Mark 1:1–8:38

Preaching of John the Baptist

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ^athe Son of God.

^2aAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“^bBehold, I send My messenger ¹ahead of You,

Who will prepare Your way;

^3aThe voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Make ready the way of the Lord,

Make His paths straight.’ ”

⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness ^1apreaching a baptism of repentance for the ^bforgiveness of sins.

⁵And 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.

⁶John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore ^aa leather belt around his waist, and ¹his diet was locusts and wild honey.

⁷And 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 with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

^9aIn those days Jesus ^bcame from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

¹⁰Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens ¹opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;

¹¹and a voice came out of the heavens: “^aYou are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

^12aImmediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.

¹³And 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.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

^14aNow after John had been ¹taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^2bpreaching the gospel of God,

¹⁵and saying, “^aThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ¹is at hand; ^brepent and ²believe in the gospel.”

^16aAs 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.

¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

¹⁸Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

¹⁹Going on a little farther, He saw ¹James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.

²⁰Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away ¹to follow Him.

^21aThey went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath ^bHe entered the synagogue and began to teach.

^22aThey were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

²³Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

²⁴saying, “^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!”

²⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”

²⁶Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him.

²⁷They 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.”

²⁸Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

Crowds Healed

^29aAnd immediately after they came ^bout of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with ¹James and John.

³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to ¹Jesus about her.

³¹And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she ¹waited on them.

^32aWhen evening came, ^bafter the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were ^cdemon-possessed.

³³And the whole ^acity had gathered at the door.

³⁴And 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.

^35aIn 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.

³⁶Simon and his companions searched for Him;

³⁷they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”

³⁸He 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.”

^39aAnd He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, ¹preaching and casting out the demons.

^40aAnd 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.”

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

⁴³And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,

⁴⁴and He said to him, “^aSee that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and ^boffer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁴⁵But he went out and began to ^aproclaim it freely and to spread 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.

Chapter 2

The Paralytic Healed

¹When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

^3aAnd they came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men.

⁴Being 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.

⁵And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “¹Son, ^ayour sins are forgiven.”

⁶But 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?”

⁸Immediately 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.”

¹²And 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.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^aall the ¹people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14aAs 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.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶When ^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?”

¹⁷And 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.”

^18aJohn’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?”

¹⁹And 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.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23aAnd 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.

²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

²⁶how 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?”

²⁷Jesus said to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man for the Sabbath.

²⁸“So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Chapter 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

^1aHe ^bentered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

^2aThey were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^bso that they might accuse Him.

³He said to the man with the withered hand, “¹Get up and come forward!”

⁴And 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.

⁵After ^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.

⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began ¹conspiring with the ^aHerodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

^7aJesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^ba great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,

⁸and 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.

^9aAnd He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because…