Mark 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ^athe Son of God.

²^aAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “^bBehold, I send My messenger ¹ahead of You,Who will prepare Your way;

³^aThe voice of one crying in the wilderness,‘Make ready the way of the ¹Lord,Make His paths straight.’”

⁴¹John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness ²^,^apreaching a baptism of repentance for the ^bforgiveness of sins. ⁵And 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. ⁶And John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore ^aa leather belt around his waist and was eating locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he was ¹preaching, 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

⁹¹^,^aNow it happened that in those days Jesus ^bcame from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens ¹opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹and a voice came out of the heavens: “^aYou are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

¹²^aAnd immediately the Spirit *drove Him to go out into the wilderness. ¹³And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by ^aSatan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

¹⁴^aNow after John had been delivered up into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ¹^,^bpreaching the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, “^aThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ¹is at hand; ^brepent and ²believe in the gospel.”

¹⁶^aAs 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. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹And going on a little farther, He saw ¹James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. ²⁰And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away ¹to follow Him.

²¹^aAnd they *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath ^bHe entered the synagogue and began to teach. ²²^aAnd they were astonished at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And immediately there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ²⁴saying, “^aWhat ¹do we have to do with You, Jesus the ^bNazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—^cthe Holy One of God!” ²⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” ²⁶And throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. ²⁷And they were all ^aamazed, 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.” ²⁸And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.

Simon’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others Healed

²⁹^aAnd immediately after they came ^bout of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to ¹Jesus about her. ³¹And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she ¹began waiting on them.

³²^aNow when evening came, ^bafter the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were ^cdemon-possessed. ³³And the whole ^acity had gathered at the door. ³⁴And He ^ahealed 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^aAnd 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 ^bwas praying there. ³⁶And Simon and his companions searched for Him; ³⁷and they found Him, and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” ³⁸And He *said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may ¹preach there also; for that is what I came out for.” ³⁹^aAnd He went, ¹preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and casting out the demons.

⁴⁰^aAnd a leper *came to ¹Jesus, pleading with Him and ^bfalling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” ⁴¹And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. ⁴³And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, ⁴⁴and He *said to him, “^aSee that you say nothing to anyone; but ^bgo, show yourself to the priest and ^coffer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵But he went out and began to ^aproclaim it freely and to ^bspread the news around, to such an extent that ¹Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ²stayed out in desolate areas; and ^cthey were coming to Him from everywhere.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. ²And ^amany were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ³^aAnd they *came, bringing to Him a ^bparalytic, carried by four men. ⁴And being unable to bring him to ¹Jesus because of the crowd, they ^aremoved the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the ^bparalytic was lying. ⁵And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “Child, ^ayour sins are forgiven.” ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; ^awho can forgive sins ¹but God alone?” ⁸Immediately Jesus, aware ¹in 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 ^aparalytic, ‘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.” ¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^awere glorifying God, saying, “^bWe have never seen anything like this.”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and ^athe entire crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi and Sinners Called

¹⁴^aAnd as He passed by, He saw ¹^,^bLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it *¹happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and ²sinners ³were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶And when ^athe scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “^bHe is eating and drinking with tax collectors and ¹sinners!” ¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^aThose 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^aAnd 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?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can ¹the 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 ^adays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews ¹a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise ²that 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^aAnd it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^bpicking the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^awhy are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶how he entered the house of God around the time of ^aAbiathar the high priest, and ate the ¹consecrated bread, which ^bis not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And Jesus was saying to them, “^aThe Sabbath ¹was made ²for man, and ^bnot man ³for the Sabbath. ²⁸“Consequently the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”