— select-a-version↑ 1.
1HERE BEGINS THE GOSPEL of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
2 [ Mal.3.1. ] In the prophet Isaiah it stands written: 'Here is my herald whom I send on ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. 3 [ Is.40.1. ] A voice crying aloud in the wilderness, "Prepare a way for the Lord; clear a straight path for him."' 4And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism in token of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, 5and they flocked to him from the whole Judaean country-side and the city of Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
6John was dressed in a rough coat of camel's hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he fed on locusts and wild honey. 7His proclamation ran: 'After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not fit to unfasten his shoes. 8I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'
9It happened at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10At the moment when he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. 11And a voice spoke from heaven: 'Thou art my Son, my Beloved; on thee my favour rests.'
12Thereupon the Spirit sent him away into the wilderness, 13and there he remained for forty days tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
14AFTER JOHN HAD BEEN ARRESTED, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: 15'The time has come; the kingdom of God is upon you; repent, and believe the Gospel.'
16Jesus was walking by the shore of the Sea of Galilee when he saw Simon and his brother Andrew on the lake at work with a casting-net; for they were fishermen. 17Jesus said to them, 'Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men.' 18And at once they left their nets and followed him.
19When he had gone a little further he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in the boat overhauling their nets. 20He called them; and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, they went off to follow him.
21They came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath he went to synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were astounded at his teaching, for, unlike the doctors of the law, he taught with a note of authority. 23Now there was a man in the synagogue possessed by an unclean spirit. 24He shrieked: 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God.' 25Jesus rebuked him: 'Be silent', he said, 'and come out of him.' 26And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry left him. 27They were all dumbfounded and began to ask one another, 'What is this? A new kind of teaching! He speaks with authority. When he gives orders, even the unclean spirits submit.' 28The news spread rapidly, and he was soon spoken of all over the district of Galilee.
29On leaving the synagogue they went straight to the house of Simon and Andrew; and James and John went with them. 30Simon's mother-in-law was ill in bed with fever. 31They told him about her at once. He came forward, took her by the hand, and helped her to her feet. The fever left her and she waited upon them.
32That evening after sunset they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by devils; 33and the whole town was there, gathered at the door. 34He healed many who suffered from various diseases, and drove out many devils. He would not let the devils speak, because they knew who he was.
35Very early next morning he got up and went out. He went away to a lonely spot and remained there in prayer. 36But Simon and his companions searched him out, 37found him, and said, 'They are all looking for you.' 38He answered, 'Let us move on to the country towns in the neighbourhood; I have to proclaim my message there also; that is what I came out to do.' 39So all through Galilee he went, preaching in the synagogues and casting out the devils.
40Once he was approached by a leper, who knelt before him begging his help. 'If only you will,' said the man, 'you can cleanse me.' 41In warm indignation Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, 'Indeed I will; be clean again.' 42The leprosy left him immediately, and he was clean. 43Then he dismissed him with this stern warning: 44'Be sure you say nothing to anybody. Go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering laid down by Moses for your cleansing; that will certify the cure.' 45But the man went out and made the whole story public; he spread it far and wide, until Jesus could no longer show himself in any town, but stayed outside in the open country. Even so, people kept coming to him from all quarters.
↑ 2.
1When after some days he returned to Capernaum, the news went round that he was at home; 2and such a crowd collected that the space in front of the door was not big enough to hold them. And while he was proclaiming the message to them, 3a man was brought who was paralysed. 4Four men were carrying him, but because of the crowd they could not get him near. So they opened up the roof over the place where Jesus was, and when they had broken through they lowered the stretcher on which the paralysed man was lying. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.'
6Now there were some lawyers sitting there and they thought to themselves, 7'Why does the fellow talk like that? This is blasphemy! Who but God alone can forgive sins?' 8Jesus knew in his own mind that this was what they were thinking, and said to them: 'Why do you harbour thoughts like these? 9Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, "Your sins are forgiven", or to say, "Stand up, take your bed, and walk"? 10But to convince you that the Son of Man has the right on earth to forgive sins'—he turned to the paralysed man— 11'I say to you, stand up, take your bed, and go home.' 12And he got up, took his stretcher at once, and went out in full view of them all, so that they were astounded and praised God. 'Never before', they said, 'have we seen the like.'
13Once more he went away to the lake-side. All the crowd came to him, and he taught them there. 14As he went along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus at his seat in the custom-house, and said to him, 'Follow me'; and Levi rose and followed him.
15When Jesus was at table in his house, many bad characters—tax-gatherers and others—were seated with him and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. 16Some doctors of the law who were Pharisees noticed him eating in this bad company, and said to his disciples, 'He eats with tax-gatherers and sinners!' 17Jesus overheard and said to them, 'It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick; I did not come to invite virtuous people, but sinners.'
18Once, when John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, some people came to him and said, 'Why is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?' 19Jesus said to them, 'Can you expect the bridegroom's friends to fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, there can be no fasting. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and on that day they will fast.
21'No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on to an old coat; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and leaves a bigger hole. 22No one puts new wine into old wine-skins, if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and then wine and skins are both lost. Fresh skins for new wine!'
23One Sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and his disciples, as they went, began to pluck ears of corn. 24The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath?' 25He answered, 'Have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry and had nothing to eat? 26He went into the House of God, in the time of Abiathar the High Priest, and ate the sacred bread, though no one but a priest is allowed to eat them, and even gave them to his men.'
27He also said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for the sake of man and not man for the Sabbath: 28therefore the Son of Man is sovereign even over the Sabbath.'
↑ 3.
1On another occasion when he went to synagogue, there was a man in the congregation who had a withered arm; 2and they were watching to see whether Jesus would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they could bring a charge against him. 3He said to the man with the withered arm, 'Come and stand out here.' 4Then he turned to them: 'Is it permitted to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?' 5They had nothing to say; and, looking round at them with anger and sorrow at their obstinate stupidity, he said to the man, 'Stretch out your arm.' He stretched it out and his arm was restored. 6But the Pharisees, on leaving the synagogue, began plotting against him with the partisans of Herod to see how they could make away with him.
7JESUS WENT AWAY to the lake-side with his disciples. 8Great numbers from Galilee, Judaea and Jerusalem, Idumaea and Transjordan, and the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon, heard what he was doing and came to see him. 9So he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him, to save him from being crushed by the crowd. 10For he cured so many that sick people of all kinds came crowding in upon him to touch him. 11The unclean spirits too, when they saw him, would fall at his feet and cry aloud, 'You are the Son of God'; 12but he insisted that they should not make him known.
13He then went up into the hill-country and called the men he wanted; and they went and joined him. 14He appointed twelve as his companions, whom he would send out to proclaim the Gospel, 15with a commission to drive out devils. 16So he appointed the Twelve: to Simon he gave the name Peter; 17then came the sons of Zebedee, James and his brother John, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, Sons of Thunder; 18then Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon, a member of the Zealot party, 19and Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed him.
20He entered a house; and once more such a crowd collected round them that they had no chance to eat. 21When his family heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; for people were saying that he was out of his mind.
22The doctors of the law, too, who had come down from Jerusalem, said, 'He is possessed by Beelzebub', and, 'He drives out devils by the prince of devils.' 23So he called them to come forward, and spoke to them in parables: 'How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand; 25if a household is divided against itself, that house will never stand; 26and if Satan is in rebellion against himself, he is divided and cannot stand; and that is the end of him.
27'On the other hand, no one can break into a strong man's house and make off with his goods unless he has first tied the strong man up; then he can ransack the house.
28'I tell you this: no sin, no slander, is beyond forgiveness for men; 29but whoever slanders the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.' 30He said this because they had declared that he was possessed by an unclean spirit.
31Then his mother and his brothers arrived, and remaining outside sent in a message asking him to come out to them. 32A crowd was sitting round and word was brought to him: 'Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.' 33He replied, 'Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?' 34And looking round at those who were sitting in the circle about him he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, my mother.'
↑ 4.
1ON ANOTHER OCCASION he began to teach by the lake-side. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he had to get into a boat on the lake, and there he sat, with the whole crowd on the beach right down to the water's edge. 2And he taught them many things by parables.
As he taught he said:
3'Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And it happened that as he sowed, some seed fell along the footpath; and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil, and it sprouted quickly because it had no depth of earth; 6but when the sun rose the young corn was scorched, and as it had no proper root it withered away. 7Some seed fell among thistles; but the thistles shot up and choked the corn, and it yielded no crop. 8And some of the seed fell into good soil, where it came up and grew, and bore fruit; and the yield was thirtyfold, sixtyfold, even a hundredfold.'
9He added, 'If you have ears to hear, then hear.'
10When he was alone, the Twelve and others who were round him questioned him about the parables. 11He replied, 'To you the secret of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those who are outside everything comes by way of parables, 12 [ Is.6.9-10. ] so that (as Scripture says) they may look and look, but see nothing; they may hear and hear, but understand nothing; otherwise they might turn to God and be forgiven.'
13So he said, 'You do not understand this parable? How then are you to understand any parable? 14The sower sows the word. 15Those along the footpath are people in whom the word is sown, but no sooner have they heard it than Satan comes and carries off the word which has been sown in them. 16It is the same with those who receive the seed on rocky ground; as soon as they hear the word, they accept it with joy, 17but it strikes no root in them; they have no staying-power; then, when there is trouble or persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. 18Others again receive the seed among thistles; they hear the word, 19but worldly cares and the false glamour of wealth and all kinds of evil desire come in and choke the word, and it proves barren. 20And there are those who receive the seed in good soil; they hear the word and welcome it; and they bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.'
21He said to them, 'Do you bring in the lamp to put it under the meal-tub, or under the bed? Surely it is brought to be set on the lamp-stand? 22For nothing is hidden unless it is to be disclosed, and nothing put under cover unless it is to come into the open. 23If you have ears to hear, then hear.'
24He also said, 'Take note of what you hear; the measure you give is the measure you will receive, 25with something more besides. For the man who has will be given more, and the man who has not will forfeit even what he has.'
26He said, 'The kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed on the land; 27he goes to bed at night and gets up in the morning, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he does not know. 28The ground produces a crop by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then full-grown corn in the ear; 29but as soon as the crop is ripe, he sets to work with the sickle, because harvest-time has come.'
30He said also, 'How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we describe it? 31It is like the mustard-seed, which is smaller than any seed in the ground at its sowing. 32But once sown, it springs up and grows taller than any other plant, and forms branches so large that the birds can settle in its shade.'
33With many such parables he would give them his message, so far as they were able to receive it. 34He never spoke to them except in parables; but privately to his disciples he explained everything.
35THAT DAY, in the evening, he said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.' 36So they left the crowd and took him with them in the boat where he had been sitting; and there were other boats accompanying him. 37A heavy squall came on and the waves broke over the boat until it was all but swamped. 38Now he was in the stern asleep on a cushion; they roused him and said, 'Master, we are sinking! Do you not care?' 39He stood up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Hush! Be still!' The wind dropped and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, 'Why are you such cowards? Have you no faith even now?' 41They were awestruck and said to one another, 'Who can this be whom even the wind and the sea obey?'
↑ 5.
1So they came to the other side of the lake, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2As he stepped ashore, a man possessed by an unclean spirit came up to him from among the tombs where he had his dwelling. 3He could no longer be controlled; even chains were useless; he had often been fettered and chained up, 4but he had snapped his chains and broken the fetters. No one was strong enough to master him. 5And so, unceasingly, night and day, he would cry aloud among the tombs and on the hill-sides and cut himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus in the distance, he ran and flung himself down before him, 7shouting loudly, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God's name do not torment me.' 8(For Jesus was already saying to him, 'Out, unclean spirit, come out of this man!') 9Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' 'My name is Legion,' he said, 'there are so many of us.' 10And he begged hard that Jesus would not send them out of the country.
11Now there happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hill-side, 12and the spirits begged him, 'Send us among the pigs and let us go into them.' 13He gave them leave; and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs; and the herd, of about two thousand, rushed over the edge into the lake and were drowned.
14The men in charge of them took to their heels and carried the news to the town and country-side; and the people came out to see what had happened. 15They came to Jesus and saw the madman who had been possessed by the legion of devils, sitting there clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16The spectators told them how the madman had been cured and what had happened to the pigs. 17Then they begged Jesus to leave the district.
18As he was stepping into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to go with him. 19Jesus would not allow it, but said to him, 'Go home to your own folk and tell them what the Lord in his mercy has done for you.' 20The man went off and spread the news in the Ten Towns of all that Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
21As soon as Jesus had returned by boat to the other shore, a great crowd once more gathered round him. 22While he was by the lake-side, the president of one of the synagogues came up, Jairus by name, and, when he saw him, threw himself down at his feet 23and pleaded with him. 'My little daughter', he said, 'is at death's door. 24I beg you to come and lay your hands on her to cure her and save her life.' So Jesus went with him, accompanied by a great crowd which pressed upon him.
25Among them was a woman who had suffered from haemorrhages for twelve years; 26and in spite of long treatment by doctors, on which she had spent all she had, there had been no improvement; on the contrary, she had grown worse. 27She had heard what people were saying about Jesus, so she came up from behind in the crowd and touched his cloak; 28for she said to herself, 'If I touch even his clothes, I shall be cured.' 29And there and then the source of her haemorrhages dried up and she knew in herself that she was cured of her trouble. 30At the same time Jesus, aware that power had gone out of him, turned round in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched my clothes?' 31His disciples said to him, 'You see the crowd pressing upon you and yet you ask, "Who touched me?" ' 32Meanwhile he was looking round to see who had done it. 33And the woman, trembling with fear when she grasped what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, 'My daughter, your faith has cured you. Go in peace, free for ever from this trouble.'
35While he was still speaking, a message came from the president's house, 'Your daughter is dead; why trouble the Rabbi further?' 36But Jesus, overhearing the message as it was delivered, said to the president of the synagogue, 'Do not be afraid; only have faith.' 37After this he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and James's brother John. 38They came to the president's house, where he found a great commotion, with loud crying and wailing. 39So he went in and said to them, 'Why this crying and commotion? The child is not dead: she is asleep.' 40But they only laughed at him. After turning all the others out, he took the child's father and mother and his own companions and went in where the child was lying. 41Then, taking hold of her hand, he said to her, 'Talitha cum', which means, 'Get up, my child.' 42Immediately the girl got up and walked about-she was twelve years old. At that they were beside themselves with amazement. 43He gave them strict orders to let no one hear about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
↑ 6.
1He left that place and went to his home town accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue; and the large congregation who heard him were amazed and said, 'Where does he get it from?', and, 'What wisdom is this that has been given him?', and, 'How does he work such miracles? 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? 4And are not his sisters here with us?' So they fell foul of him. Jesus said to them, 'A prophet will always be held in honour except in his home town, and among his kinsmen and family.' 5He could work no miracle there, except that he put his hands on a few sick people and healed them;