Beginning

4 Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. He left the Jordan River, and the Spirit led him into the desert for forty days.

² The devil tried to make him do wrong. Jesus did not eat in those forty days. Then he was very hungry.

³ The devil said to him, `If you are God's Son, tell this stone to be changed into bread.'

⁴ Jesus answered him, `The holy writings say, "Man cannot live on bread only." '

⁵ The devil took Jesus to a high place where he could see all the countries of the world at one time.

⁶ He said to Jesus, `I will give you the right to rule over all these countries. They will make you great. All this has been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want.

⁷ So, if you worship and give honour to me, all will be yours.'

⁸ Jesus answered him, `The holy writings say, "You must worship the Lord your God and he is the only one you are to worship." '

⁹ The devil took Jesus to Jerusalem. He put him on a high part of the temple. He said to him, `If you are God's Son, jump down.

¹⁰ The holy writings say, "God will tell his angels to take care of you."

¹¹ And "They will hold you up in their hands so that you will not knock your foot on a stone." '

¹² Jesus answered him, `The holy writings say, "You must not test the Lord your God." '

¹³ When the devil finished all his testing, he left him for a while.

¹⁴ Jesus had the power of the Spirit when he went back to Galilee. People talked about him in all that part of the country.

¹⁵ He taught them in their meeting houses. All the people praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth where he had grown up. He went to the meeting house as he always did on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read.

¹⁷ A man gave him the book that Isaiah the prophet of God wrote long ago. He opened the book and found the place where it says,

¹⁸ `The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he chose me to tell the good news to poor people. He has sent me to tell the prisoners they can go free, and to tell the blind people they can see. He has sent me to set free those who have been wrongly held down,

¹⁹ and to tell people that the year when the Lord will help them has come.'

²⁰ Then Jesus closed the book and gave it back to the man. He sat down. Everyone in the meeting house was watching him.

²¹ He began to talk to them. He said, `You have heard what the holy writings say. They have come true today.'

²² They all began to talk about him. They were surprised to hear him say such good words. They asked, `Is not this Joseph's son?'

²³ Then Jesus said, `I know that you will say this to me "Doctor, heal yourself. We have heard what you did in Capernaum. Do the same things here in your own country." '

²⁴ And he went on to say, `I tell you the truth. No prophet of God is accepted by the people in his own country.

²⁵ `I tell you the truth. At the time of Elijah, there were many women in Israel whose husbands were dead. There was no rain for three years and six months. All over the country there was great trouble because there was no food.

²⁶ But Elijah was not sent to any of these widowed women in Israel. He was sent to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

²⁷ `Also while Elisha was the prophet of God, many people in Israel had leprosy [a bad skin disease]. None of them was healed. The only one who was healed was Naaman from the country of Syria.'

²⁸ When they heard this, all the people in the meeting house were very angry.

²⁹ They jumped to their feet and put Jesus out of the town. Their town was built on a hill. They took Jesus out to the top and wanted to throw him down the hill.

³⁰ But Jesus walked out between them and went away.

³¹ Jesus went to the town of Capernaum in Galilee. He taught the people there on the Sabbath day.

³² They were surprised at his teaching because he taught them as if he had the right to teach them.

³³ A man who had a bad spirit in him was in the meeting house. He called in a loud voice.

³⁴ He said, `Jesus from Nazareth! What do you want to do to us? Have you come to kill us? I know who you are. You are God's Holy Man.'

³⁵ Jesus said to him, `Be quiet! Come out of him!' The bad spirit threw the man down in front of them. He came out of the man and did not hurt him.

³⁶ All the people were very much surprised. They said to each other, `What kind of talk is this? He can make bad spirits obey him. He tells them to come out and they come out.'

³⁷ The people in all the places around Capernaum heard about him.

³⁸ Jesus left the meeting house and went to Simon's house. The mother of Simon's wife was sick with a bad fever. They asked Jesus to help her.

³⁹ He went and stood beside her. He told the fever to leave her. It left. She got up right away and began to do things for them.

⁴⁰ When the sun went down, the people brought to Jesus all who were sick in any way. He put his hands on every one of them and healed them.

⁴¹ The bad spirits also came out of many people. They called out, `You are the Son of God!' But he stopped them. He would not let them talk because they knew that he was the Christ.

⁴² The next morning Jesus went away to a place by himself. The people went to look for him. When they found him, they did not want him to leave them.

⁴³ But he said to them, `I must tell the good news to the people in other towns also. It is the news of God's kingdom. I was sent to tell this.'

⁴⁴ So he told God's word in the meeting houses in the Galilee area.

5 The people came close around Jesus to hear God's word. He was standing by Lake Gennesaret [the Sea of Galilee].

² He saw two boats by the water. The fishermen were not in their boats. They were washing their nets.

³ Jesus got into one of the boats. It was Simon's boat. Jesus asked him to put the boat out into the water a little way from the land. Then he sat down in the boat and taught the people.

⁴ When he stopped talking, he said to Simon, `Put the boat out into deep water and let down your nets to catch some fish.'

⁵ Simon answered, `Master, we worked hard all night and did not catch anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.'

⁶ When they did this, they caught many fish. Their nets were so full they were breaking.

⁷ They called their friends in the other boat to come and help them. They came. They filled both boats with so much fish, they began to go down.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he kneeled down in front of Jesus. He said, `Lord, leave me because I am a bad man!'

⁹ He was very much surprised to see how many fish they had caught. All those who were with him were surprised too.

¹⁰ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were helping Simon. They were surprised also. Jesus said to Simon, `Do not fear. From now on your work will be to catch men.'

¹¹ They brought their boats to the land. Then they left everything and went with Jesus.

¹² Jesus was in one of the cities and a man was there who had leprosy, a bad skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he bowed his face to the ground. He begged Jesus saying, `Sir, I know you can heal me if you want to.'

¹³ Jesus put out his hand and touched the man. He said, `I want you to be healed.' Right away the man was free from leprosy.

¹⁴ Jesus said to him, `Do not tell anyone about this. But go and let the priest look at you. Moses gave a law about the sacrifice you must give when you are healed. Give it to prove to the people that you are healed.'

¹⁵ But more people heard about Jesus than before. And many people gathered to hear him, and so be healed.

¹⁶ Many times Jesus went away to the desert and talked with God.

¹⁷ One day Jesus was teaching people. Pharisees and other Jewish teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every town in Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem. Jesus had the power of the Lord to heal the sick.

¹⁸ Some men brought a sick man on his bed. The man could not move his arms or legs. They tried to bring him in and put him in front of Jesus.

¹⁹ But they could not get in the house where Jesus was, because there were so many people. So they went up on the roof. Then through a hole in the roof they let down the bed with the sick man on it, until he was in front of Jesus.

²⁰ Jesus saw that they believed he would be healed. So he said to him, `Man, the wrong things you have done are forgiven.'

²¹ The scribes and Pharisees began to talk about this. They said, `Who is this man that is not giving respect to God? No one but God can forgive anyone for the wrong things they have done.'

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, `Why do you think these wrong things in your hearts?

²³ Which is easier, to say, "The wrong things you have done are forgiven," or to say, "Get up and walk"?

²⁴ I want you to know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive wrong things people have done.' So he said to the sick man, `I tell you, get up. Take up your bed and go home.'

²⁵ Right away the man stood up in front of them. He took up his bed and went home praising God.

²⁶ The people were all surprised and they praised God. They did not know what to think. They said, `We have seen things today that are hard to believe.'

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out. He saw a tax collector named Levi. Levi was sitting at the place where people came to pay taxes. Jesus said to him `Come with me.'

²⁸ Levi left everything. He stood up and went with Jesus.

²⁹ Levi made a big dinner at his house for Jesus. Many tax collectors and other people were sitting at the table with them.

³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes did not like what Jesus' disciples did. They said, `Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and bad people?"

³¹ Jesus answered them, `People who are well do not need a doctor. But sick people need him.

³² I did not come to call good people. I came to call bad people to stop doing wrong things.'

³³ They said to him, `The disciples or followers of John are often fasting [not eating for a time], and they talk with God. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same. But your disciples eat and drink.'

³⁴ Then Jesus said to them, `The people at a wedding cannot be sad while the man who is married is with them.

³⁵ But the time will come when he will be taken away from them. Then they will be fasting at that time.'

³⁶ Jesus told them a short story. He said, `No one takes a piece from a new coat and sews it on an old coat. If he does, the new coat will have a hole. And the new piece will not be like the old coat.

³⁷ No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will break the skins. The wine will be lost and the skins will be spoiled.

³⁸ New wine must be put into new skins.

³⁹ No one wants to drink new wine after he has had old wine. He says, "The old is better." '