Chronological

John the Baptist prepares a way for Jesus

3 While Jesus still lived in Nazareth, a man called John the Baptist was speaking a message from God. He was doing this in the wilderness in Judea.^{[a] 2} He told people, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’

³ God's prophet Isaiah spoke about this man John long ago. He said:

⁴ John wore clothes made from the hair of a camel. He also wore a belt made from leather. His usual food was locusts and honey from the wilderness.^[c]

⁵ Many people went to listen to John. They lived in Jerusalem and all over the country called Judea and many other places near the Jordan River. ⁶ The people told God about all the wrong things that they had done. Then John baptized them in the Jordan River.^[d]

⁷ Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to John.^[e] They wanted John to baptize them. He said to 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. ⁹ Do not say to yourselves, “We are in the family of Abraham. God will surely not punish us.” Listen! God can take these stones and make children for Abraham out of them! ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ I baptize you with water. This shows that you want to change the way that you live. But another person will come soon.^[f] He is greater than I am. I am not good enough even to carry his shoes for him. This other person will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² 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.’

John baptizes Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River. He wanted John to baptize him. ¹⁴ But John tried to stop him. He said to Jesus, ‘I should ask you to baptize me. You should not ask me to baptize you.’

¹⁵ Jesus replied, ‘This time, do what I ask you to do. We must do everything correctly, as God wants it.’ So John did what Jesus asked him to do.

¹⁶ When John baptized him, Jesus came up out of the water. At that moment, the skies opened. Jesus saw God's Spirit coming down. He came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. ¹⁷ Then a voice spoke from heaven, which said, ‘This man is my Son and I love him. He makes me very happy.’

The start of the good news

1 This is the start of the good news about Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. ² The prophet Isaiah wrote this message from God in his book:^[a]

⁴ So John went to a place in the wilderness. He baptized people and he spoke a message from God.^[c] He said to people, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Then God will forgive you and I will baptize you.’

⁵ Many people who lived in Jerusalem and in the country of Judea went to listen to John.^[d] The people told God about all the wrong things that they had done. Then John baptized them in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothes made from the hair of a camel. He also wore a belt made from leather. His usual food was locusts and honey from the wilderness.

⁷ John said to the people, ‘Another person will come soon. He is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him. ⁸ I have baptized you with water. But this man will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

John baptizes Jesus

⁹ Soon after this, Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee. John baptized him in the Jordan River. ¹⁰ While Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the skies open. The Holy Spirit came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. ¹¹ A voice spoke from heaven: ‘You are my Son and I love you. You make me very happy.’

Satan tries to cause Jesus to do wrong things

¹² Immediately, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus out into the wilderness. ¹³ Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. During this time, Satan tried to cause him to do wrong things. There were wild animals with Jesus in the wilderness. God's angels took care of him.

Jesus asks some men to be his disciples

¹⁴ Later, John was in prison. At that time, Jesus went to Galilee.^[e] He told people the good news about God. ¹⁵ Jesus said, ‘Now is the time when the kingdom of God has come very near. You have done many wrong things. Turn away from them and change the way that you live. Believe God's good news.’

¹⁶ One day, Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. He saw two brothers called Simon and Andrew.^[f] Their job was to catch fish. They were throwing their nets into the lake to catch fish. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me and be my disciples. Then I will teach you how to catch people, instead of fish.’^{[g] 18} Simon and Andrew immediately put down their nets and they went with Jesus.^[h]

¹⁹ Jesus continued to walk along the shore. Soon he saw two more men who were brothers. They were called James and John. They were the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat and they were mending their nets. ²⁰ Immediately, Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father and his workers in the boat, and they went with Jesus to be his disciples.

Jesus causes a bad spirit to leave a man

²¹ Then Jesus and those disciples went into a town called Capernaum. On the next Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the Jews' meeting place.^[i] He began to teach the people there.

²² The people were very surprised at the things that Jesus taught them. When he taught them, he showed his authority. That was not like the way that the teachers of God's Law taught people. ²³ In the meeting place, there was a man who had a bad spirit. The bad spirit caused the man to shout. ²⁴ He said, ‘Jesus from Nazareth, leave us alone! Do not kill us! I know who you are. You are the Holy One and God has sent you.’

²⁵ Jesus said to the bad spirit, ‘Be quiet! Come out of the man!’ ²⁶ The bad spirit caused the man to shake and to fall down. It shouted loudly and then it came out of the man.

²⁷ All the people were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘This is very strange. This man Jesus is teaching us something new and he speaks with authority. He can tell bad spirits what they must do. Then they do it.’ ²⁸ Immediately, people began to hear the news about Jesus. Everywhere in Galilee, people were talking about him.

Jesus makes many people well

²⁹ Then Jesus left the meeting place. He took James and John with him to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰ The mother of Simon's wife was ill in bed. Her body was very hot. Immediately, Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her. ³¹ So Jesus went to her and he held her hand. Then he helped her to sit up and she was well again. Immediately she prepared food for her visitors.

^32-33 That evening, when the sun had gone down, people in the town came to Jesus.^[j] They brought to him everyone who was ill. And they brought people with bad spirits in them. All these people were standing together near the door of the house. ³⁴ Jesus caused many sick people to become well. They had many different kinds of illness. He also caused many bad spirits to leave people. The spirits knew who he was. So Jesus did not let them speak.

Jesus prays alone in a quiet place

³⁵ Jesus got up very early the next morning, while it was still dark. He went to a place where he could be alone. He prayed there. ³⁶ Simon and the other disciples went to look for him. ³⁷ When they found him, they said, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’

³⁸ Jesus replied, ‘We should go to other towns near here. Then I can teach the people there too. That is the reason why I came here.’ ³⁹ So Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He caused bad spirits to come out of people.

A man with a disease in his skin

⁴⁰ One day, a man who had a disease of the skin came to Jesus. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus. The man said. ‘If you want, you can make me well. Please do it.’

⁴¹ Jesus felt very sorry for the man. He put out his hand towards the man and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you,’ Jesus said, ‘Be clean again!’ ⁴² Immediately, the disease left the man.

⁴³ Jesus sent the man away immediately and he spoke to the man with strong words. ⁴⁴ He said, ‘Listen to me. Do not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take him a gift for God. Moses' law tells you what you should give when you are clean again after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’ ⁴⁵ But instead, the man went away and he talked to everybody. He told them what had happened to him. Because he did this, it became too difficult for Jesus to go into the towns. Everybody knew him. So Jesus stayed in places in the wilderness. People came from all the places around there to see him.

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.^[a] 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.^{[b] 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.” ’^[c]

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.”^[d] Listen! God can take these stones and make children for Abraham out of them!^{[e] 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.’^[f]

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.^[g] 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.’^[h]

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.