And the devil said to Him, "I will give you full authority [over them] and their splendor, for it has [all] been granted to me and to whom I want to give it.

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].

Then He reached out His hand and touched the man, saying, "I [do] want to; be healed." And immediately the infectious skin disease left him.

And no one who has drunk aged wine wants newly squeezed [juice], for he says, 'The older [grape juice] is better.'"

And when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet [i.e., in worship. See Mark 5:6] and shouted out with a loud voice saying, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Highest God? I beg you, do not torture me."

Then He said to everyone, "If anyone wants to be my follower, he should deny self [i.e., of always having its own way] and accept his cross [i.e., his responsibilities, with all their difficulties] everyday, and [then he can] become my follower.

For when an evil spirit takes hold of him he suddenly screams and [then] it throws him into convulsions so that he foams [at the mouth]. And it does not want to leave him, [even after] severely bruising him.

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said [to Him], "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to burn them up?"

Everything has been handed over to me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father. And [no one knows] the Father except the Son and whatever person the Son wants to reveal Him to."

At that very time certain Pharisees came to Jesus saying, "Get out of here and go someplace else, for King Herod wants to kill you."

For which one of you who wants to build a [lookout] tower will not first sit down and calculate its cost, to see whether he has enough [money and materiel] to complete it?

"What do you want me to do for you?" And he replied, "Lord, I want to receive my sight."

But the citizens [of his newly acquired kingdom] hated him and sent a delegation after him [i.e., to the person who appointed the gentleman king over them], saying, 'We do not want this man to rule over us.'

But bring those enemies of mine here [i.e., the citizens. See verse 14], who did not want me to rule over them, and kill them in front of me.'"

And they said to Him, "Where do you want us to prepare [for it]?"

saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup [i.e., of suffering] away from me; nevertheless, let it not be what I want, but what you want [for me]."

And when [the rest of] the disciples, who were gathered around Jesus, saw what was about to happen, they said, "Lord, do you want us to strike them with a sword?"