The  ¹beginning of the  ²gospel of  ³Jesus Christ,  ⁴the Son of God,

 ¹Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: "Behold,  ²I send My  ³messenger before  ⁴Your face, who will  ⁵prepare Your way,

A  ¹voice of one crying in the  ²wilderness:  ³Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.”

John  ¹came baptizing in the  ²wilderness and preaching a  ³baptism of repentance  ⁴for forgiveness of sins.

And all the region of  ¹Judea went out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were  ²baptized by him in the  ³Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

And John was  ¹clothed in camel's hair and had a leather girdle around his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

And he preached, saying,  ¹He who is stronger than I comes after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

I have baptized you in water, but He Himself will baptize you in the Holy  ¹Spirit.

And in those days Jesus came from  ¹Nazareth of Galilee and was  ²baptized  ³in the Jordan by John.

And  ¹immediately, coming up out of the water, He saw the  ²heavens being parted and the Spirit as a  ³dove descending upon  ⁴Him.

And a voice came out of the heavens:  ¹You are My Son, the Beloved; in You I have found My delight.

And immediately the Spirit  ¹thrust Him out into the wilderness.

And He was in the wilderness  ¹forty days, being tempted by  ²Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.

And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into  ¹Galilee,  ²proclaiming the gospel  ³of God,

And saying, The time is fulfilled and the  ¹kingdom of God has drawn near.  ²Repent and  ³believe in the  ⁴gospel.

And passing beside the  ¹Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother,  ²casting a  ³net in the sea, for they were fishermen.

And Jesus said to them, Come after Me, and I will cause you to become fishers of men.

And immediately leaving the nets, they  ¹followed Him.

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

And immediately He called them, and leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, they  ¹went after Him.

And they went into Capernaum, and immediately, on the Sabbath, He entered into the  ¹synagogue and  ²taught.

And they were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as One having  ¹authority and not like the scribes.

And immediately, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean  ¹spirit, and he cried out, saying,

 ¹What have we to do with You, Jesus, Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God.

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

And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and shouting with a loud voice, came out of him.

And they were all amazed, so that they discussed among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching! With  ¹authority He orders even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.

And immediately the report concerning Him went out everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

And immediately, going out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

And Simon's mother-in-law was lying down with a  ¹fever, and immediately they told Him about her.

And He came to her and raised her up, holding her hand, and the fever  ¹left her, and she  ²served them.

And when evening fell and the sun had set, they brought to Him all those who were ill and those who were demon possessed.

And the whole city was gathered together at the door.

And He  ¹healed many who were ill with various diseases, and He  ²cast out many demons and did not allow the demons to speak, because  ³they knew Him.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still night, He went out and went away to a deserted place, and there He  ¹prayed.

And Simon and those with him hunted for Him,

And they found Him and said to Him, All are seeking You.

And He said to them, Let us go elsewhere into the nearby towns that I may  ¹preach there also, because for  ²this purpose I came out.

And He went preaching in their synagogues in the whole of Galilee and casting out the demons.

And a  ¹leper came to Him, entreating Him and falling on his knees and saying to Him, If You are willing, You can cleanse me.

And He was moved with  ¹compassion, and  ²stretching out His hand, He touched him and said to him, I am  ¹willing; be  ³cleansed!

And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

And sternly charging him, immediately He thrust him out,

And said to him, See that you  ¹say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

But he went out and began to proclaim it much and to spread the  ¹matter abroad, so that He could  ²no longer enter openly into a city, but He stayed outside in deserted places. And they came to Him from everywhere.

And  ¹He entered again into Capernaum after a few days, and it was heard that He was  ²at home.

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even at the door. And He spoke to them the word.

And they came, bringing to Him a  ¹paralytic carried by four men.

And being unable to bring him to Him because of the crowd, they  ¹removed the roof where He was. And when they had dug through, they lowered the  ²mat on which the paralytic was lying.

And Jesus, seeing their  ¹faith, said to the paralytic,  ²Child, your  ³sins are forgiven.

But some of the  ¹scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

Why is this man speaking this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except One,  ¹God?

And immediately Jesus,  ¹knowing fully in His spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, said to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

Which is  ¹easier: to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and take up your mat and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of  ¹Man has authority to forgive sins on earth — He said to the paralytic,

To you I say,  ¹Rise, take up your mat and go to your house.

And he  ¹rose and immediately  ²took up the mat and  ³went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We have never seen anything like this!

And He went out again beside the sea. And all the crowd came to Him, and He  ¹taught them.

 ¹And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the  ²tax office, and He said to him, Follow Me. And he rose and  ³followed Him.

And as He reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining together with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many, and they were following Him.

And the  ¹scribes of the Pharisees, seeing that He ate with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?

And when Jesus heard this, He said to them, Those who are strong have no need of a  ¹physician, but those who are ill; I did not come to call the righteous, but  ²sinners.

 ¹And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting. And they came and said to Him, Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? For as long a time as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

No one sews a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment; otherwise, that which fills it up pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is ruined as well as the wineskins; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins.

 ¹And He passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to go along, picking the ears of grain.

And the  ¹Pharisees said to Him, Look! Why are they doing on the Sabbath what is not lawful?

And He said to them, Have you never read what  ¹David did when he had need and became hungry, he and those with him;

How he entered into the house of God during the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he gave also to those who were with him?

And He said to them, The Sabbath came into being for man, and  ¹not man for the Sabbath.

So then the Son of Man is  ¹Lord even of the Sabbath.

 ¹And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had a withered hand.

And they were watching Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Rise and stand in the midst.

And He said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to  ¹save  ²life or to kill? But they remained silent.

And looking around at them with  ¹anger and being greatly grieved with the hardness of their heart, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was  ²restored.

And the  ¹Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him as to how they might destroy Him.

And Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judea

And from Jerusalem and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what things He did, came to Him.

And He told His disciples to have a little  ¹boat ready near Him because of the crowd, so that they would not throng Him;

For He  ¹healed many, so that as many as had  ²afflictions  ³pressed toward Him to touch Him.

And the unclean spirits, when they beheld Him, fell before Him and cried out, saying, You are the Son of God!

And He  ¹charged them many times not to make Him known.

And He went up to the mountain and called to Him those whom He Himself wanted, and they went to Him.

And He  ¹appointed  ²twelve,  ³whom He also named apostles, so that they might be with Him and that He might send them to  ⁴preach

And to have the authority to  ¹cast out the demons.

 ¹And He appointed the twelve: and to Simon He  ²gave the name Peter;

And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and He gave them the name,  ¹Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder;

And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,

And Judas Iscariot, who also  ¹betrayed Him.

And  ¹He came into a house, and again a crowd came together, so that they could  ²not even eat bread.

And when His relatives heard about it, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, He is beside Himself.

 ¹And the  ²scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has  ³Beelzebul, and by the  ⁴ruler of the demons He casts out the demons.

And He called them to Himself and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

And if a  ¹kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand;

And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand;

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand but has come to an end.

But no one can enter into the house of the strong man and thoroughly plunder his  ¹goods unless he first  ²binds the strong man, and then he will thoroughly plunder his house.

Truly I say to you that all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they blaspheme,

But whoever blasphemes against the  ¹Holy Spirit has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of an  ²everlasting sin.

He said this because they said, He has an unclean spirit.

And His  ¹mother and His brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to Him and called Him.

And a crowd sat around Him, and they said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside seeking You.

And He answered them and said,  ¹Who is My mother and My brothers?

And looking around at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers!

For whoever  ¹does the will of God, this one is  ²My brother and sister and mother.