Beginning

The Preaching of John the Baptist^(A)

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in the Prophets:

⁴ John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. ⁵ The whole region of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist. And he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ He preached saying, “After me is coming One mightier than I, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I indeed have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus^(B)

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ Coming up out of the water, He immediately saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus^(C)

¹² The Spirit immediately drove Him into the wilderness. ¹³ And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered to Him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry^(D)

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”

The Calling of the First Disciples^(E)

¹⁶ As He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, throwing a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

¹⁹ When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. ²⁰ Immediately He called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed Him.

The Man With an Unclean Spirit^(F)

²¹ They went to Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. ²² They were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ In their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit. ²⁴ And he cried out, “Leave us alone! What do You have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God.”

²⁵ Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” ²⁶ When the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, it came out of him.

²⁷ They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, “What is this? What new teaching is this? With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” ²⁸ Immediately His fame spread everywhere throughout the region surrounding Galilee.

The Healing of Many People^(G)

²⁹ When He came out of the synagogue with James and John, they went directly to the house of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰ The mother of Simon’s wife lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told Him of her. ³¹ So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

³² In the evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were possessed with demons. ³³ The whole city was gathered at the door, ³⁴ and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And He did not let the demons speak, because they knew Him.

A Preaching Tour^(H)

³⁵ In the morning, rising up a great while before sunrise, He went out and departed to a solitary place. And there He prayed. ³⁶ Simon and those who were with Him followed Him, ³⁷ and when they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is searching for You.”

³⁸ He said to them, “Let us go into the nearby towns, that I may preach there also. For that is why I have come.” ³⁹ So He preached in their synagogues throughout Galilee and cast out demons.

The Cleansing of a Leper^(I)

⁴⁰ A leper came to Him, pleading with Him and kneeling before Him, saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹ Then Jesus, moved with compassion, extended His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will. Be clean.” ⁴² As soon as He had spoken, the leprosy immediately departed from him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³ He sternly warned him, and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ saying, “See that you say nothing to anyone. But go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ Instead he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news around, so that Jesus could no more openly enter the city, but was out in remote places. And they came to Him from every quarter.

The Healing of a Paralytic^(J)

2 Again, He entered Capernaum after some days. And it was reported that He was in the house. ² Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no room to receive them, not even at the door. And He preached the word to them. ³ They came to Him bringing one sick with paralysis, who was carried by four men. ⁴ When they could not come near Him due to the crowding, they uncovered the roof where He was. When they had broken it open, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this Man speak such blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you contemplate these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier to say to the paralytic: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰ But 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, rise, and take up your bed, and go your way to your house.” ¹² Immediately he rose, picked up the bed, and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

The Calling of Levi^(K)

¹³ He went out again by the seaside, and the whole crowd came to Him, and He taught them. ¹⁴ As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s station, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him.

¹⁵ As Jesus was at supper in his house, many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they followed Him. ¹⁶ When the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The Question About Fasting^(L)

¹⁸ Now the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

²¹ “No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece that covered it tears away from the old, and the tear is made worse. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins will be marred. But new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”

The Question About the Sabbath^(M)

²³ He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. As they went, His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing on the Sabbath what is not lawful?”

²⁵ He said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he and those who were with him were in need and hungry: ²⁶ how he went into the house of God, in the days Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the ritual bread, which is lawful only for the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷ Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Man With a Withered Hand^(N)

3 Again, He entered the synagogue, and there was a man who had a withered hand. ² They watched Him to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. ³ He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up.”

⁴ Then He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

⁵ When He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch your hand forward.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. ⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to kill Him.

The Crowd at the Seaside

⁷ Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great crowd followed Him from Galilee and Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem, and Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And those from Tyre and Sidon, a great crowd, when they heard what great things He did, came to Him. ⁹ He told the disciples to have a small boat ready for Him because of the crowd, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰ For He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed on Him to touch Him. ¹¹ When unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him, crying out, “You are the Son of God.” ¹² But He sternly ordered them not to make Him known.

The Choosing of the Twelve Apostles^(O)

¹³ He went up into the mountain and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ He ordained twelve to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ¹⁶ Simon, whom He named Peter; ¹⁷ James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, whom he surnamed Boanerges (meaning Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸ Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas; and James the son of Alphaeus; and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

Jesus and Beelzebub^(P)

²⁰ Then they entered a house, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat bread. ²¹ When His family heard of it, they went out to seize Him, for they said, “He is beside Himself.”

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

²³ So He called them to Him and said to them in parables, “How can 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 cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan rises up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then he will plunder his house. ²⁸ Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they speak. ²⁹ But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal condemnation.”

³⁰ For they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

The Mother and Brothers of Jesus^(Q)

³¹ Then His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to Him, calling Him. ³² The crowd sat around Him and said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.”

³³ He answered, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

³⁴ Then He looked around at those who sat around Him and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God is My brother, and My sister, and My mother.”