Mark 1:1-45
1 * Here begins the Gospel of God’s son Jesus Christ.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah “Lo, I am sending before your face my messenger who shall prepare your road.
3 The voice of one calling out in the wilderness ‘Get ready the Lord’s road, make his thoroughfare straight!’”
4 there came John, who baptized in the wilderness, proclaiming baptism for repentance to the pardoning of sins;
5 and all Judea, and all the Jerusalemites, were going out to him and having themselves baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John wore camel-hair and a leather belt around his waist, and fed on grasshoppers and wild honey;
7 and he proclaimed “He who is stronger than I is coming behind me, he whose shoestring I am not fit to stoop down and untie.
8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with Holy Spirit.”
9 And in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
10 And at once, as he came up out of the water, he saw the sky cleave apart and the Spirit come down to him like a dove;
11 and there was a voice out of the sky, “You are my dear son, in you I take pleasure.”
12 And at once the Spirit drove him out to the wilderness;
13 and he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on his needs.
14 And after John was committed to prison Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God
15 and saying “The time has fully come, and the Reign of God is almost here; repent and believe in the gospel.”
16 And in passing along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew fishing in the sea with casting-nets; for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them “Come here after me, and I will cause you to become fishers of men”;
18 and at once they left their nets and followed him.
19 And he went on a little and saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, also in their boat putting their nets to rights;
20 and at once he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went after him.
21 And they go to Capernaum; and at once on the sabbath he had gone into the synagogue and was teaching,
22 and they were astonished at his teaching; for he taught them as having authority, and not as did the scribes.
23 And at once there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he screamed out
24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus, you Nazarene? have you come to destroy us? I know you, I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying “Silence, and come out of him.”
26 And, after convulsing him and making a loud outcry, the unclean spirit came out of him.
27 And they were amazed one and all, so that they debated it, saying “What is this? a new teaching with authority! and he gives orders to the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
28 And the report about him went out at once everywhere in the whole region of Galilee.
29 * And at once they came out of the synagogue and came to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John;
30 and Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and at once they told him about her,
31 and he went to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on their needs.
32 And when evening was come, and the sun was set, they brought to him all who were ill and all the demoniacs;
33 and the whole city was gathered at the door;
34 and he cured many who were ill with various diseases, and expelled many demons, and would not let the demons speak, because they knew him.
35 And in the morning, while it was still deep in the night, he rose and went out, and went away to a lonely place and prayed there.
36 And Simon and those who were with him followed him up
37 and found him, and said to him “Everybody is looking for you.”
38 * And he said to them “Let us go elsewhere, to the adjoining towns, that I may make my proclamation there too; for it was for this that I came out.”
39 And he came to all Galilee making the proclamation in their synagogues and expelling the demons.
40 And there came to him a leper, appealing to him and kneeling down and saying to him “If you will, you can cleanse me.”
41 And he, moved with pity, reached out his hand and touched him and said to him “I will; be cleansed”;
42 and at once the leprosy went away from him and he was cleansed.
43 And at once he spoke sternly to him and put him out,
44 and said to him “See that you do not say anything to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and make the offerings that Moses directed on account of your cleansing, for an attestation to them;”
45 But he went out and began to proclaim it a great deal, and to spread the word so that Jesus could no longer come openly into a city; but he was outside in lonely places, and they came to him from every quarter.
