Mark 1

₁This is the Good_News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ₂It begins as the prophet Isaiah wrote:

₄This is what John the Baptist preached in the desert. He said the people must turn to God and start living like He wants them to live and they must come to him, and he will baptise them. This will show that God has forgiven their sins. ₅All the people in Judea and in the city of Jerusalem came to John. They said they were sorry for the sins that they had done and John baptised them in the Jordan River. ₆John's clothes were made of camel hair and he had a leather rope around him. His food was locusts and honey that were in the desert. ₇John preached and he said: ‘Later Someone will come. I am not important enough to take off his sandals. ₈I baptise you with water, but He will baptise you with the Holy_Spirit.’

₉At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth. Nazareth is in the province of Galilee. John baptised Jesus in the Jordan River. ₁₀When Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heaven opening and the Holy_Spirit came down to Him like a dove. ₁₁Jesus heard Someone say from heaven: ‘You are my Son. I love You. You please Me.’

₁₂After that, the Holy_Spirit immediately sent Jesus into the desert. ₁₃Jesus stayed in the desert for 40 days and Satan tempted Jesus to do something wrong. Jesus was with wild animals and the angels helped Him.

₁₄King Herod told his soldiers to put John the Baptist in jail. Then Jesus went to the province of Galilee and He told the people the Good_News of God. ₁₅Jesus said: ‘God has decided that it is the right time now. God rules over all and now everyone will know it. You must start living as God wants you to live and you must believe the Good_News.’

₁₆Jesus walked on the beach of Lake Galilee. He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were putting their fishing nets into the lake. They were fishermen. ₁₇Jesus said to them: ‘Come here. Come with Me, and I will change your lives. You will be fishermen but you will not catch fish. You will bring people to God.’

₁₈Simon and Andrew walked away from their fishing nets immediately and they went with Jesus. ₁₉Then Jesus walked a little further and He saw James and his brother John. They were the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat getting their fishing nets ready. ₂₀Jesus immediately called them to come with Him. They went away from their father, Zebedee, and the fishermen who worked for him on the boat, and they followed Jesus.

₂₁Jesus and his disciples came into the town of Capernaum. On that Sabbath day Jesus went to the synagogue and He started to teach the people. ₂₂The people were very surprised when they heard how Jesus taught them, because Jesus taught them things that came from God. Jesus did not teach them like the teachers_of_the_Laws. ₂₃Just then a man with an evil_spirit in him came into the synagogue. The spirit shouted ₂₄and said: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, what do You want to do with us? Did you come to kill us all? I know who You are. You are the holy One who comes from God.’

₂₅Jesus told the evil_spirit: ‘Don't talk. Come out of the man.’

₂₆The evil_spirit made the man tremble. The evil_spirit shouted very loudly and then came out of the man. ₂₇All the people were surprised and kept on saying to each other: ‘What happened? This Man teaches people something different, things that come from God. He also tells the evil_spirits to go out and they listen to Him and go.’

₂₈All the people in the province of Galilee talked about what Jesus had done.

₂₉Jesus and his disciples went from the synagogue to the house of Simon and Andrew. James and John went with them. ₃₀Simon's mother was sick in bed. She was very hot and someone immediately told Jesus that she was sick. ₃₁Jesus went to her. He took her hand and He helped her to stand on her feet. She was not sick or hot anymore and she gave them food.

₃₂That evening when it started to get dark, a lot of people came to Jesus with sick people and people who had demons in them. ₃₃All the people of the town came together at the door of the house. ₃₄Jesus healed many people who were sick with different kinds of diseases. Jesus also chased_out_the_demons that were in the people. He told the demons not to speak, because they knew who Jesus was.

₃₅Very early the next morning, when it was still dark, Jesus got up and He went out. He went to a quiet place away from the other people to be alone. He went to pray. ₃₆Simon and his friends went looking for Jesus ₃₇and when they found Him, they said: ‘Everyone is looking for You.’ ₃₈Jesus said to them: ‘We must go to the towns that are near. I want to go and preach to them. That is why I have come.’

₃₉Jesus went to a lot of towns in the province of Galilee and He preached in their synagogues. He also chased_out_demons that were in people.

₄₀A man who had leprosy came to Jesus. He knelt before Jesus and asked: ‘Please help me. If You want to, You can heal me and make me pure.’ ₄₁Jesus felt sorry for the man. He touched the man and He said to him: ‘I want to heal you. Now you are well.’

₄₂Immediately the man did not have leprosy anymore and he was well. _43-44Jesus said to the man: ‘You must not tell anyone that I have healed you. Go and show the priest that you are well and give the offering that Moses said in the laws you should give, to show that you are healed.’ Then Jesus told the man to go. ₄₅But the man went away and he told all the people that Jesus had healed him. After that Jesus could not go into a town where everyone could see Him. He had to stay out in the field but people came to Him from everywhere.