This was according to what is written in the book containing the words of Isaiah, the prophet [Isa. 40:3ff], "The voice of a man who speaks out in the desert [urging people] to make the road for the Lord ready [for Him to travel]; to make a straight pathway for Him [to walk on].

So the crowds were asking him this question, "What then ought we to do?"

As all this aroused people's expectations, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether John was the Christ,

And in this way, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed good news to the people.

But Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and concerning all the evils which Herod had done, Added also this above all,

Did this most evil thing of all, and had John shut up in prison.

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

And the Evil One said to him, If you are the Son of God, give orders to this stone to become bread.

And the devil said to him, "I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want.

So if you will worship before me, all [this] will be yours."

next, the devil brought him to Jerusalem, and setting him on the battlements of the temple, said to him, if you be the son of God, throw your self down from this height,

"The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed,

Then he said to them, Today this word has come true in your hearing.

And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?

And he said to them, "Doubtless you will tell me this parable: 'Physician, heal yourself!' Whatever we have heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also!"

upon hearing this, the whole synagogue were incensed against him.

But Jesus rebuked the demon. "Silence!" He exclaimed; "come out of him." Upon this, the demon hurled the man into the midst of them, and came out of him without doing him any harm.

And amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

But he said to them, "It is necessary [for] me to proclaim the good news [of] the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this [purpose].

And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking;

at sight of this, Simon Peter fell on his knees before Jesus, and said, Lord, withdraw from such a sinful man as I:

And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men.

And it happened while Jesus was in one of the towns [i.e., surrounding Lake Galilee], that a man covered with an infectious skin disease appeared and, when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face [to the ground] and begged Him, saying, "If you want to, you can heal me." [Note: Throughout this narrative the terms "heal/healing" are originally "clean/cleansing" because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially "unclean." See Lev. 13:1-3].

But because they could not find a [suitable] way to get him in [to the house] because of the people crowded [around], they went up to the housetop [Note: This was a flat area, where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., with a stairway accessible from the outside] and lowered the man on his cot through the roof tiles into the presence of Jesus.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?

"What is this caviling in your hearts? Which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise and walk?"

at this they were all seized with astonishment, and gave thanks to God, crying out with great reverence, what a wonderful instance of power have we seen this day!

After this He went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me."

This led the Pharisees and Scribes of their party to expostulate with His disciples and ask, "Why are you eating and drinking with these tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"

But a time for this will come, when the Bridegroom has been taken away from them: then, at that time, they will fast."

Besides, he applied this similitude to them. no man, said he, puts a piece of new cloth upon an old coat: if he does, the new will strain the old, and they will by no means suit one another.

Now it happened on a Sabbath day that Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His disciples picked off some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands and ate [the kernels]. [Note: It was an accepted practice for people in that day to be permitted to do this as they walked along paths bordering a grainfield].

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and they that were with him;

how he entered the house of God [i.e., the Temple] and took some 'Bread of Presence' and ate it, and also gave some to his men to eat? [This practice] was not permissible according to the law of Moses, [since the bread was reserved] only for the priests."

Then He looked around at all of them [there] and said to the man, "Reach out your hand." And [when] he did this, his hand was restored [to normal use].

This filled them with fury, and they discussed what they could do to Jesus.

Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God.

rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heaven, for after this manner did their fathers act toward the prophets.

Woe, when all men speak well of you, for after this manner did their fathers to the false prophets.

If anyone comes to me and listens to this teaching of mine and acts upon it, I will show you whom he is like.

When he had finished this discourse to the populous audience, he entred into Capernaum,

And a certain captain had a servant who was very dear to him; this servant was ill and near to death.

this centurion having heard of Jesus's fame, sent several elders of the Jews to intreat him to come, and recover his servant.

And they, when they came to Jesus, besought him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that thou shouldest do this for him;

It is right for you to do this for him, because he is a friend to our nation, and himself has put up a Synagogue for us.

So Jesus went with them. Now by this time he was not far away from the house, [and] the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come in under my roof.

For this reason neither did I consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my slave must be healed.

For I also am a man set under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

And Jesus hearing this wondered at him, and turning to the crowd following him said, I say to you, Not even in Israel have I found so great faith.

And it happened soon after this that Jesus went to a town called Nain [Note: This was a town of Galilee about

And this report went forth concerning him in the whole of Judaea, and all the region round about.

John's disciples told him of all this,

and sent two of them to Jesus, with this question, are you the Messiah, or must we yet wait for some other?

The men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this question: 'Are you the Coming One, or is there another that we are to expect?'"

then he gave them this answer, go, and tell John what you have seen, and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the gospel is proclaim'd to the poor.

This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall prepare thy way before thee.

(And all the people, [when they] heard [this]--even the tax collectors--affirmed the righteousness of God, [because they] had been baptized [with] the baptism of John,

Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like?

Now when the Pharisee that had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner.

[Jesus then gave this parable]: A certain moneylender had two men who owed him money; one owed him five hundred coins [Note: The total amount was days of a farm laborer's pay, or about $35,000 in 1994], and the other man [owed him] fifty coins [Note: About $3,500 in 1994].

And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.

Thou gave me no kiss, but this woman, since I came in, has not ceased kissing my feet much.

Thou did not anoint my head with olive oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment.

{For this reason} I tell you, her sins--[which were] many--have been forgiven, for she loved much. But [the one] to whom little is forgiven loves little."

And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins?

After this Jesus went about, preaching to every city and village, proclaiming the reign of the Messias, attended by his twelve apostles,

Then when a large crowd assembled and people from every town were coming to Jesus, He told them this parable [i.e., a brief story to illustrate His teaching]:

And another portion fell in rich soil and grew and yielded a crop of a hundredfold." As He said this, He exclaimed, "Let him who has ears to hear with, listen!"

And his disciples asked him what this parable might be.

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And being afraid they marvelled, saying one to another, Who then is this, that he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him?

As Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man from the town met him who was possessed by demons. For a long time this man had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among the tombs.

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, " [My name is] 'Legion'" [Note: This word means a number consisting of between 5,000 and 6,000], for many evil spirits had entered the man.

And the evil spirits begged Jesus not to require them to go away into the "pit" [Note: This appears to be the place reserved for the devil and his evil spirits. See Rev. 9:1-11; 20:1-3].

the keepers seeing this, ran about and spread it, both in town,

Those who saw this told others how the man dominated by evil spirits was restored.

And behold, a man {who was named} Jairus came, and this man was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at the feet of Jesus [and] began imploring him to come to his house,

But Jesus, [when he] heard [this], replied to him, "Do not be afraid! Only believe, and she will be healed."

After this he assembled the twelve apostles, and gave them authority over all sorts of demons, and the power of curing all diseases:

He said to them, "Do not take anything with you during your travels; not [even] a walking stick [Note: By comparing this and the restriction in Matt. 10:10, with the permission given in Mark 6:8, the harmony seems to be "if you do not already have a walking stick, do not get one"], or a traveling bag [for personal belongings], or food, or money, or [even] two coats [Note: Mark 6:9 says, "take only one coat" confirming the idea that Jesus was saying, in effect, "do not take anything extra, go just as you are"].

And those people who do not welcome you, shake the dust off of your shoes as evidence against them." [Note: This was a Jewish custom showing disdain, and intended to suggest their unworthiness]

And Herod said, John I beheaded: but who is this, about whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him.

When the apostles returned they told Jesus what they had done. Then Jesus took them and went away privately to a town called Bethsaida. [Note: This town was on the east side of Lake Galilee, and apparently was a different "Bethsaida" from the one mentioned in Mark 6:45].

But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Then late in the day the twelve apostles came and said to Jesus, "Send the crowd away so they can go into the villages and the surrounding countryside to find lodging and food because this place is deserted."

But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy food for all this people.

So, the disciples did this, and had all the people recline [on the grass in groups].

Afterwards, when Jesus was alone, praying, his disciples joined him, and he asked them this question-- "Who do the people say that I am?"

"But you," he went on, "who do you say that I am?" And to this Peter answered: "The Christ of God."

But he charged them, and commanded them to tell this to no man;

to tell this to no man, saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it.

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of this person when he comes in his glory and the [glory] of the Father and of the holy angels.

Now about eight days after Jesus said this, He took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

But as he was saying this, a cloud came and was circling over them, and they were frightened as the two visitors entered into the cloud.

And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye him.

and before the sound was gone, Jesus was left alone: this they kept secret, and for some time did not acquaint any one in the least with what they had seen.

I desired your disciples to cast out this spirit; but they were not able.