Jesus Forces an Evil Spirit out of a Man^(A)

³¹ Yeshua went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and taught them on a day of worship. ³² The people were amazed at his teachings because he spoke with authority.

³³ In the synagogue was a man possessed by a spirit, an evil demon. He shouted very loudly, ³⁴ “Oh, no! What do you want with us, Yeshua from Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ Yeshua ordered the spirit, “Keep quiet, and come out of him!” The demon threw the man down in the middle of the synagogue and came out without hurting him.

³⁶ Everyone was stunned. They said to one another, “What kind of command is this? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits, and they come out.”

³⁷ So news about him spread to every place throughout the surrounding region.

Jesus Cures Simon’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others^(B)

³⁸ Yeshua left the synagogue and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. They asked Yeshua to help her. ³⁹ He bent over her, ordered the fever to leave, and it went away. She got up immediately and prepared a meal for them.

⁴⁰ When the sun was setting, everyone who had friends suffering from various diseases brought them to him. He placed his hands on each of them and cured them. ⁴¹ Demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But Yeshua ordered them not to speak. After all, they knew he was the Messiah.

Spreading the Good News^(C)

⁴² In the morning he went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds searched for him. When they came to him, they tried to keep him from leaving. ⁴³ But he said to them, “I have to tell the Good News about the kingdom of God in other cities also. That’s what I was sent to do.”

⁴⁴ So he spread his message in the synagogues of Judea.^[a]

Calling of the First Disciples^(D)

5 One day Yeshua was standing by the Sea of Galilee. The people crowded around him as they listened to God’s word. ² Yeshua saw two boats on the shore. The fishermen had stepped out of them and were washing their nets. ³ So Yeshua got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Then Yeshua sat down and taught the crowd from the boat.

⁴ When he finished speaking, he told Simon, “Take the boat into deep water, and lower your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Teacher, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll lower the nets.”

⁶ After the men had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. ⁷ So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Their partners came and filled both boats until the boats nearly sank.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he knelt in front of Yeshua and said, “Leave me, Lord! I’m a sinful person!” ⁹ Simon and everyone who was with him were amazed to see the large number of fish they had caught. ¹⁰ James and John, who were Zebedee’s sons and Simon’s partners, were also amazed.

Yeshua told Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch people instead of fish.”

¹¹ Simon and his partners brought the boats to shore, left everything, and followed Yeshua.

144,000 People Are Sealed

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land, the sea, or any tree. ² I saw another angel coming from the east with the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been allowed to harm the land and sea, ³ “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

⁴ I heard how many were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of the people of Israel:

God’s People around His Throne in Heaven

⁹ After these things I saw a large crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language. No one was able to count how many people there were. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb. They were wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”

¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne with the leaders and the four living creatures. They bowed in front of the throne with their faces touching the ground, worshiped God, ¹² and said,

¹³ One of the leaders asked me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I answered him, “Sir, you know.”

Then he told me,

The New Song on Mount Zion

14 I looked, and the lamb was standing on Mount Zion. There were 144,000 people with him who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² Then I heard a sound from heaven like the noise of raging water and the noise of loud thunder. The sound I heard was like the music played by harpists. ³ They were singing a new song in front of the throne, the four living creatures, and the leaders. Only the 144,000 people who had been bought on earth could learn the song.

⁴ These 144,000 virgins are pure. They follow the lamb wherever he goes. They were bought from among humanity as the first ones offered to God and to the lamb. ⁵ They’ve never told a lie. They are blameless.

The Harvest of the Earth

⁶ I saw another angel flying overhead with the everlasting Good News to spread to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. ⁷ The angel said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the time has come for him to judge. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs.”