Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹² Now when he heard that ^(A)John had been arrested, ^(B)he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³ And leaving ^(C)Nazareth he went and lived in ^(D)Capernaum by ^(E)the sea, in the territory of ^(F)Zebulun and Naphtali, ^14 (G)so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

^17 (K)From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^(L)“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”^[a]

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

^16 (A)And he came to ^(B)Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And ^(C)as was his custom, ^(D)he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up ^(E)to read. ¹⁷ And ^(F)the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and ^(N)sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were ^(O)fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today ^(P)this Scripture ^(Q)has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at ^(R)the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ^(S)“Is not this ^(T)Joseph's son?” ²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ^(U)‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did ^(V)at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(W)no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when ^(X)the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them ^(Y)but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And ^(Z)there were many lepers^[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, ^(AA)but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹ And they rose up and ^(AB)drove 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. ³⁰ But ^(AC)passing through their midst, he went away.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Demon

^31 (AD)And he ^(AE)went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And ^(AF)he was teaching them ^(AG)on the Sabbath, ³² and ^(AH)they were astonished at his teaching, ^(AI)for his word possessed authority. ³³ And ^(AJ)in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Ha!^{[b] (AK)}What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? ^(AL)I know who you are—^(AM)the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ But Jesus ^(AN)rebuked 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. ³⁶ And ^(AO)they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? ^(AP)For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷ And ^(AQ)reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus Heals Many

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

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and ^(AU)he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ^41 (AV)And demons also came out of many, ^(AW)crying, “You are ^(AX)the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and ^(AY)would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was ^(AZ)the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Synagogues

^42 (BA)And when it was day, he departed and went ^(BB)into a desolate place. And ^(BC)the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³ but he said to them, ^(BD)“I must ^(BE)preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching ^(BF)in the synagogues of Judea.^[c]

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by ^(BG)the lake of Gennesaret, ^2 (BH)and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were ^(BI)washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And ^(BJ)he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ^(BK)“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, ^(BL)we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(BM)they enclosed a large number of fish, and ^(BN)their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. ^(BO)And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ^(BP)“Depart from me, for ^(BQ)I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and 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.”^[d]

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

^18 (A)While walking by ^(B)the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^(C)fishers of men.”^{[a] 20} Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.