]

Jerusalem, Idumaea, the east side of the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon [i.e., cities on the northwest coast of Palestine] came to Him, having heard about the great things [i.e., miracles] He had been performing.

He told His disciples to have a small boat waiting for Him [i.e., from which He could address the people. See 4:1], to prevent His being thronged by the large crowd.

For He had healed so many people that large numbers of them who were plagued with serious illnesses were crowding around Him in hope of getting to touch Him.

And whenever they saw Him, [people possessed by] evil spirits fell to the ground in front of Him, shouting, "You are the Son of God."

He then went up into the mountain and summoned those He wanted to come to Him and they came.

He appointed twelve apostles to travel with Him, whom He could send out to preach

and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. Then Jesus went into a house.

When His relatives [or friends] heard about this [i.e., all that He was doing], they went out to take custody of Him [for safety reasons?], for people were saying, "He has lost his mind."

And the experts in the law of Moses who had come down from Jerusalem were saying [Note: This followed the incident of Jesus healing a man with an evil spirit. See Matt. 12:22-28], "He has Beelzebub [in him]," and "He is driving out evil spirits by [the power of] the chief of evil spirits."

And He called them to Him and began speaking to them in parables [i.e., brief stories to illustrate His teaching], saying, "How can Satan drive out Satan?

Jesus said all this because these experts in the law of Moses had been saying, "He has an evil spirit in him."

Then Jesus' mother and [half-] brothers came and stood outside [i.e., of a large house. See Matt. 12:46-13:1]. They sent a message to Him, asking Him to come out to them.

Someone in the large crowd that was sitting around Him said to Him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

Then He looked out over those gathered around Him and said, "Look, [here is] my mother and my brothers

Jesus again began teaching along the shore of the lake [of Galilee]. A huge crowd gathered around Him so that He had to sit in a boat out in the lake [to speak to them], while all the crowd stood on the shore.

And when He was alone those people who gathered around Him, along with the twelve apostles, asked Him what the parables meant.

For to the person who [already] has something, [more] will be given, and from the person who has [almost] nothing, even what [little] he has will be taken away from him."

And leaving the crowd, the disciples took Him in their boat just the way He was [i.e., this probably means without His making provision for the trip]. They were accompanied by other boats also.

Jesus was sleeping on a pillow in the stern of the boat. They awakened Him, shouting, "Teacher, do you not care that we are sinking?"

And they were extremely afraid, and said to one another, "Who can this man be that even the wind and water obey him?"

When Jesus left the boat, immediately a man with an evil spirit came from the graveyard to meet Him.

This man had been living in the graveyard and no one had been able to keep him tied up, not even with a chain.

He had often been bound with ropes and chains but had broken the chains off and torn the ropes to pieces. And no one had enough strength to subdue him.

When he saw Jesus from far away he ran to Him and worshiped Him.

For Jesus was saying to [the evil spirit in] him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit."

Then He asked [the evil spirit], "What is your name?" And he answered Him, "My name is 'Legion,' [Note: This word means a number consisting of between 5,000 and 6,000], for there are many of us [i.e., evil spirits]."

The evil spirits begged Him, saying, "Send us into those [wild] hogs, so we can enter their bodies."

As He entered the boat the man who had been dominated by evil spirits begged for permission to be allowed to go with Him.

But Jesus would not allow him, saying to the man, "Go home to your friends [and family?] and tell them about the great things the Lord has done for you and how He had pity on you."

But the man went away and began telling people throughout Decapolis about all of the great things Jesus had done for him. [Note: "Decapolis" means "ten cities" and was a region located east of the Jordan River].

When Jesus had crossed over again in a boat to the other side [i.e., to the northwest shore of the lake, probably in the vicinity of Capernaum], a large crowd gathered around Him along the shore of the lake.

About then a man named Jairus, one of the officials of the synagogue, came to Jesus and, upon seeing Him, fell to the ground at His feet.

He begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is about to die; [please] come and place your hands on her so she may be healed and live."

So, Jesus went along with the man, and was being thronged by a large crowd that followed Him.

Then a woman, who had been bleeding for twelve years, came to Him.

Just then Jesus perceived in Himself that [healing] power had gone out from Him so turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothing?"

And His disciples said to Him, "You see the large crowd thronging you and yet you ask 'Who touched me'?"

Then He looked around to see who had done this [i.e., touched Him and received healing].

But the woman became afraid and trembled with fear, for she knew what had happened to her [i.e., the healing], so she came and fell down in front of Jesus and told Him the whole truth.

He did not allow anyone to follow Him [i.e., to the official's house] except Peter, James and his brother John.

They laughed at Him scornfully. But after having all the people wait outside He took the child's father and mother, along with those who came with Him [i.e., Peter, James and John] and went in to where the [dead] child lay.

Then Jesus went out from there and came to His home town [i.e., Nazareth] and His disciples went with Him.