1 A beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God.

² As it hath been written in the prophets, `Lo, I send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee,' --

³ `A voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye his paths,' --

⁴ John came baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of reformation -- to remission of sins,

⁵ and there were going forth to him all the region of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and they were all baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁶ And John was clothed with camel's hair, and a girdle of skin around his loins, and eating locusts and honey of the field,

⁷ and he proclaimed, saying, `He doth come -- who is mightier than I -- after me, of whom I am not worthy -- having stooped down -- to loose the latchet of his sandals;

⁸ I indeed did baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'

⁹ And it came to pass in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John at the Jordan;

¹⁰ and immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens dividing, and the Spirit as a dove coming down upon him;

¹¹ and a voice came out of the heavens, `Thou art My Son -- the Beloved, in whom I did delight.'

¹² And immediately doth the Spirit put him forth to the wilderness,

¹³ and he was there in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the Adversary, and he was with the beasts, and the messengers were ministering to him.

¹⁴ And after the delivering up of John, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the reign of God,

¹⁵ and saying -- `Fulfilled hath been the time, and the reign of God hath come nigh, reform ye, and believe in the good news.'

¹⁶ And, walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew his brother, casting a drag into the sea, for they were fishers,

¹⁷ and Jesus said to them, `Come ye after me, and I shall make you to become fishers of men;'

¹⁸ and immediately, having left their nets, they followed him.

¹⁹ And having gone on thence a little, he saw James of Zebedee, and John his brother, and they were in the boat refitting the nets,

²⁰ and immediately he called them, and, having left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, they went away after him.

²¹ And they go on to Capernaum, and immediately, on the sabbaths, having gone into the synagogue, he was teaching,

²² and they were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as having authority, and not as the scribes.

²³ And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

²⁴ saying, `Away! what -- to us and to thee, Jesus the Nazarene? thou didst come to destroy us; I have known thee who thou art -- the Holy One of God.'

²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, `Be silenced, and come forth out of him,'

²⁶ and the unclean spirit having torn him, and having cried with a great voice, came forth out of him,

²⁷ and they were all amazed, so as to reason among themselves, saying, `What is this? what new teaching [is] this? that with authority also the unclean spirits he commandeth, and they obey him!'

²⁸ And the fame of him went forth immediately to all the region, round about, of Galilee.

²⁹ And immediately, having come forth out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John,

³⁰ and the mother-in-law of Simon was lying fevered, and immediately they tell him about her,

³¹ and having come near, he raised her up, having laid hold of her hand, and the fever left her immediately, and she was ministering to them.

³² And evening having come, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all who were ill, and who were demoniacs,

³³ and the whole city was gathered together near the door,

³⁴ and he healed many who were ill of manifold diseases, and many demons he cast forth, and was not suffering the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵ And very early, it being yet night, having risen, he went forth, and went away to a desert place, and was there praying;

³⁶ and Simon and those with him went in quest of him,

³⁷ and having found him, they say to him, -- `All do seek thee;'

³⁸ and he saith to them, `We may go to the next towns, that there also I may preach, for for this I came forth.'

³⁹ And he was preaching in their synagogues, in all Galilee, and is casting out the demons,

⁴⁰ and there doth come to him a leper, calling on him, and kneeling to him, and saying to him -- `If thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me.'

⁴¹ And Jesus having been moved with compassion, having stretched forth the hand, touched him, and saith to him, `I will; be thou cleansed;'

⁴² and he having spoken, immediately the leprosy went away from him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³ And having sternly charged him, immediately he put him forth,

⁴⁴ and saith to him, `See thou mayest say nothing to any one, but go away, thyself shew to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing the things Moses directed, for a testimony to them.'

⁴⁵ And he, having gone forth, began to proclaim much, and to spread abroad the thing, so that no more he was able openly to enter into the city, but he was without in desert places, and they were coming unto him from every quarter.

2 And again he entered into Capernaum, after [some] days, and it was heard that he is in the house,

² and immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door, and he was speaking to them the word.

³ And they come unto him, bringing a paralytic, borne by four,

⁴ and not being able to come near to him because of the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was, and, having broken [it] up, they let down the couch on which the paralytic was lying,

⁵ and Jesus having seen their faith, saith to the paralytic, `Child, thy sins have been forgiven thee.'

⁶ And there were certain of the scribes there sitting, and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷ `Why doth this one thus speak evil words? who is able to forgive sins except one -- God?'

⁸ And immediately Jesus, having known in his spirit that they thus reason in themselves, said to them, `Why these things reason ye in your hearts?

⁹ which is easier, to say to the paralytic, The sins have been forgiven to thee? or to say, Rise, and take up thy couch, and walk?

¹⁰ `And, that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority on the earth to forgive sins -- (he saith to the paralytic) --

¹¹ I say to thee, Rise, and take up thy couch, and go away to thy house;'

¹² and he rose immediately, and having taken up the couch, he went forth before all, so that all were astonished, and do glorify God, saying -- `Never thus did we see.'

¹³ And he went forth again by the sea, and all the multitude was coming unto him, and he was teaching them,

¹⁴ and passing by, he saw Levi of Alpheus sitting at the tax-office, and saith to him, `Be following me,' and he, having risen, did follow him.

¹⁵ And it came to pass, in his reclining (at meat) in his house, that many tax-gatherers and sinners were reclining (at meat) with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

¹⁶ And the scribes and the Pharisees, having seen him eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, said to his disciples, `Why -- that with the tax-gatherers and sinners he doth eat and drink?'

¹⁷ And Jesus, having heard, saith to them, `They who are strong have no need of a physician, but they who are ill; I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to reformation.'

¹⁸ And the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting, and they come and say to him, `Wherefore do the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fast, and thy disciples do not fast?'

¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, `Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast? so long time as they have the bridegroom with them they are not able to fast;

²⁰ but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast -- in those days.

²¹ `And no one a patch of undressed cloth doth sew on an old garment, and if not -- the new filling it up doth take from the old and the rent doth become worse;

²² and no one doth put new wine into old skins, and if not -- the new wine doth burst the skins, and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but new wine into new skins is to be put.'

²³ And it came to pass -- he is going along on the sabbaths through the corn-fields -- and his disciples began to make a way, plucking the ears,

²⁴ and the Pharisees said to him, `Lo, why do they on the sabbaths that which is not lawful?'

²⁵ And he said to them, `Did ye never read what David did, when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him?

²⁶ how he went into the house of God, (at `Abiathar the chief priest,') and the loaves of the presentation did eat, which it is not lawful to eat, except to the priests, and he gave also to those who were with him?'

²⁷ And he said to them, `The sabbath for man was made, not man for the sabbath,

²⁸ so that the son of man is lord also of the sabbath.'

3 And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was there a man having the hand withered,

² and they were watching him, whether on the sabbaths he will heal him, that they might accuse him.

³ And he saith to the man having the hand withered, `Rise up in the midst.'

⁴ And he saith to them, `Is it lawful on the sabbaths to do good, or to do evil? life to save, or to kill?' but they were silent.

⁵ And having looked round upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their heart, he saith to the man, `Stretch forth thy hand;' and he stretched forth, and his hand was restored whole as the other;

⁶ and the Pharisees having gone forth, immediately, with the Herodians, were taking counsel against him how they might destroy him.

⁷ And Jesus withdrew with his disciples unto the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea,

⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon -- a great multitude -- having heard how great things he was doing, came unto him.

⁹ And he said to his disciples that a little boat may wait on him, because of the multitude, that they may not press upon him,

¹⁰ for he did heal many, so that they threw themselves on him, in order to touch him -- as many as had plagues;

¹¹ and the unclean spirits, when they were seeing him, were falling down before him, and were crying, saying -- `Thou art the Son of God;'

¹² and many times he was charging them that they might not make him manifest.

¹³ And he goeth up to the mountain, and doth call near whom he willed, and they went away to him;

¹⁴ and he appointed twelve, that they may be with him, and that he may send them forth to preach,

¹⁵ and to have power to heal the sicknesses, and to cast out the demons.

¹⁶ And he put on Simon the name Peter;

¹⁷ and James of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he put on them names -- Boanerges, that is, `Sons of thunder;'

¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananite,

¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who did also deliver him up; and they come into a house.

²⁰ And come together again doth a multitude, so that they are not able even to eat bread;

²¹ and his friends having heard, went forth to lay hold on him, for they said that he was beside himself,

²² and the scribes who [are] from Jerusalem having come down, said -- `He hath Beelzeboul,' and -- `By the ruler of the demons he doth cast out the demons.'

²³ And, having called them near, in similes he said to them, `How is the Adversary able to cast out the Adversary?

²⁴ and if a kingdom against itself be divided, that kingdom cannot be made to stand;

²⁵ and if a house against itself be divided, that house cannot be made to stand;

²⁶ and if the Adversary did rise against himself, and hath been divided, he cannot be made to stand, but hath an end.

²⁷ `No one is able the vessels of the strong man -- having entered into his house -- to spoil, if first he may not bind the strong man, and then his house he will spoil.

²⁸ `Verily I say to you, that all the sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and evil speakings with which they might speak evil,

²⁹ but whoever may speak evil in regard to the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness -- to the age, but is in danger of age-during judgment;'

³⁰ because they said, `He hath an unclean spirit.'

³¹ Then come do his brethren and mother, and standing without, they sent unto him, calling him,

³² and a multitude was sitting about him, and they said to him, `Lo, thy mother and thy brethren without do seek thee.'

³³ And he answered them, saying, `Who is my mother, or my brethren?'

³⁴ And having looked round in a circle to those sitting about him, he saith, `Lo, my mother and my brethren!

³⁵ for whoever may do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.'