Beginning

The Temptation of Jesus^(A)

4 Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² being tempted by the devil for forty days. During those days He ate nothing. And when they were ended, He was hungry.

³ The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’^[a]”

⁵ The devil, taking Him up onto a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this power and their glory, for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will. ⁷ If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”

⁸ And Jesus answered him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’^[b]”

⁹ He brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

¹¹ and

¹² Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’^[d]”

¹³ When the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from Him until another time.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry^(B)

¹⁴ Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And His fame went throughout the surrounding region. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by everyone.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth^(C)

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. When He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written:

²⁰ Then He rolled up the scroll, and He gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

²² All bore witness to Him, and wondered at the gracious words which came from His mouth. Then they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³ He said to them, “You will surely say to Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal Yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”

²⁴ He also said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. ²⁵ But I tell you truthfully, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. ²⁶ Yet to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, a city of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. But none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. ²⁹ They rose up and thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down headlong. ³⁰ But passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

The Man With an Unclean Spirit^(D)

³¹ Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. ³² They were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Leave us alone! What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him and did not hurt him.

³⁶ They were all amazed and said among themselves, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷ And His fame went out to every place in the surrounding countryside.

The Healing of Many People^(E)

³⁸ He went out of the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was taken ill with a high fever, and they asked Him about her. ³⁹ So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose and served them.

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to Him. And He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹ And demons came out of many, crying out, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” But He rebuked them and did not permit them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

Preaching in the Synagogues^(F)

⁴² When it was day He departed and went into a remote place. And searching for Him, the people came to Him and tried to prevent Him from leaving them. ⁴³ But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for this is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

The Calling of the First Disciples^(G)

5 As the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret ² and saw two boats beside the lake. But the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ He entered one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to thrust it out a little from the land. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered Him, “Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing. But at Your word I will let down the net.”

⁶ When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was tearing. ⁷ So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear. From now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

The Cleansing of a Leper^(H)

¹² When He was in a certain city, a man full of leprosy, upon seeing Jesus, fell on his face and begged Him, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.”

¹³ He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will. Be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴ Then He commanded him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵ Yet even more so His fame went everywhere. And great crowds came together to hear and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. ¹⁶ But He withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.

The Healing of a Paralytic^(I)

¹⁷ On a certain day, as He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Now some men brought in a bed a man who was paralyzed. They searched for ways to bring him in and lay him before Him. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his bed into their midst before Jesus.

²⁰ When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is He who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered them, “Why question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, rise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” ²⁵ Immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. ²⁶ They were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen wonderful things today.”

The Calling of Levi^(J)

²⁷ After these things He went out and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax collector’s station. He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he left everything, rose up, and followed Him.

²⁹ Then Levi made Him a great feast in his house. And there was a group of many tax collectors and others who sat down with them. ³⁰ But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The Question About Fasting^(K)

³³ They said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴ He said to them, “Can you make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then in those days they will fast.”

³⁶ He told them a parable also: “No one sews a piece of a new material on an old one. Otherwise the new would tear, for the new piece does not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled, and the wineskins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. ³⁹ And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new. For he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”