Mark 1-3 (New American Standard Bible)

Mark 1

Preaching of John the Baptist

 ¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ^(A)the Son of God.

 ^2(B)As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
         "^(C)BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
         WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;
    ^3(D)THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
         'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
         MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'"

 ⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness ^[a](E)preaching a baptism of repentance for the ^(F)forgiveness of sins.

 ⁵And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

 ⁶John was clothed with camel's hair and wore ^(G)a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.

 ⁷And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.

 ⁸"I baptized you ^[b]with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The Baptism of Jesus

 ^9(H)In those days Jesus ^(I)came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

 ¹⁰Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;

 ¹¹and a voice came out of the heavens: "^(J)You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

 ^12(K)Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.

 ¹³And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by ^(L)Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

 ^14(M)Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^(N)preaching the gospel of God,

 ¹⁵and saying, "^(O)The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; ^(P)repent and believe in the gospel."

 ^16(Q)As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.

 ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."

 ¹⁸Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

 ¹⁹Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.

 ²⁰Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

 ^21(R)They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath ^(S)He entered the synagogue and began to teach.

 ^22(T)They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

 ²³Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

 ²⁴saying, "^(U)What business do we have with each other, Jesus ^[c]of ^(V)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--^(W)the Holy One of God!"

 ²⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"

 ²⁶Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.

 ²⁷They were all ^(X)amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."

 ²⁸Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

Crowds Healed

 ^29(Y)And immediately after they came ^(Z)out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

 ³⁰Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.

 ³¹And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she ^[d]waited on them.

 ^32(AA)When evening came, ^(AB)after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were ^(AC)demon-possessed.

 ³³And the whole ^(AD)city had gathered at the door.

 ³⁴And He ^(AE)healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

 ^35(AF)In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and ^(AG)was praying there.

 ³⁶Simon and his companions searched for Him;

 ³⁷they found Him, and said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."

 ³⁸He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for."

 ^39(AH)And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

 ^40(AI)And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and ^(AJ)falling on his knees before Him, and saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."

 ⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."

 ⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

 ⁴³And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,

 ⁴⁴and He said to him, "^(AK)See that you say nothing to anyone; but ^(AL)go, show yourself to the priest and ^(AM)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

 ⁴⁵But he went out and began to ^(AN)proclaim it freely and to ^(AO)spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ^[e]stayed out in unpopulated areas; and ^(AP)they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Mark 2

The Paralytic Healed

 ¹When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

 ²And ^(AQ)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

 ^3(AR)And they came, bringing to Him a ^(AS)paralytic, carried by four men.

 ⁴Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(AT)removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(AU)paralytic was lying.

 ⁵And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "^[f]Son, ^(AV)your sins are forgiven."

 ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

 ⁷"Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^(AW)who can forgive sins but God alone?"

 ⁸Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

 ⁹"Which is easier, to say to the ^(AX)paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'?

 ¹⁰"But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic,

 ¹¹"I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."

 ¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(AY)were glorifying God, saying, "^(AZ)We have never seen anything like this."

 ¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(BA)all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

 ^14(BB)As He passed by, He saw ^(BC)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "^(BD)Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

 ¹⁵And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

 ¹⁶When ^(BE)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "^(BF)Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"

 ¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "^(BG)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 ^18(BH)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

 ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

 ²⁰"But the ^(BI)days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

 ²¹"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

 ²²"No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."

Question of the Sabbath

 ^23(BJ)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(BK)picking the heads of grain.

 ²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, "Look, ^(BL)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

 ²⁵And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

 ²⁶how he entered the house of God in the time of ^(BM)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which ^(BN)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?"

 ²⁷Jesus said to them, "^(BO)The Sabbath was made for man, and ^(BP)not man for the Sabbath.

 ²⁸"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Mark 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

 ^1(BQ)He ^(BR)entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

 ^2(BS)They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(BT)so that they might accuse Him.

 ³He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!"

 ⁴And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.

 ⁵After ^(BU)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

 ⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the ^(BV)Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

 ^7(BW)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(BX)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,

 ⁸and from Jerusalem, and from ^(BY)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(BZ)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

 ^9(CA)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him;

 ¹⁰for He had ^(CB)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(CC)afflictions pressed around Him in order to ^(CD)touch Him.

 ¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are ^(CE)the Son of God!"

 ¹²And He ^(CF)earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

 ¹³And He went up on ^(CG)the mountain and ^(CH)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

 ¹⁴And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

 ¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons.

 ¹⁶And He appointed the twelve: ^(CI)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),

 ¹⁷and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder");

 ¹⁸and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot;

 ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

 ²⁰And He came ^[g](CJ)home, and the ^(CK)crowd gathered again, ^(CL)to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

 ²¹When ^(CM)His own ^[h]people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "^(CN)He has lost His senses."

 ²²The scribes who came down ^(CO)from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by ^(CP)Beelzebul," and "^(CQ)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

 ^23(CR)And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(CS)parables, "How can ^(CT)Satan cast out Satan?

 ²⁴"If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

 ²⁵"If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

 ²⁶"If ^(CU)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!

 ²⁷"^(CV)But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

 ²⁸"^(CW)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;

 ²⁹but ^(CX)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--

 ³⁰because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

 ^31(CY)Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.

 ³²A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."

 ³³Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"

 ³⁴Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "^(CZ)Behold My mother and My brothers!

 ³⁵"For whoever ^(DA)does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."