Read the Gospels in 40 Days
The Preaching of John the Baptist
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, (A)the Son of God.
2 (B)As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“(C)Behold, I send My messenger [a]ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way;
3 (D)The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the [b]Lord,
Make His paths straight.’”
4 [c]John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness [d](E)preaching a baptism of repentance for the (F)forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the region of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore (G)a leather belt around his waist and was eating locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was [e]preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism of Jesus
9 [f](H)Now it happened that in those days Jesus (I)came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens [g]opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “(J)You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
12 (K)And immediately the Spirit *drove Him to go out into the wilderness. 13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by (L)Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
Jesus Preaches in Galilee
14 (M)Now after John had been delivered up into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, [h](N)preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “(O)The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [i]is at hand; (P)repent and [j]believe in the gospel.”
16 (Q)As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 And going on a little farther, He saw [k]James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away [l]to follow Him.
21 (R)And they *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath (S)He entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 (T)And they were astonished at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “(U)What [m]do we have to do with You, Jesus the (V)Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—(W)the Holy One of God!” 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. 27 And they were all (X)amazed, so that they were arguing among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
Simon’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others Healed
29 (Y)And immediately after they came (Z)out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to [n]Jesus about her. 31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she [o]began waiting on them.
32 (AA)Now when evening came, (AB)after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were (AC)demon-possessed. 33 And the whole (AD)city had gathered at the door. 34 And He (AE)healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
35 (AF)And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out of the house, and went away to a desolate place, and (AG)was praying there. 36 And Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37 and they found Him, and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38 And He *said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may [p]preach there also; for that is what I came out for.” 39 (AH)And He went, [q]preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and casting out the demons.
40 (AI)And a leper *came to [r]Jesus, pleading with Him and (AJ)falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He *said to him, “(AK)See that you say nothing to anyone; but (AL)go, show yourself to the priest and (AM)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to (AN)proclaim it freely and to (AO)spread the news around, to such an extent that [s]Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but [t]stayed out in desolate areas; and (AP)they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And (AQ)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 (AR)And they *came, bringing to Him a (AS)paralytic, carried by four men. 4 And being unable to bring him to [u]Jesus because of the crowd, they (AT)removed the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the (AU)paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “Child, (AV)your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; (AW)who can forgive sins [v]but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, aware [w]in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the (AX)paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home.” 12 And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and (AY)were glorifying God, saying, “(AZ)We have never seen anything like this.”
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and (BA)the entire crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
Levi and Sinners Called
14 (BB)And as He passed by, He saw [x](BC)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “(BD)Follow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.
15 And it *[y]happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and [z]sinners [aa]were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 And when (BE)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “(BF)He is eating and drinking with tax collectors and [ab]sinners!” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “(BG)Those who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18 (BH)And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can [ac]the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the (BI)days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews [ad]a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise [ae]that patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
Lord of the Sabbath
23 (BJ)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while (BK)picking the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, (BL)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God around the time of (BM)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the [af]consecrated bread, which (BN)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And Jesus was saying to them, “(BO)The Sabbath [ag]was made [ah]for man, and (BP)not man [ai]for the Sabbath. 28 Consequently the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath
3 (BQ)And He (BR)entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 (BS)And they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, (BT)so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He *said to the man with the withered hand, “[aj]Get up and come forward!” 4 And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And after (BU)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel together with the (BV)Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
7 (BW)And Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and (BX)a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from (BY)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of (BZ)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9 (CA)And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had (CB)healed many, with the result that all those who had (CC)afflictions pressed around Him in order to (CD)touch Him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits were seeing Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, saying, “You are (CE)the Son of God!” 12 And He (CF)earnestly warned them not to [ak]tell who He was.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 And He *went up on (CG)the mountain and *(CH)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve [al](whom He also named apostles) to be with Him and to send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16 And He appointed the twelve: (CI)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the [am]Zealot; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
20 And He *came [an](CJ)home, and the (CK)crowd *gathered again, (CL)so that they could not even eat [ao]a meal. 21 And when (CM)His own [ap]people heard this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “(CN)He has lost His senses.” 22 And the scribes who came down (CO)from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by [aq](CP)Beelzebul,” and “(CQ)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 23 (CR)And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in (CS)parables, “How can (CT)Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if (CU)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but [ar]he is finished! 27 (CV)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
28 “(CW)Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but (CX)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 (CY)Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, calling Him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33 And answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “(CZ)Behold My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever (DA)does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
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