John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of jTiberius Caesar, kPontius Pilate lbeing governor of Judea, and mHerod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during nthe high priesthood of Annas and oCaiaphas, pthe word of God came to qJohn the son of Zechariah in rthe wilderness. ³And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming sa baptism of repentance tfor the forgiveness of sins. ⁴As it is written in uthe book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

v“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

w‘Prepare the way of the Lord,1

make his paths straight.

⁵xEvery valley shall be filled,

yand every mountain and hill shall be made low,

zand the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level ways,

⁶aand all flesh shall see bthe salvation of God.’”

⁷He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, c“You brood of dvipers! Who warned you to flee from ethe wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits fin keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, g‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from hthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. iEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds asked him, j“What then shall we do?” ¹¹And he answered them, k“Whoever has two tunics2 is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ¹²lTax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, jwhat shall we do?” ¹³And he said to them, m“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, jwhat shall we do?” And he said to them, m“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your nwages.”

¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, owhether he might be pthe Christ, ¹⁶qJohn answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but rhe who is mightier than I is coming, sthe strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you twith the Holy Spirit and ufire. ¹⁷His vwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to wgather the wheat into his barn, xbut the chaff he will burn with yunquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So zwith many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹But aHerod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added this to them all, that bhe locked up John in prison.

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when cJesus also had been baptized and was praying, dthe heavens were opened, ²²and ethe Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and fa voice came from heaven, g“You are my beloved Son;3 with you I am well pleased.”4

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

²³Jesus, hwhen he began his ministry, was about ithirty years of age, being jthe son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, kthe son of Zerubbabel, the son lof Shealtiel,5 the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of mNathan, the son of David, ³²nthe son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴othe son of Jacob, pthe son of Isaac, qthe son of Abraham, rthe son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

The Temptation of Jesus

¹sAnd Jesus, tfull of the Holy Spirit, ureturned from the Jordan and was led vby the Spirit in the wilderness ²for wforty days, xbeing tempted by the devil. wAnd he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, yhe was hungry. ³The devil said to him, “If you are zthe Son of God, command athis stone to become bread.” ⁴And Jesus answered him, b“It is written, c‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵dAnd the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, “To you eI will give all this authority and their glory, efor it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered him, f“It is written,

g“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,

and hhim only shall you serve.’”

⁹iAnd he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are jthe Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written,

k“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

to guard you,’

¹¹and

k“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹²And Jesus answered him, “It is said, l‘You shall not mput the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him nuntil an opportune time.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹⁴oAnd Jesus returned pin the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and qa report about him went out through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵And rhe taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁶sAnd he came to tNazareth, where he had been brought up. And uas was his custom, vhe went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up wto read. ¹⁷And xthe scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸y“The Spirit of the Lord zis upon me,

because he has anointed me

to aproclaim good news to the poor.

bHe has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and crecovering of sight to the blind,

dto set at liberty those who are oppressed,

¹⁹eto proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were gfixed on him. ²¹And he began to say to them, “Today hthis Scripture ihas been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²And all spoke well of him and marveled at jthe gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, k“Is not this lJoseph's son?” ²³And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, m‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did nat Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ono prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when pthe heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶and Elijah was sent to none of them qbut only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷And rthere were many lepers1 in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, sbut only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹And they rose up and tdrove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰But upassing through their midst, he went away.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Demon

³¹vAnd he wwent down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And xhe was teaching them yon the Sabbath, ³²and zthey were astonished at his teaching, zfor his word possessed authority. ³³And xin the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴“Ha!2 aWhat have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? bI know who you are—cthe Holy One of God.” ³⁵But Jesus drebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶And ethey were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? eFor with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷And freports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus Heals Many

³⁸gAnd he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now hSimon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. ³⁹And he stood over her and irebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

⁴⁰Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and jhe laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹kAnd demons also came out of many, lcrying, “You are mthe Son of God!” But he rebuked them and kwould not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was nthe Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Synagogues

⁴²oAnd when it was day, he departed and went pinto a desolate place. And qthe people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³but he said to them, r“I must spreach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴And he was preaching tin the synagogues of Judea.3

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by uthe lake of Gennesaret, ²vand he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were wwashing their nets. ³Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And xhe sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, y“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵And Simon answered, “Master, zwe toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶And when they had done this, athey enclosed a large number of fish, and atheir nets were breaking. ⁷They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. bAnd they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, c“Depart from me, for dI am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”1 ¹¹And when they had brought their boats to land, ethey left everything and followed him.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

¹²While he was in one of the cities, fthere came a man full of leprosy.2 And when he saw Jesus, he gfell on his face and begged him, “Lord, hif you will, you can make me clean.”