Chronological
The Temptation of Jesus(A)
4 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert. He was taken there to be tempted by the devil. 2 Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and nights. After this, he was very hungry. 3 The devil[a] came to tempt him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “The Scriptures say,
‘It is not just bread that keeps people alive.
Their lives depend on what God says.’” (B)
5 Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. 6 He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump off, because the Scriptures say,
‘God will command his angels to help you,
and their hands will catch you,
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” (C)
7 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”[b]
8 Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the wonderful things in them. 9 The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Get away from me, Satan! The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God.
Serve only him!’” (D)
11 So the devil left him. Then some angels came to Jesus and helped him.
Jesus Begins His Work in Galilee(E)
12 Jesus heard that John was put in prison, so he went back to Galilee. 13 But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee in the area near Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 He did this to give full meaning to what the prophet Isaiah said:
15 “Listen, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
lands by the road that goes to the sea, the area past the Jordan River—
Galilee, where those from other nations live.
16 The people who live in spiritual darkness
have seen a great light.
The light has shined for those
who live in the land that is as dark as a grave.” (F)
17 From that time Jesus began to tell people his message: “Change your hearts and lives, because God’s kingdom is now very near.[c]”
Jesus Chooses Some Followers(G)
18 As Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Simon’s brother Andrew. These brothers were fishermen, and they were fishing in the lake with a net. 19 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you a different kind of fishermen. You will bring in people, not fish.” 20 Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.
21 Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee. They were preparing their nets to catch fish. Jesus told the brothers to come with him. 22 So they immediately left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.
Jesus Teaches and Heals the People(H)
23 Jesus went everywhere in the country of Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. 24 The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all those who were sick. They were suffering from different kinds of diseases and pain. Some had demons inside them, some suffered from seizures, and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and the area across the Jordan River.
Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil(A)
4 Now filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan River. And then the Spirit led him into the desert. 2 There the devil tempted Jesus for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing during this time, and when it was finished, he was very hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this rock to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say,
‘It is not just bread that keeps people alive.’” (B)
5 Then the devil took Jesus and in a moment of time showed him all the kingdoms of the world. 6 The devil said to him, “I will make you king over all these places. You will have power over them, and you will get all the glory. It has all been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want. 7 I will give it all to you, if you will only worship me.”
8 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God.
Serve only him.’” (C)
9 Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. He said to him, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 The Scriptures say,
‘God will command his angels
to take care of you.’ (D)
11 It is also written,
‘Their hands will catch you
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” (E)
12 Jesus answered, “But the Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”[a]
13 The devil finished tempting Jesus in every way and went away to wait until a better time.
Jesus Begins His Work in Galilee(F)
14 Jesus went back to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. Stories about him spread all over the area around Galilee. 15 He began to teach in the synagogues, and everyone praised him.
Jesus Goes to His Hometown(G)
16 Jesus traveled to Nazareth, the town where he grew up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue as he always did. He stood up to read. 17 The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
He has chosen me to tell good news to the poor.
He sent me to tell prisoners that they are free
and to tell the blind that they can see again.
He sent me to free those who have been treated badly
19 and to announce that the time has come for the Lord to show his kindness.” (H)
20 Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the helper, and sat down. As everyone in the synagogue watched him closely, 21 he began to speak to them. He said, “While you heard me reading these words just now, they were coming true!”
22 Everyone there said good things about Jesus. They were amazed to hear him speak such wonderful words. They said, “How is this possible? Isn’t he Joseph’s son?”
23 Jesus said to them, “I know you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those same things here in your own hometown!’” 24 Then he said, “The truth is, a prophet is not accepted in his own hometown.
25-26 “During the time of Elijah it did not rain in Israel for three and a half years. There was no food anywhere in the whole country. There were many widows in Israel during that time. But the fact is, Elijah was sent to none of those widows in Israel. He was sent only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon.
27 “And there were many people with leprosy living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed; the only one was Naaman. And he was from the country of Syria, not Israel.”
28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were very angry. 29 They got up and forced Jesus to go out of town. Their town was built on a hill. They took Jesus to the edge of the hill to throw him off. 30 But he walked through the middle of the crowd and went away.
Jesus Frees a Man From an Evil Spirit(I)
31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. On the Sabbath day he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching because he spoke with authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man who had an evil spirit from the devil inside him. The man shouted loudly, 34 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come here to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!” 35 But Jesus warned the evil spirit to stop. He said, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down on the ground in front of everyone. Then the evil spirit left the man and did not hurt him.
36 The people were amazed. They said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits and they come out.” 37 And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law(J)
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon’s[b] house. Simon’s mother-in-law was very sick. She had a high fever. They asked Jesus to do something to help her. 39 He stood very close to her and ordered the sickness to go away. The sickness left her, and she got up and began serving them.
Jesus Heals Many Others
40 When the sun went down, the people brought their sick friends to Jesus. They had many different kinds of sicknesses. Jesus laid his hands on each sick person and healed them all. 41 Demons came out of many people. The demons shouted, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus gave a strong command for the demons not to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
Jesus Goes to Other Towns(K)
42 The next day Jesus went to a place to be alone. The people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to stop him from leaving. 43 But he said to them, “I must tell the Good News about God’s kingdom to other towns too. This is why I was sent.”
44 Then Jesus told the Good News in the synagogues in Judea.
Jesus Chooses Some Followers(L)
5 As Jesus stood beside Lake Galilee,[c] a crowd of people pushed to get closer to him and to hear the teachings of God. 2 Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into the boat that belonged to Simon. He asked Simon to push off a little from the shore. Then he sat down in the boat and taught the people on the shore.
4 When Jesus finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Take the boat into the deep water. If all of you will put your nets into the water, you will catch some fish.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish and caught nothing. But you say I should put the nets into the water, so I will.” 6 The fishermen put their nets into the water. Their nets were filled with so many fish that they began to break. 7 They called to their friends in the other boat to come and help them. The friends came, and both boats were filled so full of fish that they were almost sinking.
8-9 The fishermen were all amazed at the many fish they caught. When Simon Peter saw this, he bowed down before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” 10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were amazed too. (James and John worked together with Simon.)
Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on your work will be to bring in people, not fish!”
11 The men brought their boats to the shore. They left everything and followed Jesus.
Jesus Heals a Sick Man(M)
12 One time Jesus was in a town where a very sick man lived. This man was covered with leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed before Jesus and begged him, “Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.”
13 Jesus said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” Then he touched the man, and immediately the leprosy disappeared. 14 Then Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened. But go and let the priest look at you.[d] And offer a gift to God for your healing as Moses commanded. This will show people that you are healed.”
15 But the news about Jesus spread more and more. Many people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 Jesus often went away to other places to be alone so that he could pray.
Jesus Heals a Crippled Man(N)
17 One day Jesus was teaching the people. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there too. They had come from every town in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The Lord was giving Jesus the power to heal people. 18 There was a man who was paralyzed, and some other men were carrying him on a mat. They tried to bring him and put him down before Jesus. 19 But there were so many people that they could not find a way to Jesus. So they went up on the roof and lowered the crippled man down through a hole in the ceiling. They lowered the mat into the room so that the crippled man was lying before Jesus. 20 Jesus saw how much faith they had and said to the sick man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Jewish teachers of the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who is this man who dares to say such things? What an insult to God! No one but God can forgive sins.”
22 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you have these questions in your minds? 23-24 The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. But how can I prove this to you? Maybe you are thinking it was easy for me to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ There’s no proof that it really happened. But what if I say to the man, ‘Stand up and walk’? Then you will be able to see that I really have this power.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, stand up! Take your mat and go home!”
25 The man immediately stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and walked home, praising God. 26 Everyone was completely amazed and began to praise God. They were filled with great respect for God’s power. They said, “Today we saw amazing things!”
Levi (Matthew) Follows Jesus(O)
27 After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector sitting at his place for collecting taxes. His name was Levi. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” 28 Levi got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.
29 Then Levi gave a big dinner at his house for Jesus. At the table there were many tax collectors and some other people too. 30 But the Pharisees and those who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to the followers of Jesus, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and other sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy. 32 I have not come to ask good people to change. I have come to ask sinners to change the way they live.”
Jesus Is Not Like Other Religious Leaders(P)
33 They said to Jesus, “John’s followers often fast and pray, the same as the followers of the Pharisees. But your followers eat and drink all the time.”
34 Jesus said to them, “At a wedding you can’t ask the friends of the bridegroom to be sad and fast while he is still with them. 35 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then his friends will fast.”
36 Jesus told them this story: “No one takes cloth off a new coat to cover a hole in an old coat. That would ruin the new coat, and the cloth from the new coat would not be the same as the old cloth. 37 Also, no one ever pours new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would break them. The wine would spill out, and the wineskins would be ruined. 38 You always put new wine into new wineskins. 39 No one who drinks old wine wants new wine. They say, ‘The old wine is just fine.’”
15 John told people about him. He said loudly, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he was living before I was even born.’”
16 Yes, the Word was full of grace and truth, and from him we all received one blessing after another.[a] 17 That is, the law was given to us through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son is the one who has shown us what God is like. He is himself God and is very close to the Father.[b]
John Tells About the Messiah(A)
19 The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John to ask him, “Who are you?” He told them the truth. 20 Without any hesitation he said openly and plainly, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He answered, “No, I am not Elijah.”
They asked, “Are you the Prophet[c]?”
He answered, “No, I am not the Prophet.”
22 Then they said, “Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Give us an answer to tell the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John told them the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“I am the voice of someone shouting in the desert:
‘Make a straight road ready for the Lord.’” (B)
24 These Jews were sent from the Pharisees. 25 They said to John, “You say you are not the Messiah. You say you are not Elijah or the Prophet. Then why do you baptize people?”
26 John answered, “I baptize people with water. But there is someone here with you that you don’t know. 27 He is the one who is coming later. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties the strings on his sandals.”
28 These things all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people.
Jesus, the Lamb of God
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world! 30 This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘There is a man coming after me who is greater than I am, because he was living even before I was born.’ 31 I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing people with water so that Israel could know that he is the Messiah.[d]”
32-34 Then John said this for everyone to hear: “I also did not know who the Messiah was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen this happen. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on this man. So this is what I tell people: ‘He is the Son of God.’[e]”
The First Followers of Jesus
35 The next day John was there again and had two of his followers with him. 36 He saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 The two followers heard him say this, so they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw the two men following him. He asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (“Rabbi” means “Teacher.”)
39 He answered, “Come with me and you will see.” So the two men went with him. They saw the place where he was staying, and they stayed there with him that day. It was about four o’clock.
40 These men followed Jesus after they had heard about him from John. One of them was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to go and find his brother Simon. Andrew said to him, “We have found the Messiah.” (“Messiah” means “Christ.”)
42 Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (“Cephas” means “Peter.[f]”)
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law. The prophets wrote about him too. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth.”
46 But Nathanael said to Philip, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said, “This man coming is a true Israelite, one you can trust.[g]”
48 Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree, before Philip told you about me.”
49 Then Nathanael said, “Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Do you believe this just because I said I saw you under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than that!” 51 Then he said, “Believe me when I say that you will all see heaven open. You will see ‘angels of God going up and coming down’[h] on the Son of Man.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International