Mark 1:1–28

John the Baptist Begins His Ministry

1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.^{a 2}Just as it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way,

³the voice of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths!’ ”^b

⁴John was there baptizing in the wilderness, proclaiming^c a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the Judean region and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶And John was dressed in camel’s hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he was preaching, saying, “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me, of whom I am not worthy to bend down and^* untie the strap of his sandals. ⁸I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

⁹And it happened that in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. ¹⁰And immediately as he^* was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being split apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

¹²And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Public Ministry in Galilee

¹⁴And after^d John had been taken into custody,^e Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁶And as he^* was passing by along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net^* into the sea (for they were fishermen). ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow^f me and I will make you become fishers of people.” ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and^* followed him. ¹⁹And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, and they were in the boat mending the nets. ²⁰And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and^* went away after him. ²¹And they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue.^g

A Man with an Unclean Spirit Healed

²²And they were amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes. ²³And so then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ²⁴saying, “Leave us alone,^h Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” ²⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶And after^* convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. ²⁷And they were all amazed, so that they began to discuss with one another, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him.” ²⁸And the report about him then went out everywhere in the whole surrounding region of Galilee.