Mark 1–8

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

¹The beginning of the good news^a of Jesus Christ.^b*

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,^c

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,^d

who will prepare your way,^*

³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight,’ ”^*

⁴so John the baptizer appeared^e in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.^{* 5}And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.^{* 7}He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.^{* 8}I have baptized you with^f water, but he will baptize you with^g the Holy Spirit.”^*

The Baptism of Jesus

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.^{* 10}And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him.^{* 11}And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved;^h with you I am well pleased.”^*

The Testing of Jesus

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good newsⁱ of^j God^{* 15}and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;^k repent, and believe in the good news.”^l*

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁶As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him.^{* 19}As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

²¹They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.^{* 22}They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.^{* 23}Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, ²⁴and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”^{* 25}But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!”^{* 26}And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He^m commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”^{* 28}At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House

²⁹As soon as theyⁿ left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.^{* 30}Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons.^{* 33}And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.^*

A Preaching Tour in Galilee

³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.^{* 36}And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.”^{* 39}And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.^*

Jesus Cleanses a Man with a Skin Disease

⁴⁰A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling^o he said to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”^{* 41}Moved with pity,^p Jesus^q stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I am willing. Be made clean!” ⁴²Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, ⁴⁴saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”^{* 45}But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that Jesus^r could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country, and people came to him from every quarter.^*

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

²When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them.^{* 3}Then some people^s came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.^{* 4}And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”^{* 8}At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves, and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰But 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, stand up, take your mat, and go to your home.” ¹²And he stood up and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”^*

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³Jesus^t went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.^{* 14}As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.^*

¹⁵And as he sat at dinner^u in Levi’s^v house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting^w with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶When the scribes of^x the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat^y with tax collectors and sinners?”^{* 17}When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”^*

The Question about Fasting

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people^z came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.^*

²¹“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”^a

Pronouncement about the Sabbath

²³One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.^{* 24}The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food, ²⁶how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions?”^{* 27}Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath,^{* 28}so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

³Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.^{* 2}They were watching him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.^{* 3}And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” ⁴Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.^*

A Multitude at the Seaside

⁷Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him;^{* 8}hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon.^{* 9}He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him, ¹⁰for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.^{* 11}Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before…