Bible in 90 Days

The birth of Jesus

2 At that time a decree was issued by Augustus Caesar: a census was to be taken of the whole world. ² (This was the first census, before the one when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ So everyone set off to be registered, each to their own town. ⁴ Joseph too, who belonged to the house and family of David, went from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judaea, David’s city, ⁵ to be registered with his fiancée Mary, who was pregnant.

⁶ So that’s where they were when the time came for her to have her baby; ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him up and put him to rest in a feeding-trough, because there was no room for them in the normal living quarters.

⁸ There were shepherds in that region, out in the open, keeping a night watch around their flock. ⁹ An angel of the Lord stood in front of them. The glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” the angel said to them. “Look: I’ve got good news for you, news which will make everybody very happy. ¹¹ Today a savior has been born for you—the Messiah, the Lord!—in David’s town. ¹² This will be the sign for you: you’ll find the baby wrapped up, and lying in a feeding-trough.”

¹³ Suddenly, with the angel, there was a crowd of the heavenly armies. They were praising God, saying,

¹⁵ So when the angels had gone away again into heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Well then; let’s go to Bethlehem and see what it’s all about, all this that the Lord has told us.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off, and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the feeding-trough. ¹⁷ When they saw it, they told them what had been said to them about this child. ¹⁸ And all the people who heard it were amazed at the things the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured all these things and mused over them in her heart.

²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them.

Simeon and Anna

²¹ After eight days, the time came to circumcise the baby. He was called by the name Jesus, which the angel had given him before he had been conceived in the womb.

²² When the time came for them to be purified according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him before the Lord. ²³ That’s what the law of the Lord says: “Every firstborn male shall be called holy to the Lord.” ²⁴ They also came to offer sacrifice, according to what it says in the law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout, waiting for God to comfort Israel, and the holy spirit was upon him. ²⁶ He had been told by the holy spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Led by the spirit, he came into the Temple. As Jesus’ parents brought him in, to do for him what the law’s regulations required, ²⁸ he took the baby in his arms and blessed God with these words:

³³ His father and mother were astonished at the things that were said about him. ³⁴ Simeon blessed them.

“Listen,” he said to Mary his mother, “this child has been placed here to make many in Israel fall and rise again, and as a sign that will be spoken against ³⁵ (yes, a sword will go through your own soul as well), so that the thoughts of many hearts may be disclosed.”

³⁶ There was also a prophetess called Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having been widowed after a seven-year marriage, ³⁷ and was now eighty-four. She never left the Temple, but worshiped with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ She came up at that moment and gave thanks to God, and spoke about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹ So when they had finished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, and was full of wisdom, and God’s grace was upon him.

The boy Jesus

⁴¹ Jesus’ parents used to go to Jerusalem every year for the Passover festival. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the feast days were over, they began the journey back, but the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know; ⁴⁴ they thought he was in the traveling party. They went a day’s journey before looking for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵ When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ And so it happened that after three days they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was astonished at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸ When they saw him they were quite overwhelmed.

“Child,” said his mother, “why did you do this to us? Look—your father and I have been in a terrible state looking for you!”

⁴⁹ “Why were you looking for me?” he replied. “Didn’t you know that I would have to be involved with my father’s work?”

⁵⁰ They didn’t understand what he had said to them. ⁵¹ He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and lived under their authority. And his mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵² So Jesus became wiser and taller, gaining favor both with God and with the people.

The preaching of John the Baptist

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee; his brother Philip was tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene. ² Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests.

At that time, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³ He went through all the region of the Jordan, announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ This is what is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷ “You brood of vipers,” John used to say to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him. “Who told you to escape from the coming anger? ⁸ You’d better prove your repentance by bearing the proper fruit! Don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; let me tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹ The axe is already standing by the roots of the tree—so every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John the Baptist confronts the crowds

¹⁰ “What shall we do?” asked the crowds.

¹¹ “Anyone who has two cloaks,” replied John, “should give one to someone who hasn’t got one. The same applies to anyone who has plenty of food.”

¹² Some toll-collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they said, “what should we do?”

¹³ “Don’t collect more than what is laid down,” he replied.

¹⁴ Some soldiers, too, asked John, “What about us? What should we do?”

“No extortion,” replied John, “and no blackmail. Be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ The people were very excited, and everyone was questioning in their hearts whether John might not be the Messiah. ¹⁶ To all of them John responded: “I am baptizing you with water. But someone is coming who is stronger than I am. I don’t deserve to untie his sandal-strap. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ He will have his winnowing-fork to hand, ready to sort out the mess on his threshing floor and gather the corn into his barn. Any rubbish he will burn with a fire that will never go out.”

¹⁸ John urged his news on the people with many other words. ¹⁹ But Herod the Tetrarch—whom John had accused in the matter of his brother’s wife Herodias, and for all the evil things which Herod had done— ²⁰ added this to his list of crimes: he shut John up in prison.

Jesus’ baptism and genealogy

²¹ So it happened that, as all the people were being baptized, Jesus too was baptized, and was praying. The heaven was opened, ²² and the holy spirit descended in a bodily form, like a dove, upon him. There came a voice from heaven: “You are my son, my dear son! I’m delighted with you.”

²³ Jesus was about thirty years old at the start of his work. He was, as people thought, the son of Joseph, from whom his ancestry proceeds back in the following line: Heli, ²⁴ Matthat, Levi, Melchi, Jannai, Joseph, ²⁵ Mattathias, Amos, Nahum, Esli, Naggai, ²⁶ Maath, Mattathias, Semein, Josech, Joda, ²⁷ Johanan, Rhesa, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neri, ²⁸ Melchi, Addi, Kosam, Elmadam, Er, ²⁹ Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi, ³⁰ Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonam, Eliakim, ³¹ Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, ³² Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Sala, Nahshon, ³³ Amminadab, Admin, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, ³⁴ Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, ³⁵ Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, Shela, ³⁶ Kainan, Arphachsad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, ³⁷ Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahalaleel, Kainan, ³⁸ Enosh, Seth, Adam, and God.

Temptation in the wilderness

4 Jesus returned from the Jordan, filled with the spirit. The spirit took him off into the wilderness ² for forty days, to be tested by the devil. He ate nothing during that time, and at the end of it he was hungry.

³ “If you are God’s son,” said the devil, “tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

⁴ “It is written,” replied Jesus, “ ‘It isn’t only bread that keeps you alive.’ ”

⁵ The devil then took him up and showed him, in an instant, all the kingdoms of the world.

⁶ “I will give you authority over all of this,” said the devil, “and all the prestige that goes with it. It’s been given to me, you see, and I give it to anyone I like. ⁷ So it can all be yours . . . if you will just worship me.”

⁸ “It is written,” replied Jesus, “ ‘The Lord your God is the one you must worship; he is the only one you must serve.’ ”

⁹ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and stood him on a pinnacle of the Temple.

“If you are God’s son,” he said, “throw yourself down from here; ¹⁰ it’s written, after all, that ‘He will give his angels a command about you, to look after you’; ¹¹ and ‘They will carry you in their hands, so that you won’t hit your foot against a stone.’ ”

¹² “It has been said,” replied Jesus, “ ‘You mustn’t put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

¹³ When the devil had finished each temptation, he left him until another opportunity.

Opposition to Jesus in Nazareth

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit. His reputation spread throughout the whole district. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues to universal acclaim.

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the sabbath, as was his regular practice, he went into the synagogue and stood up to read. ¹⁷ They gave him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.

²¹ “Today,” he began, “this scripture is fulfilled in your own hearing.”

²² Everyone remarked at him; they were astonished at the words coming out of his mouth—words of sheer grace.

“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they said.

²³ “I know what you’re going to say,” Jesus said. “You’re going to tell me the old riddle: ‘Heal yourself, doctor!’ ‘We heard of great happenings in Capernaum; do things like that here, in your own country!’

²⁴ “Let me tell you the truth,” he went on. “Prophets never get accepted in their own country. ²⁵ This is the solemn truth: there were plenty of widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a great famine over all the land. ²⁶ Elijah was sent to none of them, only to a widow in the Sidonian town of Zarephath.

²⁷ “And there were plenty of people with virulent skin diseases in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was healed—only Naaman, the Syrian.”

²⁸ When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue flew into a rage. ²⁹ They got up and threw him out of town. They took him to the top of the hill on which their town was built, meaning to fling him off. ³⁰ But he slipped through the middle of them and went away.

Jesus’ authoritative healings

³¹ Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He used to teach them every sabbath. ³² They were astonished at his teaching, because his message was powerful and authoritative.

³³ There was a man in the synagogue who had the spirit of an unclean demon.

³⁴ “Hey, you!” he yelled out at the top of his voice. “What’s going on with you and me, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—you’re God’s Holy One!”

³⁵ “Shut up!” Jesus rebuked him. “Come out of him!”

The demon threw the man down right there in front of them, and came out without harming him. ³⁶ Fear came over them all. “What’s all this?” they started to say to one another. “He’s got power! He’s got authority! He tells the unclean spirits what to do, and they come out!” ³⁷ Word about him went out to the whole surrounding region.

³⁸ He left the synagogue and went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and they asked him about her. ³⁹ He stood in front of her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. And straight away she got up and waited on them.

⁴⁰ When the sun went down, everyone who had sick people—all kinds of sicknesses—brought them to him. He laid his hands on each one in turn, and healed them. ⁴¹ Demons came out of many people, shouting out, “You are the son of God!” He sternly forbade them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴² When day dawned he left the town and went off to a deserted place. The crowds hunted for him, and when they caught up with him they begged him not to leave them.

⁴³ “I must tell the good news of God’s kingdom to the other towns,” he said. “That’s what I was sent for.” ⁴⁴ And he was announcing the message to the synagogues of Judaea.

The miraculous catch of fish

5 One day, as the crowds were pressing close to him to hear the word of God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. ² He saw two boats moored by the land; the fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats—it was Simon’s—and asked him to put out a little way from the land. Then he sat down in the boat and began to teach the crowd.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deeper part, and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵ “Master,” replied Simon, “we were working hard all night and caught nothing at all. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

⁶ When they did so, they caught such a huge number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. So they came, and filled both the boats, and they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees.

“Leave me alone, Lord!” he said. “I’m a sinner!” ⁹ He and all his companions were gripped with amazement at the catch of fish they had taken. ¹⁰ This included James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus to Simon. “From now on you’ll be catching people.”

¹¹ They brought the boats in to land. Then they abandoned everything and followed him.

The healing of the man with a virulent skin disease

¹² It so happened that, as Jesus was in one particular town, there was a man whose skin was covered all over with a virulent disease. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face.

“Lord,” he begged, “if you want, you can make me clean.”

¹³ Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.

“I do want to,” he said. “Be clean.”

And the skin disease disappeared immediately.

¹⁴ Jesus instructed the man not to tell anyone. “Go and show yourself to the priest,” he said, “and make the offering commanded by Moses in connection with your healing, as evidence for them.”

¹⁵ The news about Jesus, though, spread all round, and large crowds came to hear and to be healed from their diseases. ¹⁶ He used to slip away to remote places and pray.

The healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof

¹⁷ One day, as Jesus was teaching, there were Pharisees and legal experts sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee, and from Judaea and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with Jesus, enabling him to heal. ¹⁸ Just then some men appeared, carrying a paralyzed man on a mattress; they were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ The crowd made it impossible for them to get through, so they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles, mattress and all, so that he landed right in the middle, in front of Jesus.

²⁰ Jesus saw what trust they had.

“My friend,” he said, “your sins are forgiven.”

²¹ The legal experts and Pharisees began to argue. “Who does he think he is?” they said. “He’s blaspheming! Nobody can forgive sins—only God can do that!”

²² Jesus knew their line of thought.

“Why are you complaining in your hearts?” he replied. ²³ “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But if you want to be convinced that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” (here he turned to the paralyzed man) “—I say to you, get up, pick up your mattress, and go home.”

²⁵ At once he got up in front of them all, picked up what he’d been lying on, and went off home, praising God.

²⁶ A sense of awe came over everyone. They praised God, and were filled with fear. “We’ve seen extraordinary things today,” they said.

Questions about table-company and fasting

²⁷ After this Jesus went out and saw a tax-collector called Levi, sitting at the tax-office. “Follow me,” he said. ²⁸ And he left everything, got up, and followed him.

²⁹ Levi made a great feast for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax-collectors and others were there reclining at table. ³⁰ The Pharisees and the legal experts began to grumble to Jesus’ disciples.

“Why do you lot eat and drink,” they asked, “with tax-collectors and sinners?”

³¹ “Healthy people don’t need a doctor,” replied Jesus. “It’s sick people who do! ³² I haven’t come to call the righteous; I’m calling sinners to repentance.”

³³ “John’s disciples often fast, and say prayers,” they said to him, “and so do the Pharisees’ followers—but your disciples eat and drink.”

³⁴ “Can you make the wedding guests fast,” replied Jesus, “while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. That’s when they will fast.”

³⁶ He added this parable. “Nobody tears a piece of cloth from a new coat to make a patch on an old one. If they do, they tear the new, and the patch from it won’t fit the old one anyway. ³⁷ And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will burst the skins: it will go to waste, and the skins will be ruined too. ³⁸ You have to put new wine in new skins. ³⁹ And nobody who drinks old wine wants new. ‘I prefer the old,’ they say.”

Teachings on the sabbath

6 One sabbath, Jesus was walking through some cornfields. His disciples were plucking and eating ears of grain, rubbing them with their hands.

² “Why,” asked some Pharisees, “are you doing something that isn’t permitted on the sabbath?”

³ “Haven’t you read what David did?” replied Jesus. “When he and his men were hungry, ⁴ he went into God’s house and took the ‘bread of the presence,’ which no one but the priests was allowed to eat. He ate some, and gave it to his companions.

⁵ “The son of man,” he declared, “is Lord of the sabbath.”

⁶ On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ The scribes and Pharisees were watching him, to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they could find an accusation against him.

⁸ He knew what they were thinking.

“Get up,” he said to the man with the withered hand, “and come out here in the middle.” He got up and came out.

⁹ “Let me ask you something,” Jesus said to them. “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked round at all of them.

“Stretch out your hand,” he said to the man.

He did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they were filled with rage, and discussed with each other what they might do to Jesus.

The Beatitudes

¹² It happened around that time that Jesus went up into the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When day came, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them, calling them “apostles”: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he called Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called “the hothead,” ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who turned traitor.

¹⁷ He went down with them, and took up a position on a level plain where there was a large crowd of his followers, with a huge company of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They came to hear him, and to be cured from their diseases. Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were healed, ¹⁹ and the whole crowd tried to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing everybody.

²⁰ He lifted up his eyes and looked at his disciples, and said:

Loving your enemies

²⁷ “But this is my word,” Jesus continued, “for those of you who are listening: love your enemies! Do good to people who hate you! ²⁸ Bless people who curse you! Pray for people who treat you badly!

²⁹ “If someone hits you on the cheek—offer him the other one! If someone takes away your coat—don’t stop him taking your shirt! ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask for things back when people have taken them.

³¹ “Whatever you want people to do to you, do that to them. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Think about it: even sinners love people who love them. ³³ Or again, if you do good only to people who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Sinners do that too. ³⁴ If you lend only to people you expect to get things back from, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get paid back. ³⁵ No: love your enemies, do good and lend without expecting any return. Your reward will be great! You will be children of the Highest! He is generous, you see, to the stingy and wicked. ³⁶ You must be merciful, just as your father is merciful.

³⁷ “Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you’ll be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you: a good helping, squashed down, shaken in, and overflowing—that’s what will land in your lap. Yes: the ration you give to others is the ration you’ll get back for yourself.”

Judging others and true obedience

³⁹ Jesus told them this riddle. “What do you get when one blind man guides another? Both of them falling in a ditch! ⁴⁰ Students can’t do better than the teacher; when the course is done, they’ll all be just like the teacher.

⁴¹ “Why look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye, when you haven’t noticed the plank in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Dear brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t see the plank in your own? You’re a fraud! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

⁴³ “You see, no good tree bears bad fruit; nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ Every tree is known by its fruit. You don’t pick figs from thorns; nor do you get grapes from a briar-bush. ⁴⁵ The good person brings good things out of the good treasure of the heart; the evil person brings evil things out of evil. What comes out of the mouth is what’s overflowing in the heart.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ I’ll show you what people are like when they come to me, and hear my words, and do them. ⁴⁸ They are like a wise man building a house: he dug, he went down deep, and he laid a foundation on rock. When a flood came, the river burst its banks all over the house, but it couldn’t shake it because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But when people hear but don’t obey—that’s like a man who built a house on the ground, without a foundation. When the river burst over it, it fell down at once. The ruin of that house was devastating.”

The healing of the centurion’s servant

7 When Jesus had finished saying all these words in the hearing of the people, he went into Capernaum.

² There was a centurion who had a slave who was particularly precious to him. This slave was ill, at the point of death. ³ The centurion heard about Jesus, and sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and rescue his slave. ⁴ They approached Jesus and begged him eagerly.

“He deserves a favor like this from you,” they said. ⁵ “He loves our people, and he himself built us our synagogue.”

⁶ Jesus went with them.

When he was not far off from the house, the centurion sent friends to him with a further message.

“Master,” he said, “don’t trouble yourself. I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷ That’s why I didn’t think myself worthy to come to you in person. But—just say the word, and my slave will be healed. ⁸ You see, I’m used to living under authority, and I have soldiers reporting to me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another one, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹ When Jesus heard this he was astonished.

“Let me tell you,” he said, turning to the crowd that was following him, “I haven’t found faith of this kind, even in Israel.”

¹⁰ The people who had been sent to him went back to the house. There they found the slave in good health.

The raising of the widow’s son

¹¹ Not long afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with him, and so did a large crowd. ¹² As he got near to the gate of the city, a young man was being carried out dead. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. There was a substantial crowd of the townspeople with her.

¹³ When the master saw her, he was very sorry for her. “Don’t cry,” he said to her. ¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the bier, and the people carrying it stood still.

“Young fellow,” he said, “I’m telling you—get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Terror came over all of them. They praised God.

“A great prophet has risen among us!” they said. “God has visited his people!”

¹⁷ This report went out about him in the whole of Judaea and the surrounding countryside.

Jesus and John the Baptist

¹⁸ The disciples of John the Baptist told him about all these things. John called two of these followers ¹⁹ and sent them to the master with this message: “Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰ The men arrived where Jesus was. “John the Baptist,” they said, “has sent us to you to say, ‘Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?’ ”

²¹ Then and there Jesus healed several people of diseases, plagues and possession by unclean spirits; and he restored the sight of several blind people. ²² Then he answered them: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, people with virulent skin diseases are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor hear the gospel. ²³ And a blessing on the person who isn’t shocked by me!”

²⁴ So off went John’s messengers.

Jesus then began to talk to the crowds about John. “Why did you go out into the desert?” he asked. “What were you looking for? A reed swaying in the breeze? ²⁵ Well then, what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in silks and satins? See here, if you want to find people wearing fine clothes and living in luxury, you’d better look in royal palaces. ²⁶ So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one of whom the Bible says, ‘Look: I send my messenger before my face; he will get my path ready ahead of me.’

²⁸ “Let me tell you this,” he went on. “Nobody greater than John has ever been born of women. But the one who is least in God’s kingdom is greater than he is.”

²⁹ When all the people, and the tax-collectors, heard that, they praised God for his faithfulness; they had been baptized with John’s baptism. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the lawyers, who had not been baptized by John, rejected God’s plan for them.

³¹ “What picture can I use,” Jesus continued, “for the people of this generation? What are they like? ³² They’re like children sitting in the square and calling this old riddle to each other:

³³ “When John the Baptist came, he didn’t eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He’s got a demon!’ ³⁴ When the son of man came, eating and drinking, you say, ‘Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ Well, wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Jesus anointed by a sinful woman

³⁶ A Pharisee asked Jesus to dine with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. ³⁷ A woman from the town, a known bad character, discovered that he was there at table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸ Then she stood behind Jesus’ feet, crying, and began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹ The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what was going on.

“If this fellow really was a prophet,” he said to himself, “he’d know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him! She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰ “Simon,” replied Jesus, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” he replied.

⁴¹ “Once upon a time there was a moneylender who had two debtors. The first owed him five hundred dinars, the second fifty. ⁴² Neither of them could pay him, and he let them both off. So which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ “The one he let off the more, I suppose,” replied Simon.

“Quite right,” said Jesus.

⁴⁴ Then, turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, “You see this woman? When I came into your house, you didn’t give me water to wash my feet—but she has washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You didn’t give me a kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet from the moment I came in. ⁴⁶ You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷ “So the conclusion I draw is this: she must have been forgiven many sins! Her great love proves it! But if someone has been forgiven only a little, they will love only a little.”

⁴⁸ Then he said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ “Who is this,” the other guests began to say among themselves, “who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ “Your faith has saved you,” said Jesus to the woman. “Go in peace.”

The parable of the sower

8 Soon afterwards, Jesus went about in person, with the Twelve, through the towns and villages, announcing and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. ² They were accompanied by various women who had been healed from evil spirits and diseases: Mary who was called “Magdalene,” from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ Joanna the wife of Chouza (Herod’s steward), and Susanna, and many others. They looked after the needs of Jesus and his companions out of their own pockets.

⁴ A large crowd came together, and people came to him from town after town. He spoke to them in parables: ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell by the road, and was trodden on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶ Other seed fell on stony ground, and when it came up it withered, because it didn’t have any moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell in among thorns, and when the thorns grew up they choked it. ⁸ Other seed again fell into good soil, and came up, and gave a yield of a hundredfold.”

As he said this, he called out: “If you’ve got ears to hear, then hear!”

⁹ His disciples asked him what this parable was about.

¹⁰ “You are being let in on the secrets of God’s kingdom,” he said, “but to the rest it happens in parables, so that ‘they may see but not perceive, and hear but not understand.’

¹¹ “This is the parable: the seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the roadside are people who hear, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they won’t believe it and be saved. ¹³ Those on the stony ground are those who hear the word and receive it with delight—but they don’t have any root, and so they believe only for a time, and then, when a time of testing comes, they draw back. ¹⁴ The seed that falls in among thorns represents people who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and they don’t bear proper, ripening fruit. ¹⁵ But those in the good soil are the ones who hear the word and hold on to it with an upright and good heart, and who patiently produce fruit.”

Jesus calms the storm

¹⁶ “Nobody lights a lamp,” continued Jesus, “and then hides it under a pot or a bed. They put it on a lampstand, so that people who come in can see the light. ¹⁷ You see, nothing is hidden which won’t become visible. Nothing is concealed that won’t come to light.

¹⁸ “So be careful how you listen. If you’ve got something, more will be given to you; if you haven’t, even what you imagine you have will be taken away from you.”

¹⁹ His mother and brothers came to him, and couldn’t get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ So they sent a message to him: “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹ “Mother and brothers, indeed?” replied Jesus. “Here are my mother and brothers—people who hear God’s word and do it!”

²² One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and suggested that they cross to the other shore. So they set off. ²³ As they were sailing, he fell asleep. A violent wind swept down on the lake, and the boat began to fill dangerously with water.

²⁴ “Master, Master!” shouted the disciples, coming and waking him up. “Master, we’re lost!”

He got up and scolded the wind and the waves. They stopped, and there was a flat calm.

²⁵ “Where’s your faith?” he asked them.

They were afraid and astonished. “Who is this, then,” they asked one another, “if he can give orders to wind and water, and they do what he says?”

The healing of the demoniac

²⁶ They sailed to the land of the Gerasenes, which is on the other side from Galilee. ²⁷ As he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he didn’t live in a house but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus he screamed and fell down in front of him.

“You and me, Jesus—you and me!” he yelled at the top of his voice. “What is it with you and me, you son of the Most High God? Don’t torture me—please, please don’t torment me!” ²⁹ Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times over it had seized him, and he was kept under guard with chains and manacles; but he used to break the shackles, and the demon would drive him into the desert.

³⁰ “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Regiment!” replied the man—for many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged him not to order them to be sent into the pit.

³² A sizable herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside, and the demons begged him to allow them to go into them. He gave them permission. ³³ The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ The herdsmen saw what had happened. They took to their heels and spread the news in town and country, ³⁵ and people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting there at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind. They were afraid. ³⁶ People who had seen how the demoniac had been healed explained it to them. ³⁷ The whole crowd, from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes, asked him to go away from them, because great terror had seized them. So he got into the boat and returned.

³⁸ The man who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus to let him stay with him. But he sent him away. ³⁹ “Go back to your home,” he said, “and tell them what God has done for you.” And he went off round every town, declaring what Jesus had done for him.

Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding

⁴⁰ Jesus returned. A large crowd was waiting for him, and welcomed him back. ⁴¹ A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell down in front of his feet. He pleaded with him to come to his house, ⁴² because he had an only daughter, twelve years old, who was dying. So they set off, and the crowd pressed close in around him.

⁴³ There was a woman who had had an internal hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but had not been able to find a cure from anyone. ⁴⁴ She came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his robe. Immediately her flow of blood dried up.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” asked Jesus.

Everybody denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the crowds are crushing you and pressing you!”

⁴⁶ “Somebody touched me,” said Jesus. “Power went out from me, and I knew it.”

⁴⁷ When the woman saw that she couldn’t remain hidden, she came up, trembling, and fell down in front of him. She told him, in front of everyone, why she had touched him, and how she had been healed instantly.

⁴⁸ “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone arrived from the synagogue-ruler’s house. “Your daughter’s dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any longer.”

⁵⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus when he heard it. “Just believe, and she will be rescued.”

⁵¹ When they got to the house, he didn’t let anyone come in with them except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² Everyone was weeping and wailing for her.

“Don’t cry,” said Jesus. “She isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” ⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴ But he took her by the hand. “Get up, child,” he called. ⁵⁵ Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. He told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astounded, but he told them to tell nobody what had happened.

The Twelve sent out and the feeding of the five thousand

9 Jesus called together the Twelve, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. ² He sent them out to announce God’s kingdom and cure the sick.

³ “Don’t take anything for the journey,” he said to them, “no stick, no bag, no bread, no money, no second cloak. ⁴ Whenever you go into a house, stay there and leave from there. ⁵ If anyone won’t receive you, go out of that town and wipe the dust off your feet as evidence against them.”

⁶ So off they went, and traveled through the villages, announcing the good news and healing people everywhere.

⁷ Herod the Tetrarch heard what was going on, and was very puzzled. Some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead. ⁸ Others were saying that Elijah had appeared; still others, that one of the old prophets had arisen.

⁹ “I beheaded John,” said Herod, “but I keep hearing all these things about this other fellow. Who is he?” And he tried to get to see him.

¹⁰ The apostles returned and told Jesus what they had done. He took them off and went away privately to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹ When the crowds discovered, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed it.

¹² As the day wore on, the Twelve came to Jesus.

“Send the crowd away,” they said, “so that they can go into the villages and countryside nearby, find somewhere to stay, and get something to eat. We’re in quite a lonely spot here.”

¹³ “You give them something to eat,” he replied.

“All we’ve got here,” they said, “is five loaves and a couple of fishes—unless you mean we should go ourselves and buy food for all these people?” ¹⁴ (There were about five thousand men.)

“Get them to sit down,” Jesus said to them, “in groups of around fifty each.”

¹⁵ They did so, and everyone sat down. ¹⁶ Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven, blessed the food, divided it, and gave it to the disciples to pass around the crowd. ¹⁷ Everyone ate, and was satisfied. They took up twelve baskets of broken bits left over.

Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ messiahship

¹⁸ When Jesus was praying alone, his disciples gathered around him.

“Who do the crowds say I am?” he asked them.

¹⁹ “John the Baptist,” they responded. “And others say Elijah. Others say that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.”

²⁰ “What about you?” said Jesus. “Who do you say I am?”

“God’s Messiah,” answered Peter.

²¹ He gave them strict and careful instructions not to tell this to anyone.

²² “The son of man,” he said, “must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the legal experts. He must be killed, and raised up on the third day.”

²³ He then spoke to them all. “If any of you want to come after me,” he said, “you must say no to yourselves, and pick up your cross every day, and follow me. ²⁴ If you want to save your life, you’ll lose it; but if you lose your life because of me, you’ll save it. ²⁵ What good will it do you if you win the entire world, but lose or forfeit your own self? ²⁶ If you’re ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of you, when he comes in the glory which belongs to him, and to the father, and to the holy angels.

²⁷ “Let me tell you,” he concluded, “there are some standing here who won’t experience death until they see God’s kingdom.”

The transfiguration

²⁸ About eight days after this conversation, Jesus took Peter, John and James and went up a mountain to pray. ²⁹ And, as he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became shining white. ³⁰ Two men appeared, talking with him: it was Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was going to fulfill in Jerusalem.

³² Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but they managed to stay awake. They saw his glory, and the two men who were standing there with him.

³³ As they were going away from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” He didn’t know what he was saying; ³⁴ but as the words were coming out of his mouth a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. They were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And a voice came from the cloud: “This is my son, my chosen one: listen to him.” ³⁶ As the voice spoke, there was Jesus by himself. They kept silent, and told nobody at that time anything of what they had seen.

³⁷ The next day, as they were going down from the mountain, a large crowd met them. ³⁸ A man from the crowd shouted out, “Teacher! Please, please have a look at my son! He’s my only child, ³⁹ and look what’s happening to him! A spirit seizes him, and suddenly it shrieks and convulses him, so that he foams at the mouth. It goes on savaging him, and it’s almost impossible to get it to leave him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they couldn’t.”

⁴¹ “You faithless and depraved generation!” said Jesus in reply. “How long shall I be with you and have to put up with you? Bring your son here.”

⁴² While he was on the way, the demon tore at him and threw him into convulsions. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ Everyone was astonished at the greatness of God.

While they were all still expressing amazement at everything he had done, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Let these words go right down into your ears: the son of man is to be given over into human hands.” ⁴⁵ They had no idea what he was talking about. It was hidden from them, so that they wouldn’t perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had said.

The nature of discipleship

⁴⁶ A dispute arose among them about which of them was the greatest. ⁴⁷ Jesus knew this quarrel was going on in their hearts, so he took a child and stood it beside him.

⁴⁸ “If you receive this child in my name,” he said, “you receive me. And anyone who receives me, receives the one who sent me. Whoever is the least among you—that’s the one who is great.”

⁴⁹ “Master,” commented John, “we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We told him to stop, because he wasn’t part of our company.”

⁵⁰ “Don’t stop him,” replied Jesus. “Anyone who isn’t against you is on your side.”

⁵¹ As the time came nearer for Jesus to be taken up, he settled it in his mind to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² He sent messengers ahead of him. They came into a Samaritan village to get them ready, ⁵³ and they refused to receive him, because his mind was set on going to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Master, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and burn them up?” ⁵⁵ He turned and rebuked them, ⁵⁶ and they went on to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road a man addressed Jesus.

“Wherever you’re going,” he said, “I’ll follow you!”

⁵⁸ “Foxes have lairs,” Jesus replied, “and the birds in the sky have nests; but the son of man doesn’t have anywhere to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ To another person he said, “Follow me.”

“Master,” he replied, “let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ “Let the dead bury their dead,” said Jesus. “You must go and announce God’s kingdom.”

⁶¹ “I will follow you, Master,” said another, “but first let me say goodbye to the people at home.”

⁶² “Nobody,” replied Jesus, “who begins to plow and then looks over his shoulder is fit for God’s kingdom.”