Bible in 90 Days

Jesus is born

2 At that time, Caesar Augustus made a law. He told his men to count everyone who lived in the countries that he ruled.^{[a] 2} This was the first time that the Romans had made a list of everyone's names. Quirinius was the Roman ruler of Syria when it happened.

³ Everyone went to his own home town for the Romans to count them. ⁴ So Joseph went to his home town, Bethlehem. He was living in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee. Bethlehem was in Judea. King David had been born there, so Bethlehem was called the town of David. Joseph belonged to the family of David. That is why he went to Bethlehem.

⁵ Joseph took Mary with him so that the Romans could count them. She went because she had promised to marry him. She was pregnant.

⁶ While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷ This was her first baby, and it was a boy. She put cloths around him. Then she put him in an animal's food box. She did this because the rooms for visitors were full of people.^[b]

Some shepherds leave their sheep to go and see Jesus

⁸ That night some shepherds were living out in the fields near Bethlehem. They were keeping their sheep safe. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to them. A bright light from God shone all around them. That frightened them very much. ¹⁰ The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen! I bring you good news. This news will make everyone very happy. ¹¹ Something happened today in the town of David. Someone special was born. He is the one who will save you. He is the Messiah. He is the Lord. ¹² I will tell you how you will know this baby. You will find him with cloths around him. He is lying in an animal's food box.’

¹³ At that moment, a great crowd of angels appeared. They were praising God. They said:

¹⁵ After that, the angels went away and returned to heaven. Then the shepherds said to each other, ‘We should leave the sheep and go to Bethlehem immediately! The Lord God has sent his angels to tell us what has happened. We want to see this baby.’

¹⁶ So they went quickly to Bethlehem. When they got there, they found Mary and Joseph with the baby. The baby really was lying in a food box. ¹⁷ After they had seen the baby, they told everybody about him. They told them what the angel had said to them about him. ¹⁸ Many people heard what the shepherds said. They were very surprised. ¹⁹ Mary remembered everything that the shepherds had said. She thought about it all for a long time. ²⁰ The shepherds then went back to their sheep. As they went they praised God. ‘How great you are!’ they said to him. ‘How good you are! Everything that the angel told us was true! We have heard good news. We have seen very special things!’

Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple

²¹ When the baby was eight days old, it was time for the priest to circumcise him. His parents gave him the name ‘Jesus’. The angel had told Mary that they must give him that name. He told her that before she had the baby inside her.

²² Long ago, God gave Moses rules for his people to obey. One rule told people how to become clean after a baby was born. The time came for Mary and Joseph to do this. So they took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to show him to the Lord.

²³ This is the rule which the Lord gave to his people: ‘The first male baby born to a woman belongs to me. So you must bring him to me. ²⁴ When you do this, also bring two special birds for the priest to kill.’ So that is what Mary and Joseph did.^[c]

²⁵ At this time, a man called Simeon was living in Jerusalem. He was a good man and he obeyed God. He had waited a long time to see the special person who would save Israel's people. The Holy Spirit was with him. ²⁶ The Holy Spirit had told him, ‘You will not die yet. You know that the Lord God has promised to send his Messiah. You will see him before you die.’ ²⁷ Now the day had come. The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he should go to the temple. Mary and Joseph were bringing the baby Jesus to do what God's rule said. ²⁸ Simeon went to them. He took Jesus and he held him in his arms. Then he thanked God. He said:

³⁴ Then Simeon asked God to be good and kind to Mary and to Joseph. After that, he spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus. He said to her, ‘God has chosen this baby. Many people in Israel will become worse because of him. And many of them will become better again because of him. He will be like a sign that points to God. But many people will speak against him. ³⁵ This will show their secret thoughts about God. This will make you very sad, too. It will seem like a sharp knife is cutting into you. That is how sad you will be’.

³⁶ A very old woman called Anna was also there in the temple. She spoke messages that the Holy Spirit gave to her. She was the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher.^[d] She had lived with her husband for seven years and then he had died.

³⁷ After that, she had lived alone until she was 84 years old. Now she never left the temple. She stayed there day and night to worship God. She fasted and she prayed.

³⁸ At that moment, Anna came to where Mary and Joseph were standing in the temple. When she saw the baby, she thanked God for him. Then she began to speak about him to other people there. Many people were waiting for God to make Jerusalem free. These were the people that she spoke to about the child, Jesus.

³⁹ When Mary and Joseph had done everything that God's rules said, they returned home. That was in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁴⁰ There the child grew up. God was good and kind to him and he became strong. He learned many things and he could understand them well.

Jesus visits the temple as a young boy

⁴¹ Every year, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.^[e]

⁴² When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents took him with them to Jerusalem. They went as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the week finished, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem to return home. But Jesus stayed behind and his parents did not know this. ⁴⁴ They thought that he was with their group on the way home. They travelled for a whole day. Then they began to look for him among their family and friends.

⁴⁵ They could not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem. They looked for him there. ⁴⁶ After three days, they found him in the temple. He was sitting there among the teachers. He was listening to what they were saying. He was also asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard Jesus was very surprised. He understood so many things and he could answer difficult questions. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him there, they were also very surprised. His mother said to him, ‘My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have looked everywhere for you. We have had a lot of troubles in our mind.’

⁴⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘You should not have needed to look for me. I must be doing what my Father wants me to do. You should have known that.’ ⁵⁰ But his parents did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹ Then Jesus returned to Nazareth with them. He did what they wanted. His mother, Mary, was careful to remember all the special things that had happened. She thought about them a lot. ⁵² Jesus grew up into a man. He became strong and he could understand more and more things. God was pleased with him, and people were pleased with him too.

John the Baptist prepares people to meet Jesus

3 This report is about John, the son of Zechariah. It happened when Tiberius Caesar had been the Roman ruler for 15 years.^[f] Pontius Pilate was the Roman ruler of Judea. Herod had authority over the region of Galilee. Herod's brother Philip had authority over Iturea and Trachonitis. Lysanias had authority over Abilene.^{[g] 2} At this time, the leaders of the priests were Annas and Caiaphas. John was living in the wilderness. While he was there, God spoke to him.

³ John went to many places near the Jordan River and spoke a message from God. ‘You have done many wrong things,’ he taught everybody. ‘You must turn away from them and change how you live. Then God will forgive you and I will baptize you.’

⁴ The prophet Isaiah wrote this message from God in his book:

⁵ Fill in every valley and make every mountain and hill flat.

⁶ Then everyone will see how God can save them.” ’^[h]

⁷ Crowds of people were going out into the wilderness. They wanted John to baptize them. He told them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes! God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punish people like you. ⁸ You have to show that you are sorry. Change how you live. Stop doing things that God does not like. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We are in the family of Abraham. God will surely not punish us.”^[i] Listen! God can take these stones and make children for Abraham out of them!^{[j] 9} You are like trees that have bad fruit. God has an axe ready to use. He will cut down every tree that does not make good fruit. He will throw those trees into the fire.’

¹⁰ ‘So what should we do?’ the crowd asked.

¹¹ John answered, ‘If you have two shirts, give one away. Give it to someone who does not have even one shirt. If you have some food, give some of it away. Give some to someone who has no food.’

¹² In the crowd, there were men who took taxes from people. These men also wanted John to baptize them. They asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ ¹³ John told them, ‘You must take the right amount of money from people. You must not take more money than the rules say you should take.’

¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked John, ‘What about us? What should we do?’

John replied, ‘Do not rob people of their money. Do not say that a person is guilty if he has not done anything wrong. You must not take money for yourself in that way. You should be happy with the money that you receive for your work.’^[k]

¹⁵ At this time people were thinking, ‘Is John the Messiah that God has promised?’ They were all hoping that he might be. ¹⁶ John knew what they were thinking. He said to them, ‘I baptize you with water. But someone else is coming soon. He is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him. This other person will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ He is like a farmer that brings the wheat home from his field. He uses a special tool to throw the wheat up in the air. He does this to make the wheat seeds separate from what remains. Then he cleans his yard. He carefully stores all the seeds to keep them safe. But he burns everything else in a great fire that nobody can put out.’

¹⁸ John said many more things to the people. He was telling them the good news about how God could change their lives. ¹⁹ One day John told Herod, the ruler, that it was wrong for him to marry Herodias. Before that, she had been the wife of Herod's brother.^[l] John also told Herod that he had done many other bad things. ²⁰ So then Herod did an even worse thing; he locked John up in prison.

John baptizes Jesus

²¹ While John was still baptizing all the people, he also baptized Jesus. While Jesus was praying, the sky opened. ²² The Holy Spirit came down onto Jesus. When he came down like that, he looked like a dove. Then a voice spoke from heaven, ‘You are my Son and I love you. You make me very happy.’^[m]

The ancestors of Jesus

²³ Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his work. People thought that he was the son of Joseph.

The Devil tries to make Jesus do wrong things

4 Then Jesus returned from the Jordan River.^[p] He was full of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness. ² He stayed there for 40 days and he did not eat anything. During this time the Devil tried to cause Jesus to do wrong things.^[q] At the end of 40 days, Jesus was very hungry.

³ The Devil said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone. Tell it to become bread.’

⁴ ‘No!’ Jesus replied, ‘The Bible says that food alone cannot cause people to live.’^[r]

⁵ After that, the Devil led Jesus up to a high place. In one moment, he showed Jesus all the countries in the whole world. ⁶ He said to Jesus, ‘I will let you rule the whole world. I will give you power over all these things. That power all belongs to me. So I can give it to anyone that I choose. ⁷ You must bend down low and worship me. Then I will give you power over the whole world.’^[s]

⁸ ‘No!’ Jesus replied, ‘The Bible says,

⁹ The Devil now took Jesus to Jerusalem. He took him to stand on the highest part of the temple. Then he said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump down from here to the ground. ¹⁰ You know that the Bible says:

¹² ‘No!’ Jesus replied. ‘The Bible says,

¹³ In those ways, the Devil tried to make Jesus do many wrong things. When he had finished this, he left Jesus alone. He waited for another chance.

Jesus goes to Nazareth

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee. The Holy Spirit continued to give him power. Everyone who lived near there heard the news about him. ¹⁵ He taught people in the Jewish meeting places.^[w] Everyone said good things about him.

¹⁶ Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. On the Jewish day of rest, he went to their meeting place.^[x] This was what he usually did. He stood up to read aloud from the Bible.^[y]

¹⁷ They gave him the scroll that had the messages of God's prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the scroll. He found the place where Isaiah wrote:

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is on me.

He has chosen me to tell good news to poor people.

He has sent me to tell people who are in prison, “You can go free!”

I must say to people that cannot see, “See again!”

I must cause people that are like slaves to become free.

¹⁹ I must tell everyone, “This is the year when God will be kind to his people.” ’^[z]

²⁰ When Jesus had read this to the people, he closed the scroll. He gave it back to an officer of the meeting place. Then he sat down to teach the people. Everyone in the meeting place was looking carefully at him.

²¹ Jesus said to them, ‘Today this message has become true. It has happened while you were listening.’

²² Everyone was talking about Jesus. They were surprised at the good way in which he spoke. They said to each other, ‘We know that he is only Joseph's son.’

²³ Jesus then said to them, ‘Now you will tell me the proverb, “Doctor, make yourself well!” You will also say, “We have heard that you did many surprising things in Capernaum. This is your home town, so do the same things here!” ²⁴ I tell you this: People do not accept a prophet of God who comes from their own town.

²⁵ What I tell you is true. There were many widows in the country of Israel when Elijah was alive. At that time, it did not rain for three and a half years. So people were very hungry in all the country. ²⁶ But God did not send Elijah to help a widow in Israel. Instead, God sent Elijah to the country called Sidon. There he helped a widow in a place called Zarephath.^[aa]

²⁷ Here is another example: When God's prophet Elisha was alive, there were many people in Israel with a bad disease of the skin. But God did not make any of them well. Instead, he made a man well who was from the country called Syria. That man was called Naaman.’^[ab]

²⁸ The people in the meeting place heard what Jesus said.^[ac] They became very angry. ²⁹ They stood up and they made him leave the town. They took him to the top of the hill outside the town. They wanted to throw him over the edge to the bottom. ³⁰ But Jesus walked through the middle of the crowd and he went away.

Jesus causes a bad spirit to leave a man

³¹ Jesus went to a town in Galilee called Capernaum. On the Jewish day of rest, he taught the people there. ³² The people were very surprised at the things that Jesus taught them. He spoke with authority. ³³ There was a sick man in the meeting place. He had a spirit of a bad demon that was living inside him. The spirit caused the man to shout loudly. ³⁴ He said, ‘Jesus from Nazareth, leave us alone! Do not destroy us! I know who you are. You are God's Holy One!’

³⁵ Jesus said to the spirit, ‘Be quiet! Come out of the man!’ Then the bad spirit caused the man to fall to the ground in front of the people. It came out of the man but it did not hurt him.

³⁶ All the people were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘Listen to what this man says! He has power and authority. He tells bad spirits to come out of people, and they come out.’ ³⁷ So they began to tell everyone about Jesus. Because of this, people in all the places near Capernaum heard the news about Jesus.

Jesus makes many people well

³⁸ Jesus then left the meeting place and he went to Simon's home. The mother of Simon's wife was ill and her body was very hot. So they asked Jesus to make her well. ³⁹ Jesus came and he stood near her. He told the illness to go away and immediately she was well again. She got up and she prepared food for her visitors.

⁴⁰ When the sun was going down, people in the town brought to Jesus all those people who were ill. They had many different kinds of illness. Jesus put his hands on each ill person and they became well again.

⁴¹ Also, bad spirits came out of many people. They were shouting, ‘You are the Son of God.’ The spirits knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Because of this, Jesus stopped them. He would not let them speak.

⁴² Early the next morning, Jesus went to a place where he could be alone. The people went to look for him. When they found him they said, ‘Do not leave us! Please stay here with us.’ ⁴³ Jesus replied, ‘I must go to other towns to tell everyone the good news. I will tell them how God rules in the lives of his people. That is what God sent me to do.’

⁴⁴ Then he travelled to many towns in the country called Judea. He went into the Jewish meeting places and taught people there.

Jesus asks some men to go with him

5 One day, Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret.^[ad] A crowd was pushing to get near to him. They were listening to him. He was speaking God's message to them.

² Jesus saw two fishing boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left the boats there and they were now washing their nets.^[ae]

³ One of the boats belonged to Simon. Jesus climbed into it. He asked Simon to push it away from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and he started to teach the people.^[af]

⁴ When Jesus had finished teaching, he said to Simon, ‘Now take the boat out into deep water. Then put the nets into the water to catch some fish.’

⁵ Simon replied, ‘Teacher, we worked all last night and we did not catch anything. But because you say it, I will put the nets into the water again.’ ⁶ So they went in their boats and they put the nets down into the water. When they did that, they caught many fish. There were so many fish that the nets began to break. ⁷ So they made signs to the fishermen in the other boat. They told the other fishermen to come and help. So the other men came in their boat. They filled both boats with the fish. There were so many fish that the boats began to go down under the water. ⁸ When Simon saw all the fish, he went down on his knees in front of Jesus. ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘I am a bad man. So please go away from me.’^[ag]

⁹ Simon and his friends were very surprised. They were all surprised because they had caught so many fish. ¹⁰ Zebedee's sons, James and John, were fishermen who worked with Simon. They were also surprised. Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. You have been catching fish. From now on you will catch people!’^[ah]

¹¹ After that, they went and they pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything behind and they went with Jesus.

A man with a bad disease of his skin

¹² One day, Jesus was in a certain town. A man with a bad disease of the skin was there.^[ai]

When the man saw Jesus, he threw himself down on the ground in front of him. He said, ‘Sir, you can make me well again if you want to do that. Please do it.’

¹³ Jesus put out his hand towards the man and he touched him. He said, ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again!’ Immediately, the disease left the man. ¹⁴ ‘Do not tell anyone about this,’ Jesus said to him. ‘Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God when they are clean again after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’

¹⁵ After this, more and more people started to hear the news about Jesus. Crowds were coming to hear him teach. Sick people also wanted him to make them well. ¹⁶ But Jesus would often go away from the crowd to pray in quiet places.

Jesus helps a man who cannot walk

¹⁷ One day, while Jesus was teaching in someone's house, many people were sitting there. Some of them were Pharisees.^[aj] Other people were teachers of God's Law. They had come from many villages in Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there with Jesus to make sick people well.

¹⁸ Then some men arrived. They were carrying a man on a mat. The man could not walk or move his legs. They tried to get into the house because they wanted to bring the man to Jesus. ¹⁹ But the house was full of people and they could not get in. So they carried the man onto the flat roof of the house. Then they made a hole in the roof. After that, they put the mat down through the hole. The man was still lying on it. He came down in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Jesus saw them. He knew that they believed in him. So he said to the sick man, ‘My friend, I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.’

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were there. They heard what Jesus said. So they began to think among themselves, ‘Who is this man? He is speaking as if he is God. Only God can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’ ²² Jesus knew what these men were thinking. He told them, ‘You should not be thinking these things. ²³ I said to this man, “I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.” Instead, I could have said to him, “Stand up and walk.” Which one is easier for me to say? ²⁴ But I want you to know this. I, the Son of Man, have authority here on earth.^[ak] I can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’

Then he said to the man who could not walk, ‘I am saying to you, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and go home!” ’

²⁵ Immediately, the man stood up in front of them all. He picked up the mat that he had been lying on. He went home. He was praising God as he went. ²⁶ What had happened surprised everyone. They said, ‘God is great and powerful! We have seen very strange and special things happen today.’

Jesus asks Levi to come with him

²⁷ After this happened, Jesus went away from that house. He saw a man that took taxes from people. He was working in his office. His name was Levi. Jesus said to him, ‘Come with me and be my disciple.’ ²⁸ So Levi got up and he went with Jesus. He left everything behind.

²⁹ Soon after this, Levi made a large meal for Jesus at his house. Many people also came and they were eating with them there. Some of them took taxes from people, as Levi did. ³⁰ Some Pharisees and teachers of God's Law saw them there. So they said to Jesus' disciples, ‘You eat and drink with these bad people and with men who take taxes from people. That is not right.’

³¹ Jesus answered them, ‘People who are well do not need a doctor. It is people who are ill that need a doctor. ³² Some people think that they always obey God. I have not come to help people like that. Some people know that they have done wrong things. I am asking those people to come to me for help. I want them to change how they live.’

³³ Then the Jewish leaders said to Jesus: ‘The disciples of John the Baptist often choose to fast for a time. Then they can pray to God a lot. The disciples of the Pharisees also do that. But your disciples never do that. They continue to eat and drink every day.’^[al]

³⁴ Jesus answered them, ‘When a man marries a wife, you cannot stop his friends from eating. They will continue to eat while he is with them. ³⁵ But there will be a time when people take that man away from his friends. Then they will decide to fast.’^[am]

³⁶ Jesus told them this story: ‘Nobody tears a piece of cloth from a new coat to mend an old coat. If he does that, he will have torn the new coat. Also, the piece of cloth from the new coat will not look the same as the old coat.^[an]

³⁷ And nobody pours new wine into old wineskins.^[ao] If he does that, the new wine will tear the old wineskins. He will lose the wine and the wineskins will also spoil. ³⁸ Instead, you must put new wine into new wineskins.

³⁹ Also, nobody wants to drink new wine after he has drunk old wine. He will say, “The old wine is much better.” ’^[ap]

Jesus teaches about the Jewish day of rest

6 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples began to pick some of the wheat. They were rubbing it between their hands and eating the seeds.

² Some of the Pharisees were walking with them. They said, ‘You should not be doing that on our day of rest. It is against God's Law.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. ⁴ He went into the temple. He took the special bread that was there. It is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that bread. But David ate some of it. He gave some of the bread to his men to eat as well.’

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’^[aq]

Jesus makes a man well on the day of rest

⁶ On another Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the Jewish meeting place and he taught the people. A man was there. His right hand had become small and weak and he could not use it. ⁷ Some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. They wanted to find a reason to say that he was doing something wrong. So they watched Jesus to see if he would make the man well on the day of rest. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to the man, ‘Get up and stand in front of everyone.’ The man got up and he stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to the people, ‘Let me ask you something. Is it right for us to do good things on our day of rest? Or should we do bad things? Should we save a person's life? Or should we destroy their life?’ ¹⁰ Jesus looked round at everyone. Then he said to the man, ‘Lift up your hand.’ When the man lifted his hand, it became well. He could use it again.

¹¹ Then the Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were very angry. They began to talk to each other about what they could do to Jesus.

Jesus chooses 12 men

¹² One day Jesus went up a mountain to pray. He remained there all night and he was praying to God. ¹³ In the morning, he asked all his disciples to come to him. Then he chose 12 of them and he called them his apostles.^[ar] These are their names:

Jesus teaches people

¹⁷ After Jesus had chosen these 12 men, they all came down the mountain. He stopped and he stood on a flat place. A large crowd of his disciples stood around him. There were also many people from Jerusalem, and from other towns of Judea, and from places on the coast near Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ These people had all come to hear Jesus teach. Those people who were ill wanted him to make them well. He also made well those people who had bad spirits. ¹⁹ All the people were trying to touch him, because he was using great power to make each person well.

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples. He spoke this message to them:

²² People may hate you, because you believe in me, the Son of Man. They may say bad things against you and make you go away from them. They may say that you are very bad. When that happens, be happy. ²³ God will prepare many good things for you in heaven. So be very happy when people do these bad things to you! Jump up and down because you are so happy. Their ancestors did the same bad things to God's prophets long ago.

²⁶ If people always say good things about you now, it will be very bad for you. Their ancestors also said good things about the false prophets long ago.’

Love people that want to hurt you

²⁷ Jesus then said, ‘I say this to you who are listening carefully to me: Love the people who want to hurt you. Do good things to people that hate you. ²⁸ Say good things to people that say bad things against you. Pray for people who give you pain.

²⁹ Someone may slap you on one side of your face. Then you should let him slap the other side of your face too. Someone may take away your coat. If he does, do not stop him from taking your shirt too. ³⁰ When anyone asks you for something, give it to him. Someone may take something that belongs to you. If he does, let him keep it. Do not ask to have it back again. ³¹ Do the good things for other people that you would want them to do for you.

³² Do you only love people who love you? God will not praise you just for doing that! Even bad people love those people who love them. ³³ Do you only do good things to people that do good things to you? God will not praise you just for doing that! Even bad people do the same thing. ³⁴ Do you lend things only to people that will give your things back to you? God will not praise you for doing that! Even bad people lend things to other people when they believe that they will get them back again. ³⁵ No! I am telling you to love people that want to hurt you. Do good things to them. Lend things to people even though you may not receive your things back again. Then God will prepare good things for you. He is kind even to people who do not say “thank you”. He is kind even to very bad people. If you live like this, you will show that you really are children of the powerful God who is over all. ³⁶ You should be kind to other people, as God your Father is kind.

³⁷ Do not say to anyone, “You are a bad person.” Then God will not say to you, “You are a bad person.” Do not say to anyone, “God should punish you because you are bad.” Then God will not say that you are guilty. Forgive other people and God will forgive you. ³⁸ Give to other people and God will give to you. He will give to you even more than you gave. He will fill your pocket until no more will go in.^[av] It will be so full that it will come out over the top. Think about how you give to other people. God will give in the same way to you.’

³⁹ Jesus also used a story to teach the people. He said, ‘A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.

⁴⁰ A student is not more important than his teacher is. But each student who has learned everything will be like his teacher.

⁴¹ Perhaps you want to tell a friend about his little mistake. If you want to tell him, first remember your own bigger mistakes. ⁴² If you do not do that, you will be like a person who has a big piece of wood in his eye. But then he says to his friend, “My friend, you have a little piece of dirt in your eye. Let me take it out for you.” Do not be like that person. You think you are better than your friend. But you are not. First, you must take the big piece of wood out of your eye. After that, your eyes will be clear and you will see well. Then you can take the small piece of dirt out of your friend's eye.’

A story about a tree and its fruit

⁴³ Jesus said, ‘Good trees only make good fruit. Bad trees only make bad fruit. ⁴⁴ In this way you can know if a tree is good or bad. You can know this by the fruit that the tree makes. Figs and grapes do not grow on thorn bushes.

⁴⁵ People are also like that. A good man keeps good things in his mind. In his life, he brings those good things out from there. But a bad man keeps bad things in his mind. He brings those bad thoughts out from there. When a person speaks, his words show what is really in his mind.’

A story about men that are building a house

⁴⁶ Jesus said, ‘If you refuse to obey me, do not call me, “Master, Master.” ⁴⁷ Some people come to me. They listen to my message and they obey it. Let me tell you what those people are like. They are like a man who built a house. ⁴⁸ This man dug down in the ground to the rock. He put the first line of stones on the rock. After that, he built the house on top of the rock. Then a storm came and it brought a lot of water. The water hit the house but it could not move it. The water could not move the house because the man had built it very well.

⁴⁹ Some other people hear my message but they do not obey it. Those people are like another man who built a house. This man did not dig down deep to the rock. Instead, he put the first line of stones on the top of the ground. Then he built his house on them. A storm came and it brought a lot of water. It hit that house and it fell down immediately. The water completely destroyed it.’

A Roman officer believes that Jesus can help him

7 After Jesus had finished speaking to the people, he went to Capernaum.^{[aw] 2} A Roman officer there had a servant that he liked very much. The servant was very ill and he was dying.

³ The officer heard about Jesus, so he sent some important Jews to speak to him. ‘Please go to Jesus,’ he said to them. ‘I would like him to make my servant well. Ask him if he would come to do that.’ ⁴ The Jewish leaders went to Jesus. They asked him, ‘Please would you do something to help this Roman officer. ⁵ He loves the Jewish people. He himself built a meeting place for us.’

⁶ So Jesus went with them. When he was not very far away from the house, the officer sent some friends to talk to him. He told them to say to Jesus, ‘Sir, I do not want to be a trouble to you. I am not good enough for you to come into my house. ⁷ That is why I did not come to talk to you myself. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. ⁸ In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’

⁹ When Jesus heard this message from the officer, he was very surprised. He turned towards the crowd that was following him. He said to them, ‘I tell you, I have not found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does.’

¹⁰ The friends of the officer then returned to his house. When they arrived there, they saw that the servant was well again.

Jesus makes a dead man alive again

¹¹ The next day, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large group of other people went with him. ¹² When he had almost reached the gate of the town, lots of people were coming out. They were carrying a dead man on a wooden board. They were taking him to bury him. His mother had no other sons and her husband was also dead. A large crowd of people from the town was going with her.

¹³ When the Lord Jesus saw her, he felt very sorry for her. He said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ ¹⁴ He went to the board and he touched it. The people who were carrying the dead man stopped. Jesus said, ‘Young man, I am telling you, get up!’ ¹⁵ Immediately, the dead man sat up and he began to talk. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ Everyone there was very afraid. They praised God and said, ‘A great prophet of God has appeared among us. God has come to save his people!’

¹⁷ This news about Jesus went everywhere in Judea. The people in the places that were near there also heard about it.

Jesus talks about John the Baptist

¹⁸ Then some disciples of John the Baptist went to visit him in prison. They told him about all the things that Jesus was doing. So John chose two of them to go to the Lord Jesus for him. ¹⁹ He said to them, ‘I want you to ask Jesus, “Are you the special person that God is sending to us? If not, should we still look for someone else?” ’

²⁰ So the two men came to Jesus. They said to him, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you. He wants us to ask you, “Are you the special person that God has promised to send to us? If not, should we still look for someone else?” ’

²¹ At that time, Jesus was making many people well. They had many different illnesses. Some had bad spirits in them. Jesus also caused many blind people to see again. ²² Then he said to the two men that John had sent, ‘Go back to John. Tell him what you have seen. Tell him what you have heard. Blind people can now see again. People that could not walk can now walk again. People who had a bad disease of the skin are now well again. Deaf people can now hear again. People who had died now live again. Poor people are hearing God's good news. ²³ If anyone believes in me and does not turn away, he will be really happy.’^[ax]

²⁴ The two disciples of John then left. Jesus spoke to the crowd about John. He said to them, ‘You went out to the wilderness. What did you go there to see? Was it a tall piece of grass which the wind was blowing this way and that? No, you did not go to see that. ²⁵ Did you go to see a man who was wearing expensive clothes? No! People like that do not live in the wilderness. They have many beautiful things and they live in great houses. ²⁶ So what did you go to see? Did you go to see a prophet sent by God? Yes! But I tell you, John was even more important than a prophet. ²⁷ This is what they wrote about him a long time ago in the Bible, when God said:

²⁸ Jesus also said to the people, ‘I tell you, John is greater than any person who has ever lived up to now. But now anyone who belongs in the kingdom of God is greater than John, even the least important of them.’^[az]

²⁹ Many people heard what Jesus said. Even the men who took taxes from people agreed with his message. They had gone to John to baptize them. They all said, ‘What God says about us is right.’ ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the men that studied God's Law had not asked John to baptize them. They did not believe the message that God was giving to them.

³¹ Jesus continued to teach. He said, ‘I will talk to you about the people that are alive today. I will tell you what they are like. ³² They are like children who are sitting in the market place. They are playing games. They shout to other children,

³³ You are like those children. When John the Baptist came to you, he did not eat ordinary food. He never drank wine. So you say that John has a bad spirit in him. ³⁴ Then I, the Son of Man, came. I eat meals with other people and I drink wine. So you say about me, “Look at this man! He eats too much and he drinks too much. He is a friend of bad people and men who take taxes from people.” ³⁵ But God is wise and good. Wise people understand and they show that God is right.’^[ba]

A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. ³⁷ In that town was a woman who had done many wrong things. She heard that Jesus was eating a meal at the house of the Pharisee. So she took a small stone jar with oil in it, and she went there. The oil had a very nice smell. ³⁸ She went into the house and she stood behind Jesus. She was crying and she made his feet wet with her tears. Then she made his feet dry again with her hair and she kissed them. She then poured the oil out of the jar onto his feet. ³⁹ When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, ‘This man cannot be a prophet from God. If he were, he would know all about this woman. He would know that she is a very bad person. He would not let her touch him.’

⁴⁰ Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, I want to tell you something.’ Simon replied, ‘Yes, Teacher, tell me.’ So Jesus told him a story about two men:

⁴¹ ‘Someone had lent two men some money. He had lent one of them 500 silver coins. He had lent the other one 50 coins.^{[bb] 42} Neither of the men had enough money to pay him back. Then the man that had lent them the money forgave them. “You do not need to pay back my money,” he said to them both.’

Jesus then asked Simon, ‘Which of these two men will love that man most?’ ⁴³ Simon replied, ‘I think that it is the man that needed to pay back the most money.’

‘You are right,’ Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned towards the woman. ‘You see this woman,’ he said to Simon. ‘When I came into your house, you did not give me water for my feet.^[bc] But she has washed my feet with her tears and she has made them dry with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not say “Hello” to me with a kiss. But this woman began to kiss my feet when she came in. And she has not stopped. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head. But she has brought oil with a nice smell and put it on my feet. ⁴⁷ So I tell you, this woman has done many bad things. But I have forgiven her. She loves me a lot, because I have forgiven her for many bad things. If I only forgive someone a little, that person only loves me a little.’

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Woman, I forgive you for all the bad things that you have done.’

⁴⁹ The other people at the meal talked among themselves. They said, ‘Who is this man? Can he really forgive the bad things that people have done?’

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, ‘You have believed in me, so God has saved you. You may go now, and be happy.’

The women that helped Jesus

8 After this, Jesus went to visit many towns and villages. He told people the good news about the kingdom of God. The 12 disciples were travelling with him. ² Some women also went with them. These women had been ill, but Jesus had made them well again. One of the women was Mary from Magdala. Jesus had sent seven bad spirits away from her. ³ Another of the women was Joanna, the wife of Chuza. Chuza had authority over all the people that worked in the house of King Herod. Another of the women was Susanna. There were also many others. These women were using their own money to help Jesus and his disciples.

A story about a farmer that planted seeds

⁴ Lots of people were coming to Jesus from many towns. A large crowd had already come together when Jesus told this story:

⁵ ‘A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. Then people walked on them. Birds came down and they ate those seeds. ⁶ Some seeds fell on ground which had rocks. The seeds started to grow. But the young plants died because the ground was not wet enough in that place. ⁷ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Strong plants grew from those seeds. Each of these plants made 100 seeds.’

When Jesus finished the story, he said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains why he tells stories

⁹ Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant. ¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹¹ Jesus then said, ‘This is what the story means: The seeds are like the message from God. ¹² Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who hear the message, but they do not think about it. The Devil comes and he takes the message away from their minds. He takes it away so that they cannot believe it. Because they do not believe the message, God does not save them.

¹³ Some seeds fell on ground with rocks in it. This is like people who hear the message from God and they are very happy for a time. But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. They believe in God for a short time. But when they have problems, they stop believing.

¹⁴ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear the message from God. But they start to have many troubles in their minds about how they will live. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow into strong plants.

¹⁵ But some seed fell on good soil. This is like other people that hear the message from God. They understand the message and they keep it in their minds. They are good and honest. They continue to believe. These people are like a good plant that grows well and makes lots of new seeds.’

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘People do not light a lamp and then cover it. They do not put the lamp under a pot or under a bed. Instead, they put it in a high place. Then other people that come into the room can see the light from the lamp.

¹⁷ God hides some things now. But there will be a time when people will see them. God keeps some things secret now. But there will be a time when people will understand those things clearly.

¹⁸ So you should think carefully about what you hear. The person who has received some things will receive more. But some other people have nothing. They think that they have a little bit. But they will lose even that.’^[bd]

The mother and brothers of Jesus come to see him

¹⁹ Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came to see him. But they could not reach him because of the large crowd of people who were there. ²⁰ Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to see you.’

²¹ Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and brothers really are. My mother and my brothers are those people who hear God's message and do what he wants.’^[be]

Jesus stops a storm

²² One day, Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, ‘We should go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they started to cross the lake. ²³ While they sailed in the boat, Jesus began to sleep. Then a strong wind started to blow across the lake. Water began to fill the boat and they were in danger. ²⁴ So the disciples went to Jesus and they woke him. ‘Master, master, we will die here in the water!’ they said.

Then Jesus got up and he spoke strongly to the wind and to the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. The wind stopped immediately and the water became flat. ²⁵ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Why do you not believe in me?’

All this frightened the disciples and they were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘Who is this man? He even tells the wind and the water what to do. He speaks and they obey him!’

Jesus makes a man well

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ ²⁹ He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’

The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.^{[bf] 31} These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.^[bg]

³² There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ ³³ So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.

³⁴ The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. ³⁵ So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. ³⁶ Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. ³⁷ Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. ³⁸ Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. ³⁹ You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’

So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’

Jesus makes a young girl well

⁴⁰ When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the crowd was very happy to see him. They were all waiting for him to come back. ⁴¹ Then a man called Jairus came to see him. He was a leader at the Jewish meeting place. He went down on his knees at the feet of Jesus and said, ‘Please come to my house. ⁴² I have one daughter. She is 12 years old and she is very ill. She will die very soon.’

So Jesus went along. A crowd of people went with him. They were pushing against him. ⁴³ There was a sick woman in the crowd who had lost blood for 12 years. She had paid all her money to doctors and now she had no money. But nobody could help her to become well again. ⁴⁴ She came in the crowd behind Jesus and she touched the edge of his coat. Immediately she stopped bleeding. ⁴⁵ Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’

Everyone round him said, ‘It was not me. I did not touch you.’ Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, there is a big crowd round you. Many people are pushing against you.’

⁴⁶ Jesus said, ‘Someone did touch me. I know that something powerful went out from me.’ ⁴⁷ The woman knew that she could not hide herself. So she was very afraid. She came to Jesus and she went down on the ground in front of him. She spoke so that all the people could hear her. She said, ‘I wanted to be well again, so I touched him. When I did that, I became well immediately.’ ⁴⁸ Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are well again because you believed in me. Go now and have peace in your mind.’^[bh]

⁴⁹ While Jesus was still speaking, someone arrived from Jairus' house. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he told Jairus. ‘Do not ask the teacher to come now.’

⁵⁰ Jesus heard what the man said. So he said to Jairus, ‘Do not be afraid. Just believe in me. Then she will become well again.’

⁵¹ When they arrived at the house, Jesus would not let everyone go in with him. He took only Peter, John and James. He also let the mother and father of the girl go into the house. ⁵² All the people there were crying loudly because they were very sad. ‘Do not weep,’ Jesus told them. ‘The child is not dead. She is only asleep.’

⁵³ But the people knew that she had died. So they laughed at him. ⁵⁴ But Jesus went and held the child's hand. He said to her, ‘My child, get up.’ ⁵⁵ Then she became alive again. Immediately she stood up. Jesus said to her parents, ‘Give her something to eat.’ ⁵⁶ They were very surprised. Jesus said to them very strongly, ‘You must not tell anyone about what has happened.’

Jesus sends out the 12 apostles

9 Jesus asked his 12 apostles to come to him. He gave them power and authority. They could make sick people well. They could also send bad spirits out of people. ² Then he sent them out to tell people about the kingdom of God. He told them that they should also make sick people well again. ³ He said to them, ‘Do not take anything for your journey. Do not take a stick, or a bag, or food. Do not take any money. Do not take extra clothes.^{[bi] 4} In each town, continue to stay at the first house that you go into. Stay there until you leave that town. ⁵ In some towns, the people will not accept you. You should leave that place. Clean that town's dirt from your feet. Then it will be clear that they have done something wrong.’

⁶ Then the apostles started out. They went to visit all the villages. In every place they told people the good news about Jesus and they made sick people well.

A ruler hears about Jesus

⁷ People told the ruler, Herod, about all the things that were happening.^[bj] His mind was confused because people were saying lots of different things about Jesus. Some people were saying, ‘John the Baptist died but now he has become alive again.’ ⁸ Other people were saying, ‘It is Elijah that has come back.’ Some other people were saying, ‘This is one of God's prophets who lived a long time ago. Now he has become alive again.’^[bk]

⁹ Herod said, ‘I sent a soldier to cut off John's head.^[bl] So who is this man? I hear many things about him.’ After that, Herod was trying to meet Jesus.

Jesus feeds 5,000 men and their families

¹⁰ The 12 apostles that Jesus had sent out returned. They told him what they had done. Then he took them away from the crowd, so that he could be alone with them. They went to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds found out about this. So they went to find Jesus. When he saw the crowds coming, he welcomed them. He taught them about the kingdom of God. Some sick people were there and he made them well again.

¹² When it was nearly evening, the 12 apostles came to Jesus. ‘There are no houses in this place,’ they said. ‘Send the crowd away now. Tell them to go to the villages and farms near here. Then they can get food to eat and they can find a place to sleep.’

¹³ Jesus said to them, ‘You should give them some food to eat.’

But the disciples said, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go and buy food for all these people?’ ¹⁴ There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Tell the people that they should sit down on the ground in groups. There should be about 50 people in each group.’

¹⁵ So they did this. When the people had sat down, ¹⁶ Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he looked up towards heaven and he thanked God for the food. He broke the bread into pieces. He gave the pieces of bread to the disciples, and they gave the bread to the crowd. ¹⁷ Everybody ate and they all had enough food. They were not hungry any more. Then the disciples picked up the bits of food that people had not eaten. They filled 12 baskets with all the little bits of food.^[bm]

Peter says who Jesus is

¹⁸ One day, Jesus was alone and he was praying. The disciples came to him. Jesus asked them, ‘When the crowds talk about me, who do they say that I am?’

¹⁹ They replied, ‘Some people say that you are John the Baptist. Other people say that you are Elijah. And some other people say that you are one of God's prophets from long ago. They think that this prophet has become alive again.’^[bn]

²⁰ ‘But what do you think?’ Jesus then asked them. ‘Who do you say that I am?’

Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah. God has sent you.’^[bo]

²¹ Jesus spoke very strongly to them. He told them that they must not tell anyone about this.^[bp]

²² Then he said, ‘The Son of Man will have to suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law will turn against him. People will kill him, but three days later God will cause him to become alive again.’^[bq]

²³ Then Jesus said to all the people that were there, ‘A person who wants to be my disciple must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. Every day he must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple.

²⁴ Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me will have true life. ²⁵ A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it would not be any good for him. He will have destroyed himself in the end. ²⁶ You must not be ashamed of me and of my words. If you are, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you. One day he will return and everyone will see his power. He will come with God's holy angels and he will have the bright glory of his Father God. He will be ashamed of you on that day, if you are ashamed of him now.’

Three disciples see how great Jesus is

²⁷ Then Jesus said, ‘What I tell you is true. Some people who are standing here will see clearly God begin to rule in his kingdom. They will see that before they die.’

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus had said these things, he went up a mountain to pray. He took Peter, John and James with him. ²⁹ While Jesus was praying, his face became different to look at.^[br] His clothes also became very white. They were shining brightly.

³⁰ Then two men appeared and they were talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah.^{[bs] 31} They were very bright to look at. They talked with Jesus about how he would soon die in Jerusalem. This was how God wanted him to leave this world.

³² While this was happening, Peter and his friends were sleeping. Then they really woke up and they saw that Jesus was very great and beautiful. They also saw the two men that were standing near to him. ³³ Then the two men began to leave. So Peter said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, it is good that we are here. Please, let us build three huts. One hut will be for you. One hut will be for Moses and one hut will be for Elijah.’ But Peter did not really know what he was saying.^[bt]

³⁴ While Peter was speaking, a cloud appeared. It covered them all. When the cloud came over them, the three disciples were afraid. ³⁵ Then a voice spoke from the cloud and it said, ‘This is my Son. He is the one that I have chosen. Listen to him.’

³⁶ The voice stopped speaking. Then the three disciples saw that only Jesus was there with them now.

They did not tell anyone at this time about what they had seen.

Jesus makes a boy well

³⁷ The next day Jesus came down from the mountain with the three disciples. A large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man from the crowd shouted to him. ‘Teacher, please, I ask you to help my son. He is my only child. ³⁹ Sometimes a bad spirit takes hold of him and then he screams. The spirit throws his body first one way then another and water comes out of his mouth. The spirit gives him a lot of pain and it does not leave him alone very much. ⁴⁰ I asked your disciples to send the bad spirit out of him. But they could not do it.’

⁴¹ Jesus said, ‘You people today still do not believe in God. You have turned away from him. I have been with you for a long time and still you do not believe. It is difficult for me to be patient with you.’ Then Jesus said to the man, ‘Bring your son here.’

⁴² While the boy was coming, the bad spirit threw him to the ground. It threw the boy first one way and then the other. ‘Stop!’ Jesus said to it. He then made the boy well and he gave him back to his father.

⁴³ Everybody was very surprised at what they saw. They knew that God was very powerful.

Jesus speaks again about his death

The people were still thinking with surprise about everything that Jesus was doing. Then he began to talk to his disciples. ⁴⁴ He said to them, ‘Do not forget what I am telling you now. Soon they will deliver the Son of Man to powerful people to kill him.’ ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what Jesus had said. Its meaning was a secret to them, so they could not understand. But they were afraid to ask Jesus, ‘What do you mean?’

Who will be the most important?

⁴⁶ Then the disciples began to argue with each other. They argued about which of them was the most important. ⁴⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a child and he made him stand there at his side. ⁴⁸ Jesus said, ‘If someone accepts this child because of me, then he also accepts me. And anyone who accepts me also accepts my Father God, who sent me. The person who makes himself the least important among you is really the greatest.’^[bu]

⁴⁹ John then said, ‘Teacher, we saw a man who was speaking to people that had bad spirits in them. He was saying, “Jesus says that you must come out.” We told the man that he must not do this. We said that because he is not in our group.’

⁵⁰ ‘Do not try to stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘If someone is not against you, he is working to help you.’

People in a village in Samaria do not accept Jesus

⁵¹ The time came when God would soon take Jesus up to heaven. Jesus knew this, so he began to go towards Jerusalem. ⁵² He arrived near a village in the country of Samaria. He sent some people into the village with a message. They went to ask for a place to stay for the night. ⁵³ But the people in the village would not let him stay there. This was because he was going to Jerusalem.^[bv]

⁵⁴ Then James and John heard about what had happened. They asked Jesus, ‘Master, do you want us to ask God to send fire down from the sky? Do you want us to kill these people?’

⁵⁵ Jesus turned round. ‘No!’ he said, ‘Do not do that. That would be wrong.’ ⁵⁶ Then they all went on to another village.

What it costs to obey Jesus

⁵⁷ They continued on their journey. A man came and spoke to Jesus. He said, ‘I will go with you. And I will go with you everywhere that you go.’

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’

⁵⁹ Then Jesus said to another man, ‘Come with me!’ The man replied, ‘First let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’

⁶⁰ ‘No!’ Jesus said, ‘Let people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people. You should go and tell people about the kingdom of God.’^[bw]

⁶¹ Another man said, ‘Sir, I will come with you. But please let me first go home to say “Goodbye” to my family.’

⁶² Jesus replied, ‘A man that ploughs a field must continue to look straight in front of him. If he looks behind him, he cannot plough well. People that look back behind them cannot work well for the kingdom of God.’