Jesus Begins His Ministry

12 Now when Jesus heard that aJohn had been taken into custody, bHe withdrew into Galilee;

13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and asettled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

15 “aThe land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

1By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the 2Gentiles—

16 “aThe people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,

And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,

Upon them a Light dawned.”

17 aFrom that time Jesus began to 1preach and say, “bRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The First Disciples

18 aNow as Jesus was walking by bthe Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, cSimon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

19 And He * said to them, “1Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, 1aJames the son of Zebedee, and 2John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.

22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Ministry in Galilee

23 Jesus was going athroughout all Galilee, bteaching in their synagogues and cproclaiming the 1gospel of the kingdom, and dhealing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

24 The news about Him spread athroughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, bdemoniacs, 1cepileptics, dparalytics; and He healed them.

25 Large crowds afollowed Him from Galilee and bthe Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from cbeyond the Jordan.