Read the Gospels in 40 Days
The Temptation of Jesus
4 (A)Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, (B)returned from the Jordan and was being led around [a]by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for (C)forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had finished, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘(D)Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 (E)And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of [b](F)the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this [c](G)dominion and [d]its glory, (H)for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore if You [e]worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘(I)You shall worship the [f]Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
9 (J)And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘(K)He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’
11 and,
‘(L)On their hands they will bear You up,
Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘(M)You shall not put the [g]Lord your God to the test.’”
13 And when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
14 And (N)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and (O)news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He was (P)teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 And He came to (Q)Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom, (R)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and (S)stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “(T)The Spirit of the [h]Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 (U)To proclaim the favorable year of the [i]Lord.”
20 And He (V)closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and (W)sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your [j]hearing.” 22 And all were [k]speaking well of Him and marveling at the [l]gracious words which were coming forth from His lips, and they were saying, “(X)Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard took place (Y)at Capernaum, do also here in (Z)your hometown.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, (AA)no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel (AB)in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land, 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but (AC)only to [m]Zarephath, in the land of (AD)Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but (AE)only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things, 29 and they stood up and (AF)drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the edge of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But (AG)passing through their midst, He went on His way.
Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Demon
31 And (AH)He came down to (AI)Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and (AJ)they were amazed at His teaching, for (AK)His [n]message was with authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man [o]possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “[p]Let us alone! [q](AL)What do we have to do with You, Jesus the (AM)Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—(AN)the Holy One of God!” 35 But Jesus (AO)rebuked it, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. 36 And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, “What is [r]this message? For (AP)with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” 37 And (AQ)the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district.
Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others Healed
38 (AR)Then He stood up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was (AS)suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him [s]to help her. 39 And standing over her, He (AT)rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she stood up and [t]began waiting on them.
40 (AU)And while (AV)the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and (AW)laying His hands on each one of them, He was (AX)healing them. 41 And demons also were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are (AY)the Son of God!” But (AZ)rebuking them, He was (BA)not allowing them to speak, because they knew Him to be the [u]Christ.
42 (BB)When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were eagerly seeking for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43 But He said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, (BC)for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues (BD)of [v]Judea.
The First Disciples
5 (BE)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing at the edge of (BF)the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, and the fishermen, having gotten out of them, were washing their nets. 3 (BG)And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and (BH)let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “(BI)Master, (BJ)we labored all night and caught nothing, but at Your word, I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, (BK)they enclosed a great quantity of fish. And their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken, 10 and [w]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon, were also likewise amazed. And Jesus said to Simon, “(BL)Do not fear, from now on you will be (BM)catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, (BN)they left everything and followed Him.
Jesus Heals a Leper
12 (BO)And it happened that while He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man [x]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He directed him to tell no one, “But go and (BP)show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 15 But (BQ)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But He Himself would often slip away [y]to the desolate regions and (BR)pray.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
17 And it happened that [z]one day He was teaching; and (BS)there were some Pharisees and (BT)teachers of the law sitting there, who had (BU)come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and (BV)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. 18 (BW)And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him. 19 But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on (BX)the roof and let him down (BY)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. 20 And seeing their faith, He said, “[aa]Friend, (BZ)your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees (CA)began to reason, saying, “(CB)Who is this who speaks blasphemies? (CC)Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 But Jesus, [ab]knowing their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the (CD)paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home (CE)glorifying God. 26 And astonishment seized them all and they began (CF)glorifying God; and they were filled (CG)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Levi and Sinners Called
27 (CH)And after that He went out and noticed a tax collector named [ac](CI)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he (CJ)left everything behind, and rose up and began to follow Him.
29 And (CK)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of (CL)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 (CM)And the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and [ad]sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “(CN)It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
33 And they said to Him, “(CO)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do likewise, but Yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make the [ae]attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 (CP)But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”
Lord of the Sabbath
6 (CQ)Now it happened that on a Sabbath He was passing through some grainfields, and His disciples (CR)were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what (CS)is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Have you never read (CT)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the [af]consecrated bread which (CU)is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5 And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath
6 (CV)Now it happened that on another Sabbath He entered (CW)the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there [ag]whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees (CX)were watching Him closely to see if He heals on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8 But He (CY)knew [ah]what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and [ai]come forward!” And he stood up and [aj]came forward. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” 10 And after (CZ)looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they themselves were filled with [ak]rage, and were discussing together what they might do to Jesus.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
12 Now it happened that [al]at this time He went off to (DA)the mountain to (DB)pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, (DC)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as (DD)apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15 and (DE)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17 And Jesus (DF)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was (DG)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of (DH)Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19 And all the crowd was trying to (DI)touch Him, for (DJ)power was coming from Him and healing them all.
The Beatitudes
20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say,
“(DK)Blessed are the poor, for (DL)yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are those who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are those who cry now, for you shall laugh.
22 (DM)Blessed are you when men hate you, and (DN)exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.
23 Be glad in that day and (DO)leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For (DP)their fathers were doing the same things to the prophets.
Jesus Pronounces Woes
24 But woe to (DQ)you who are rich, for (DR)you are receiving your comfort in full.
25 Woe to you who [am]are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and cry.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers were doing the same things to the (DS)false prophets.
Love Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who hear, (DT)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, (DU)pray for those who disparage you. 29 (DV)Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your garment, do not withhold your [an]tunic from him either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 And [ao](DW)treat others the same way you want [ap]them to treat you. 32 (DX)And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 (DY)And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 But (DZ)love your enemies, and do good, and lend, [aq]expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be (EA)sons of (EB)the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil. 36 [ar]Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Do Not Judge
37 “(EC)And do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; [as](ED)pardon, and you will be [at]pardoned. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will [au]pour (EE)into your lap a (EF)good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
39 And He also spoke a parable to them: “(EG)Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 (EH)A [av]student is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will [aw]be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 (EI)For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, [ax]on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 (EJ)For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. 45 (EK)The good man out of the good [ay]treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. (EL)For his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart.
Build Your House on the Rock
46 “(EM)Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 (EN)Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who heard and did not do accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
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