Mark 1:1–8:13
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, athe Son of God.
2 aAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“bBehold, I send My messenger 1ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way;
3 aThe voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness 1apreaching a baptism of repentance for the bforgiveness of sins.
5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore aa leather belt around his waist, and 1his diet was locusts and wild honey.
7 And he was 1preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.
8 “I baptized you 1with water; but He will baptize you 1with the Holy Spirit.”
9 aIn those days Jesus bcame from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens 1opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;
11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “aYou are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
12 aImmediately the Spirit * impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.
13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by aSatan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
14 aNow after John had been 1taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, 2bpreaching the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “aThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God 1is at hand; brepent and 2believe in the gospel.”
16 aAs He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
19 Going on a little farther, He saw 1James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.
20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away 1to follow Him.
21 aThey * went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath bHe entered the synagogue and began to teach.
22 aThey were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 saying, “aWhat 1business do we have with each other, Jesus 2of bNazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—cthe Holy One of God!”
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.
27 They were all aamazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
29 aAnd immediately after they came bout of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with 1James and John.
30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they * spoke to 1Jesus about her.
31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she 1waited on them.
32 aWhen evening came, bafter the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were cdemon-possessed.
33 And the whole acity had gathered at the door.
34 And He ahealed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
35 aIn the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and bwas praying there.
36 Simon and his companions searched for Him;
37 they found Him, and * said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
38 He * said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may 1preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
39 aAnd He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, 1preaching and casting out the demons.
40 aAnd a leper * came to Jesus, beseeching Him and bfalling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and * said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,
44 and He * said to him, “aSee that you say nothing to anyone; but ago, show yourself to the priest and boffer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
45 But he went out and began to aproclaim it freely and to aspread the news around, to such an extent that 1Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but 2stayed out in unpopulated areas; and bthey were coming to Him from everywhere.
1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.
2 And amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
3 aAnd they * came, bringing to Him a bparalytic, carried by four men.
4 Being unable to 1get to Him because of the crowd, they aremoved the roof 2above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the bparalytic was lying.
5 And Jesus seeing their faith * said to the paralytic, “1Son, ayour sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; awho can forgive sins 1but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus, aware 1in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, * said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
9 “Which is easier, to say to the aparalytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?
10 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He * said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”
12 And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and awere glorifying God, saying, “bWe have never seen anything like this.”
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and aall the 1people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
14 aAs He passed by, He saw 1bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He * said to him, “cFollow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
15 And it * 1happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and 2sinners 3were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.
16 When athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “bWhy is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and 1sinners?”
17 And hearing this, Jesus * said to them, “aIt is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18 aJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they * came and * said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, 1the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 “But the adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews 1a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise 2the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.
22 “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
23 aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while bpicking the heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 And He * said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;
26 how he entered the house of God in the time of aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the 1consecrated bread, which bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”
27 Jesus said to them, “aThe Sabbath 1was made 2for man, and bnot man 2for the Sabbath.
28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
1 aHe bentered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.
2 aThey were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, bso that they might accuse Him.
3 He * said to the man with the withered hand, “1Get up and come forward!”
4 And He * said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.
5 After alooking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He * said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began 1conspiring with the aHerodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
7 aJesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ba great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,
8 and from Jerusalem, and from aIdumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of bTyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.
9 aAnd He told His disciples that a boat should …