Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
The preaching of John the Baptist
3 In those days John the Baptist appeared. He was preaching in the Judaean wilderness.
2 “Repent!” he was saying. “The kingdom of heaven is coming!”
3 John, you see, is the person spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, when he said,
The voice of someone shouting in the desert:
“Prepare the route that the Lord will take,
straighten out his paths!”
4 John himself had clothing made from camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Jerusalem, all Judaea, and the whole area around the Jordan, were going off to him. 6 They were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 He saw several Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized by him.
“You brood of vipers!” he said to them. “Who warned you to escape from the coming wrath? 8 You’d better prove your repentance by bearing the right sort of fruit! 9 And you needn’t start thinking to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ Let me tell you, God is quite capable of raising up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 The axe is already taking aim at the root of the trees. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Jesus’ baptism
11 “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,” John continued. “But the one who is coming behind me is more powerful than me! I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire! 12 He’s got his shovel in his hand, ready to clear out his barn, and gather all his corn into the granary. But he’ll burn up the chaff with a fire that will never go out.”
13 Then Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Galilee, and came to John to be baptized by him.
14 John tried to stop him.
“I ought to be baptized by you,” he said, “and are you going to come to me?”
15 “This is how it’s got to be right now,” said Jesus. “This is the right way for us to complete God’s whole saving plan.”
So John consented, 16 and Jesus was baptized. All at once, as he came up out of the water, suddenly the heavens were opened, and he saw God’s spirit coming down like a dove and landing on him.
17 Then there came a voice out of the heavens.
“This is my son, my beloved one,” said the voice. “I am delighted with him.”
Temptation in the wilderness
4 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the spirit to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and at the end of it was famished. 3 Then the tempter approached him.
“If you really are God’s son,” he said, “tell these stones to become bread!”
4 “The Bible says,” replied Jesus, “that it takes more than bread to keep you alive. You actually live on every word that comes out of God’s mouth.”
5 Then the devil took him off to the holy city, and stood him on a pinnacle of the Temple.
6 “If you really are God’s son,” he said, “throw yourself down. The Bible does say, after all, that ‘God will give his angels a command about you’; and ‘they will carry you in their hands, so that you won’t hurt your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 “But the Bible also says,” replied Jesus, “that you mustn’t put the Lord your God to the test!”
8 Then the devil took him off again, this time to a very high mountain. There he showed him all the magnificent kingdoms of the world.
9 “I’ll give the whole lot to you,” he said, “if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of it, satan!” replied Jesus. “The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone!’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and looked after him.
Announcing the kingdom
12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he went off to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth, and went to live at Capernaum, a small town by the sea in the region of Zebulon and Naphtali. 14 This happened so that the word spoken through Isaiah the prophet might come true:
15 The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali,
the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee, land of the nations:
16 the people who sat in the dark saw a great light;
light dawned on those who sat in the shadowy land of death.
17 From that time on Jesus began to make his proclamation.
“Repent!” he would say. “The kingdom of heaven is arriving!”
Jesus calls the disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (also called Peter) and Andrew his brother. They were fishermen, and were casting nets into the sea.
19 “Follow me!” said Jesus. “I’ll make you fish for people!”
20 Straight away they abandoned their nets and followed him.
21 He went on further, and saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. They were in the boat, mending their nets, with Zebedee their father. He called them. 22 At once they left the boat, and their father, and followed him.
23 He went on through the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, healing every disease and every illness among the people.
24 Word about him went out around the whole of Syria. They brought to him all the people tormented with various kinds of diseases and ailments, demon-possessed people, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judaea and beyond the Jordan.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.