4. January, 2016Uncategorized

Mark Chapter 12

He went on to speak to them in parables, ‘A man planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug out a trough for the winepress and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad.

² When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard.

³ But they seized the man, thrashed him and sent him away empty handed.

⁴ Next he sent another servant to them; him they beat about the head and treated shamefully.

⁵ And he sent another and him they killed; then a number of others, and they thrashed some and killed the rest.

⁶ He had still someone left: his beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, “They will respect my son.”

⁷ But those tenants said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.”

⁸ So they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and make an end of the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰ Have you not read this text of scripture: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

¹¹ this is the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it ?’

¹² And they would have liked to arrest him, because they realised that the parable was aimed at them, but they were afraid of the crowds. So they left him alone and went away.

¹³ Next they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to catch him out in what he said.

¹⁴ These came and said to him, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man, that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you, and that you teach the way of God in all honesty. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or not?’

¹⁵ Recognising their hypocrisy he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.’

¹⁶ They handed him one and he said to them, ‘Whose portrait is this? Whose title?’ They said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’

¹⁷ Jesus said to them, ‘Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and God what belongs to God.’ And they were amazed at him.

¹⁸ Then some Sadducees — who deny that there is a resurrection — came to him and they put this question to him,

¹⁹ ‘Master, Moses prescribed for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother.

²⁰ Now there were seven brothers; the first married a wife and then died leaving no children.

²¹ The second married the widow, and he too died leaving no children; with the third it was the same,

²² and none of the seven left any children. Last of all the woman herself died.

²³ Now at the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be, since she had been married to all seven?’

²⁴ Jesus said to them, ‘Surely the reason why you are wrong is that you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven.

²⁶ Now about the dead rising again, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

²⁷ He is God, not of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken.’

²⁸ One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’

²⁹ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord,

³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

³¹ The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’

³² The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other.

³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.’

³⁴ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.

³⁵ While teaching in the Temple, Jesus said, ‘How can the scribes maintain that the Christ is the son of David?

³⁶ David himself, moved by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord declared to my Lord, take your seat at my right hand till I have made your enemies your footstool.

³⁷ David himself calls him Lord; in what way then can he be his son?’ And the great crowd listened to him with delight.

³⁸ In his teaching he said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted respectfully in the market squares,

³⁹ to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets;

⁴⁰ these are the men who devour the property of widows and for show offer long prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’

⁴¹ He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal.

⁴² A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny.

⁴³ Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘In truth I tell you, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury;

⁴⁴ for they have all put in money they could spare, but she in her poverty has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’

Mark Chapter 11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples

² and said to them, ‘Go to the village facing you, and as you enter it you will at once find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

³ If anyone says to you, “What are you doing?” say, “The Master needs it and will send it back here at once.” ‘

⁴ They went off and found a colt tethered near a door in the open street. As they untied it,

⁵ some men standing there said, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’

⁶ They gave the answer Jesus had told them, and the men let them go.

⁷ Then they took the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on its back, and he mounted it.

⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others greenery which they had cut in the fields.

⁹ And those who went in front and those who followed were all shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of David our father! Hosanna in the highest heavens!’

¹¹ He entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple; and when he had surveyed it all, as it was late by now, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

¹² Next day as they were leaving Bethany, he felt hungry.

¹³ Seeing a fig tree in leaf some distance away, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it, but when he came up to it he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴ And he addressed the fig tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard him say this.

¹⁵ So they reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out the men selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers.

¹⁶ Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple.

¹⁷ And he taught them and said, ‘Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have turned it into a bandits’ den.’

¹⁸ This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find some way of doing away with him; they were afraid of him because the people were carried away by his teaching.

¹⁹ And when evening came he went out of the city.

²⁰ Next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered to the roots.

²¹ Peter remembered. ‘Look, Rabbi,’ he said to Jesus, ‘the fig tree that you cursed has withered away.’

²² Jesus answered, ‘Have faith in God.

²³ In truth I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Be pulled up and thrown into the sea,” with no doubt in his heart, but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

²⁴ I tell you, therefore, everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours.

²⁵ And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, soyour Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.’

²⁶

²⁷ They came to Jerusalem again, and as Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

²⁸ and they said to him, ‘What authority have you for acting like this? Or who gave you authority to act like this?’

²⁹ Jesus said to them, ‘And I will ask you a question, just one; answer me and I will tell you my authority for acting like this.

³⁰ John’s baptism, what was its origin, heavenly or human? Answer me that.’

³¹ And they argued this way among themselves, ‘If we say heavenly, he will say, “Then why did you refuse to believe him?”

³² But dare we say human?’ — they had the people to fear, for everyone held that John had been a real prophet.

³³ So their reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.’

Mark Chapter 10

After leaving there, he came into the territory of Judaea and Transjordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was.

² Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were putting him to the test.

³ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’

⁴ They replied, ‘Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.’

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you.

⁶ But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.

⁷ This is why a man leaves his father and mother,

⁸ and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh.

⁹ So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.’

¹⁰ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this,

¹¹ and he said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her.

¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’

¹³ People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them,

¹⁴ but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

¹⁵ In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’

¹⁶ Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.

¹⁷ He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

¹⁸ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’

²⁰ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.’

²¹ Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, ‘You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’

²² But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

²³ Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’

²⁴ The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them, ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵ It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

²⁶ They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, ‘In that case, who can be saved?’

²⁷ Jesus gazed at them and said, ‘By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.’

²⁸ Peter took this up. ‘Look,’ he said to him, ‘we have left everything and followed you.’

²⁹ Jesus said, ‘In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel

³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land — and persecutions too — now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.

³¹ Many who are first will be last, and the last, first.’

³² They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive. Once more taking the Twelve aside he began to tell them what was going to happen to him,

³³ ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles,

³⁴ who will mock him and spit at him and scourge him and put him to death; and after three days he will rise again.’

³⁵ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him. ‘Master,’ they said to him, ‘We want you to do us a favour.’

³⁶ He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’

³⁷ They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.’

³⁸ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I shall be baptised?’

³⁹ They replied, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I shall drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I shall be baptised you shall be baptised,

⁴⁰ but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.’

⁴¹ When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John,

⁴² so Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that among the gentiles those they call their rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt.

⁴³ Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴ and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all.

⁴⁵ For the Son of man himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

⁴⁶ They reached Jericho; and as he left Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus — that is, the son of Timaeus — a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road.

⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and cry out, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’

⁴⁸ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man over. ‘Courage,’ they said, ‘get up; he is calling you.’

⁵⁰ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus.

⁵¹ Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘Rabbuni, let me see again.’

⁵² Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And at once his sight returned and he followed him along the road.

Mark Chapter 9

And he said to them, ‘In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.’

² Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain on their own by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured:

³ his clothes became brilliantly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them.

⁴ Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus.

⁵ Then Peter spoke to Jesus, ‘Rabbi,’ he said, ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’

⁶ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened.

⁷ And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’

⁸ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰ They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean.

¹¹ And they put this question to him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’

¹² He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed first coming to set everything right again; yet how is it that the scriptures say about the Son of man that he must suffer grievously and be treated with contempt?

¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come and they have treated him as they pleased, just as the scriptures say about him.’

¹⁴ As they were rejoining the disciples they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵ At once, when they saw him, the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’

¹⁷ A man answered him from the crowd, ‘Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him,

¹⁸ and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to drive it out and they were unable to.’

¹⁹ In reply he said to them, ‘Faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’

²⁰ They brought the boy to him, and at once the spirit of dumbness threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ ‘From childhood,’ he said,

²² ‘and it has often thrown him into fire and into water, in order to destroy him.

²³ But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’

²⁴ ‘If you can?’ retorted Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who has faith.’ At once the father of the boy cried out, ‘I have faith. Help my lack of faith!’

²⁵ And when Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. ‘Deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.’

²⁶ Then it threw the boy into violent convulsions and came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’

²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand.

²⁸ When he had gone indoors, his disciples asked him when they were by themselves, ‘Why were we unable to drive it out?’

²⁹ He answered, ‘This is the kind that can be driven out only by prayer.’

³⁰ After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know,

³¹ because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’

³² But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

³³ They came to Capernaum, and when he got into the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’

³⁴ They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing which of them was the greatest.

³⁵ So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’

³⁶ He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them,

³⁷ ‘Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

³⁸ John said to him, ‘Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’

³⁹ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.

⁴⁰ Anyone who is not against us is for us.

⁴¹ ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

⁴² ‘But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck.

⁴³ And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵ And if your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷ And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell

⁴⁸ where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out.

⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰ Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’

Mark Chapter 8

And now once again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples to him and said to them,

² ‘I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat.

³ If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.’

⁴ His disciples replied, ‘Where could anyone get these people enough bread to eat in a deserted place?’

⁵ He asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’

⁶ Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd.

⁷ They had a few small fishes as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed too.

⁸ They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over.

⁹ Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away

¹⁰ and at once, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹ The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with him; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to put him to the test.

¹² And with a profound sigh he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? In truth I tell you, no sign shall be given to this generation.’

¹³ And, leaving them again, he re-embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ The disciples had forgotten to take any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵ Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; look out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’

¹⁶ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’

¹⁷ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are your minds closed?

¹⁸ Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember?

¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’

²⁰ ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’

²¹ Then he said to them, ‘Do you still not realise?’

²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man whom they begged him to touch.

²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then, putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’

²⁴ The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.’

²⁵ Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly.

²⁶ And Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’

²⁸ And they told him, ‘John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.’

²⁹ ‘But you,’ he asked them, ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’

³⁰ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;

³² and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.

³³ But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.’

³⁴ He called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

³⁵ Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

³⁶ What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?

³⁷ And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

³⁸ For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Mark Chapter 7

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round him,

² and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

³ For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, keep the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow;

⁴ and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them to keep, concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes.

⁵ So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’

⁶ He answered, ‘How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites in the passage of scripture: This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.

⁷ Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments.

⁸ You put aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions.’

⁹ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition!

¹⁰ For Moses said: Honour your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death.

¹¹ But you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Korban (that is, dedicated to God),”

¹² then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.

¹³ In this way you make God’s word ineffective for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’

¹⁴ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

¹⁵ Nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean; it is the things that come out of someone that make that person unclean.

¹⁶ Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’

¹⁷ When he had gone into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable.

¹⁸ He said to them, ‘Even you — don’t you understand? Can’t you see that nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean,

¹⁹ because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach and passes into the sewer?

²⁰ And he went on, ‘It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean.

²¹ For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder,

²² adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly.

²³ All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.’

²⁴ He left that place and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there; but he could not pass unrecognised.

²⁵ At once a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and came and fell at his feet.

²⁶ Now this woman was a gentile, by birth a Syro-Phoenician, and she begged him to drive the devil out of her daughter.

²⁷ And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs.’

²⁸ But she spoke up, ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied, ‘but little dogs under the table eat the scraps from the children.’

²⁹ And he said to her, ‘For saying this you may go home happy; the devil has gone out of your daughter.’

³⁰ So she went off home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.

³¹ Returning from the territory of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory.

³² And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him.

³³ He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle.

³⁴ Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’

³⁵ And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.

³⁶ And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it.

³⁷ Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, ‘Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.’

Mark Chapter 6

Leaving that district, he went to his home town, and his disciples accompanied him.

² With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him?

³ This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him.

⁴ And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is despised only in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’;

⁵ and he could work no miracle there, except that he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

⁶ He was amazed at their lack of faith. He made a tour round the villages, teaching.

⁷ Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits.

⁸ And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.

⁹ They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Don’t take a spare tunic.’

¹⁰ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district.

¹¹ And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust under your feet as evidence to them.’

¹² So they set off to proclaim repentance;

¹³ and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

¹⁴ King Herod had heard about him, since by now his name was well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’

¹⁵ Others said, ‘He is Elijah,’ others again, ‘He is a prophet, like the prophets we used to have.’

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this he said, ‘It is John whose head I cut off; he has risen from the dead.’

¹⁷ Now it was this same Herod who had sent to have John arrested, and had had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married.

¹⁸ For John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.’

¹⁹ As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him, but she was not able to do so,

²⁰ because Herod was in awe of John, knowing him to be a good and upright man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ An opportunity came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee.

²² When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me anything you like and I will give it you.’

²³ And he swore her an oath, ‘I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom.’

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist.’

²⁵ The girl at once rushed back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, immediately, on a dish.’

²⁶ The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her.

²⁷ At once the king sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John’s head.

²⁸ The man went off and beheaded him in the prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹ When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰ The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught.

³¹ And he said to them, ‘Come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that there was no time for them even to eat.

³² So they went off in the boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves.

³³ But people saw them going, and many recognised them; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them.

³⁴ So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

³⁵ By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late,

³⁶ so send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’

³⁷ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’

³⁸ He asked, ‘How many loaves have you? Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’

³⁹ Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass,

⁴⁰ and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and began handing them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all.

⁴² They all ate as much as they wanted.

⁴³ They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish.

⁴⁴ Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

⁴⁵ And at once he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side near Bethsaida, while he himself sent the crowd away.

⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them he went off into the hills to pray.

⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was far out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ He could see that they were hard pressed in their rowing, for the wind was against them; and about the fourth watch of the night he came towards them, walking on the sea. He was going to pass them by,

⁴⁹ but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and cried out;

⁵⁰ for they had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke to them and said, ‘Courage! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.’

⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them and the wind dropped. They were utterly and completely dumbfounded,

⁵² because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.

⁵³ Having made the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored there.

⁵⁴ When they disembarked people at once recognised him,

⁵⁵ and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶ And wherever he went, to village or town or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were saved.

Mark Chapter 5

They reached the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake,

² and when he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit at once came out from the tombs towards him.

³ The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain,

⁴ because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him.

⁵ All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones.

⁶ Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet

⁷ and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God’s name do not torture me!’

⁸ For Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’

⁹ Then he asked, ‘What is your name?’ He answered, ‘My name is Legion, for there are many of us.’

¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district.

¹¹ Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding,

¹² and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.’

¹³ So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned.

¹⁴ The men looking after them ran off and told their story in the city and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened.

¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there — the man who had had the legion in him — properly dressed and in his full senses, and they were afraid.

¹⁶ And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs.

¹⁷ Then they began to implore Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.

¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him.

¹⁹ Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’

²⁰ So the man went off and proceeded to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lake.

²² Then the president of the synagogue came up, named Jairus, and seeing him, fell at his feet

²³ and begged him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her that she may be saved and may live.’

²⁴ Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

²⁵ Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years;

²⁶ after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it; in fact, she was getting worse.

²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, and she came up through the crowd and touched his cloak from behind, thinking,

²⁸ ‘If I can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved.’

²⁹ And at once the source of the bleeding dried up, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.

³⁰ And at once aware of the power that had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’

³¹ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you; how can you ask, “Who touched me?” ‘

³² But he continued to look all round to see who had done it.

³³ Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth.

³⁴ ‘My daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free of your complaint.’

³⁵ While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the president of the synagogue to say, ‘Your daughter is dead; why put the Master to any further trouble?’

³⁶ But Jesus overheard what they said and he said to the president of the synagogue, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith.’

³⁷ And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

³⁸ So they came to the house of the president of the synagogue, and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly.

³⁹ He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’

⁴⁰ But they ridiculed him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay.

⁴¹ And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha kum!’ which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up.’

⁴² The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At once they were overcome with astonishment,

⁴³ and he gave them strict orders not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

Mark Chapter 4

Again he began to teach them by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the water and sat there. The whole crowd were at the lakeside on land.

² He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them,

³ ‘Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow.

⁴ Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵ Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and at once sprang up, because there was no depth of earth;

⁶ and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away.

⁷ Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop.

⁸ And some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and strong, and produced a good crop; the yield was thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’

⁹ And he said, ‘Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’

¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what theparables meant.

¹¹ He told them, ‘To you is granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables,

¹² so that they may look and look, but never perceive; listen and listen, but never understand; to avoid changing their ways and being healed.’

¹³ He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?

¹⁴ What the sower is sowing is the word.

¹⁵ Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it thanSatan at once comes and carries away the word that was sown in them.

¹⁶ Similarly, those who are sown on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy.

¹⁷ But they have no root deep down and do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, at once they fall away.

¹⁸ Then there are others who are sown in thorns. These have heard the word,

¹⁹ but the worries of the world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.

²⁰ And there are those who have been sown in rich soil; they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

²¹ He also said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under a tub or under the bed? Surely to be put on the lamp-stand?

²² For there is nothing hidden, but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light.

²³ Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’

²⁴ He also said to them, ‘Take notice of what you are hearing. The standard you use will be used for you — and you will receive more besides;

²⁵ anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he has.’

²⁶ He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the land.

²⁷ Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know.

²⁸ Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹ And when the crop is ready, at once he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

³⁰ He also said, ‘What can we say that the kingdom is like? What parable can we find for it?

³¹ It is like a mustard seed which, at the time of its sowing, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

³² Yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

³³ Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.

³⁴ He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were by themselves.

³⁵ With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’

³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him.

³⁷ Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped.

³⁸ But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep.

³⁹ They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are lost!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm.

⁴⁰ Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?’

⁴¹ They were overcome with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

Mark Chapter 3

¹ Another time he went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered.

² And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with.

³ He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Get up and stand in the middle!’

⁴ Then he said to them, ‘Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing.

⁵ Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

⁶ The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.

⁷ Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea,

⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and Transjordan and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him.

⁹ And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed.

¹⁰ For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him.

¹¹ And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’

¹² But he warned them strongly not to make him known.

¹³ He now went up onto the mountain and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him

¹⁴ and he appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message,

¹⁵ with power to drive out devils.

¹⁶ And so he appointed the Twelve, Simon to whom he gave the name Peter,

¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges or ‘Sons of Thunder’;

¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot

¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.

²⁰ He went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal.

²¹ When his relations heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’

²² The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘Beelzebul is in him,’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he drives devils out.’

²³ So he called them to him and spoke to them in parables,

²⁴ ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last.

²⁵ And if a household is divided against itself, that household can never last.

²⁶ Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot last either — it is the end of him.

²⁷ But no one can make his way into a strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he has first tied up the strong man. Only then can he plunder his house.

²⁸ ‘In truth I tell you, all human sins will be forgiven, and all the blasphemies ever uttered;

²⁹ but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin.’

³⁰ This was because they were saying, ‘There is an unclean spirit in him.’

³¹ Now his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.

³² A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’

³³ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’

³⁴ And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.

³⁵ Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’

Mark Chapter 2

When he returned to Capernaum, some time later word went round that he was in the house;

² and so many people collected that there was no room left, even in front of the door. He was preaching the word to them

³ when some people came bringing him a paralytic carried by four men,

⁴ but as they could not get the man to him through the crowd, they stripped the roof over the place where Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic lay.

⁵ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’

⁶ Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to themselves,

⁷ ‘How can this man talk like that? He is being blasphemous. Who but God can forgive sins?’

⁸ And at once, Jesus, inwardly aware that this is what they were thinking, said to them, ‘Why do you have these thoughts in your hearts?

⁹ Which of these is easier: to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven” or to say, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk”?

¹⁰ But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority to forgive sins on earth’ —

¹¹ he said to the paralytic-‘I order you: get up, pick up your stretcher, and go off home.’

¹² And the man got up, and at once picked up his stretcher and walked out in front of everyone, so that they were all astonished and praised God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’

¹³ He went out again to the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴ As he was walking along he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

¹⁵ When Jesus was at dinner in his house, a number of tax collectors and sinners were also sitting at table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of them among his followers.

¹⁶ When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’

¹⁷ When Jesus heard this he said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners.’

¹⁸ John’s disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, when some people came to him and said to him, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’

¹⁹ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast.

²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.

²² And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine into fresh skins!’

²³ It happened that one Sabbath day he was taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to make a path by plucking ears of corn.

²⁴ And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing something on the Sabbath day that is forbidden?’

²⁵ And he replied, ‘Have you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry-

²⁶ how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of the offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?’

²⁷ And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;

²⁸ so the Son of man is master even of the Sabbath.’

Mark Chapter 1

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² It is written in the prophet Isaiah: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you.

³ A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

⁴ John the Baptist was in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

⁵ All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins.

⁶ John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.

⁷ In the course of his preaching he said, ‘After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals.

⁸ I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’

⁹ It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John.

¹⁰ And at once, as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him.

¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’

¹² And at once the Spirit drove him into the desert

¹³ and he remained there for forty days, and was put to the test by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels looked after him.

¹⁴ After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,

¹⁵ ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’

¹⁶ As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net in the lake — for they were fishermen.

¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.’

¹⁸ And at once they left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹ Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.

²⁰ At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

²¹ They went as far as Capernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

²² And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.

²³ And at once in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted,

²⁴ ‘What do you want 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 it saying, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’

²⁶ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.

²⁷ The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, ‘Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’

²⁸ And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.

²⁹ And at once on leaving the synagogue, he went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew.

³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed and feverish, and at once they told him about her.

³¹ He went in to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to serve them.

³² That evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils.

³³ The whole town came crowding round the door,

³⁴ and he cured many who were sick with diseases of one kind or another; he also drove out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.

³⁵ In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.

³⁶ Simon and his companions set out in search of him,

³⁷ and when they found him they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’

³⁸ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can proclaim the message there too, because that is why I came.’

³⁹ And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out devils.

⁴⁰ A man suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, ‘If you are willing, you can cleanse me.’

⁴¹ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, ‘I am willing. Be cleansed.’

⁴² And at once the skin-disease left him and he was cleansed.

⁴³ And at once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him,

⁴⁴ ‘Mind you tell no one anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.’

⁴⁵ The man went away, but then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places. Even so, people from all around kept coming to him.