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¹ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God: As it is written in the prophets,² Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.³ The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.⁴ John baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins.⁵ And there went out to him all the land of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.⁶ And John was clothed with camels hair, and with a leathern girdle about his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey,⁷ And proclaimed, saying, There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.⁸ I indeed have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

⁹ And in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John at Jordan.¹⁰ And coming up from the water, straitway he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I delight.¹² And immediately the Spirit leadeth him out into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days,¹³ tempted by Satan, and was with the wild-beasts; and the angels served him.

¹⁴ Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,¹⁵ Saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.¹⁶ And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother,¹⁷ casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers) And Jesus said to them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.¹⁸ And straightway leaving their nets, they followed him. And having gone thence a little farther,¹⁹ he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were also in the vessel, mending their nets:²⁰ And he called them; and immediately leaving their father Zebedee in the vessel with the hired servants, they went after him.²¹ And they go into Capernaum. And straightway on the sabbath, he went into the synagogue and taught.²² And they were astonished at his teaching; for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

²³ And there was in their synagogue a man heaving an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, Let us alone:²⁴ what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God.²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him.²⁶ And the unclean spirit having torn him, and cried with a loud noise, came out of him.²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? What new teaching is this? For with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits and they obey him.²⁸ And immediately his fame went forth into all the country of Galilee round about.

²⁹ And coming out of the synagogue, they entered forthwith into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.³⁰ And Simon's wife's mother lay ill of a fever, and immediately they tell him of her.³¹ And he came and taking her by the hand, lifted her up; and straightway the fever left her, and she waited on them.³² And in the evening, when the sun was set, they brought to him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.³³ And the whole city was gathered together at the door.³⁴ And he healed many that were ill of divers diseases, and cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to say that they knew him.³⁵ And in the morning, rising a great while before day, he went out and departed into a desert place and prayed there.³⁶ And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.³⁷ And having found him, they say to him, All men seek thee.³⁸ And he saith to them, Let us go to the neighbouring towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore am I come.³⁹ And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

⁴⁰ And there came to him a leper beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying to him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.⁴¹ And Jesus, moved with tender compassion, putting forth his hand, touched him, and saith to him, I will; be thou clean.⁴² And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed.⁴³ And having straitly charged him, he forthwith sent him away, And saith to him, See thou say nothing to any man;⁴⁴ but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.⁴⁵ But he going out published it much and blazed abroad the matter, so that he could no more openly enter into the city; but he was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.