Journey Through God's Word

¹⁴Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

¹⁵And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

¹⁶So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

¹⁷And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

¹⁹To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

²⁰Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

²¹And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

²²So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”

²⁴Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

²⁵But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;

²⁶but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

²⁷And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

²⁹and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

³⁰Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

³¹Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.

³²And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

³³Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are— the Holy One of God!”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

³⁶Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

³⁷And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

³⁸Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.

³⁹So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

⁴⁰When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.

⁴¹And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

⁴²Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;

⁴³but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

⁴⁴And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

¹Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,

²and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons,

³and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

⁴And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:

⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.

⁶Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.

⁷And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

⁸But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

⁹Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’

¹¹“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

¹²Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

¹³But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

¹⁴Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

¹⁵But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

¹⁶“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.

¹⁷For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

¹⁸Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”

¹⁹Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.

²⁰And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”

²¹But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

²²Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out.

²³But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.

²⁴And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

²⁶Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.

²⁷And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!”

²⁹For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

³⁰Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.

³¹And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.

³²Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.

³³Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

³⁴When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

³⁵Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

³⁶They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.

³⁷Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

³⁸Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,

³⁹“Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.

⁴¹And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house,

⁴²for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.

⁴³Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,

⁴⁴came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

⁴⁵And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

⁴⁷Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

⁴⁸And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”

⁵⁰But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”

⁵¹When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.

⁵²Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.”

⁵³And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.”

⁵⁵Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.

⁵⁶And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

¹Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

²And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

⁴“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

⁵And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

⁷I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

⁸“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

¹⁰Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

¹¹Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

¹²And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.

¹³And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

¹⁴But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

¹⁵Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

¹⁶And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,

¹⁹and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

²⁰“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

²¹And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

²³And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;

²⁴for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

²⁵“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

²⁷And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

²⁸“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

²⁹So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

³⁰But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

³¹“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

³²It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”