Preaching of John the Baptist

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

^2 (B)As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

⁴ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness ^[b](E)preaching a baptism of repentance for the ^(F)forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And 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. ⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore ^(G)a leather belt around his waist, and ^[c]his diet was locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he was ^[d]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 ^[e]with water; but He will baptize you ^[f]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. ¹⁰ Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens ^[g]opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹ and 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. ¹³ And 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 ^[h]taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^[i](N)preaching the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “^(O)The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ^[j]is at hand; ^(P)repent and ^[k]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. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹ Going on a little farther, He saw ^[l]James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. ²⁰ Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away ^[m]to follow Him.

Baskets of Figs and the Returnees

24 After ^(A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me: behold, two ^(B)baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord! ² One basket had very good figs, like ^(C)first-ripe figs, and the other basket had ^(D)very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “^(E)What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard ^(F)as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will ^(G)bring them again to this land; and I will ^(H)build them up and not overthrow them, and I will ^(I)plant them and not pluck them up. ⁷ I will give them a ^(J)heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be ^(K)My people, and I will be their God, for they will ^(L)return to Me with their whole heart.

⁸ ‘But like the ^(M)bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the Lord—so I will ^[a]abandon ^(N)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the ^(O)remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of ^(P)Egypt. ⁹ I will ^(Q)make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a ^(R)reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a ^(S)curse in all places where I will scatter them. ¹⁰ I will send the ^(T)sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”