by Sarah Ruden
7 And he announced this message: “The one who’s more powerful than me is coming after me. I’m not fit to crouch down and untie a thong on his sandals. 8 I’ve baptized you with water, but he’ll baptize you with the holy life-breath.”
9 And it happened in those days that Iēsous came from Nazaret in Galilaia*5 and was baptized in the Iordanēs by Iōannēs. 10 And right when he came up from the water, he saw the skies split apart, and the life-breath coming down, like a dove, to alight on him.*6 11 And a voice came out of the skies: “You are my beloved son; in you I’ve taken delight.”*7
12 And right away the life-breath drove him out into the wasteland. 13 And he was in the wasteland forty days, being tested by satanas, and he was in the company of wild animals, and god’s messengers attended to him.
14 But after Iōannēs was handed over,*8 Iēsous went into Galilaia, announcing god’s good news 15 and saying, “The time is ripe, and god’s kingdom has come close. Change your purpose and trust in the good news.”
16 And passing along by the sea of Galilaia, he saw Simōn, and Andreas, who was Simōn’s brother, and they were casting their nets into the sea, as they were fishermen. 17 And Iēsous said to them: “Come along after me, and I’ll turn you into fishers for human beings.” 18 And right away they left their nets and followed him. 19 Then, walking on a little, he saw Iakōbos the son of Zebedaios, and Iōannēs his brother, and they were in the boat putting their nets in order, 20 and right away he called them. And they left their father Zebedaios in the boat with the hired men, and they went away after him.*9
21 Then they traveled into Kafarnaoum.*10 And as soon as it was the sabbata, he entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 And the people there were powerfully struck by what he taught. He was teaching them as if he had genuine authority; it wasn’t the way the scholars taught.*11
23 And right at that time in their synagogue was a man under the power of an unclean spirit, and he screamed 24 these words: “What’s your business with us, Iēsous Nazarēnos? Have you come to destroy us? I know just who you are—god’s holy one.” 25 But Iēsous took the spirit to task, saying, “Put on a muzzle and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit convulsed the man, cried out with a loud outcry, and came out of him. 27 And all the people there were amazed, so that they discussed it with each other, saying, “What’s this? It must be a new teaching, carrying authority. He gives commands even to unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And from that moment, news of him went out everywhere, to the whole of the surrounding Galilaia region.
29 And they went straight from the synagogue to the house of Simōn and Andreas, and Iakōbos and Iōannēs went too. 30 And Simōn’s mother-in-law*12 was lying ill with a burning fever, and right away they told him about her. 31 And he approached and put her on her feet, grasping her hand. And the fever left her, and she began to wait on them.
32 Once evening came and the sun went down, they set about bringing him everyone who was unwell and those possessed by demons. 33 And the whole town was gathered together outside the door. 34 And he healed many who were unwell—they had various diseases—and he expelled many demons. And he kept the demons from speaking, because they knew who he was.
35 And in the morning, when it was still pitch-dark, he got up and went away to an isolated place, and there he began to pray. 36 But Simōn and those with him chased him down. 37 And they found him and told him, “Everyone’s looking for you.” 38 And he told them, “Let’s get going somewhere else, to the country towns near here, so that I can give my news there too. This is, after all, the reason I came forward.”
39 And he went throughout Galilaia, giving his news in their synagogues, and expelling demons. 40 And there came to him a man with leprosy, who pleaded with him, [falling on his knees and] telling him, “If you want, you can cleanse me.” 41 And Iēsous was wrenched with pity; he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do want to. Be cleansed.” 42 And right away the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And snorting a warning to him, Iēsous sent him away right then, 44 telling him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but get going and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing that Mōüsēs set out in the law, as proof for them.”*13 45 But once the man went away, he proceeded to publicize his healing persistently, spreading the story all around, so that Iēsous could no longer go openly into a town. Instead, he remained outside in uninhabited places; but then they kept coming to him from everywhere.
Chapter 2
1 Then a few days later, he went back to Kafarnaoum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 Then so many people gathered together that the place couldn’t hold them, even outside the door, while he was delivering a discourse to them. 3 But a group came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, four of them carrying him. 4 And since they weren’t able to bring him near Iēsous because of the crowd, they turned the roof above him into no roof, digging clear through it, and lowered the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 And seeing their trust, Iēsous said to the paralyzed man, “Child, you’re absolved from your offenses.” 6 Now, some of the scholars were there, sitting and working things through in their hearts: 7 “What does he mean by saying that? He’s blaspheming!*14 Who, if not god alone, can absolve a person from his offenses?” 8 But Iēsous, taking note right away in his own mind that they were inwardly working things through this way, said to them, “Why are you working through these things in your hearts? 9 Which is more efficient, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘You’re absolved from your offenses,’ or ‘Get up and pick up this stretcher of yours, and walk’?*15 10 So that you know the son of mankind has authority on earth to absolve people from their offenses”— He said to the paralyzed man, 11 “I’m telling you, stand up, pick up your stretcher, and get along home.” 12 And he got up, picked up his stretcher right away, and went out in front of everyone, so that they were all stunned, and they glorified God, saying, “We haven’t seen anything like this, ever.”
13 Then Iēsous went out again, to the sea. And the whole crowd came to him, and he started to teach them. 14 Then as he was passing along, he saw Leui the son of Alfaios sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
15 And it happened that Iēsous was reclining at the table in Leui’s house, and many tax-collectors and other wrongdoers*16 were reclining with Iēsous and his students; there were in fact many of them, and they were following him. 16 And when the scholars who were Farisaioi*17 saw that he was eating with wrongdoers, including tax-collectors, they said to his students, “He eats with wrongdoers, including tax-collectors.” 17 But Iēsous, hearing this, said to them, “People who are strong and healthy don’t have any need for a doctor; no, it’s those who are unwell. I didn’t come to call upright people, but wrongdoers instead.”
18 Now the students of Iōannēs, along with the Farisaioi, habitually fasted. So people came and said to him, “Why is it that Iōannēs’ students and the students of the Farisaioi fast, but the students you have don’t fast?” 19 And Iēsous said to them, “The sons of the bridal hall can’t fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. The whole time they have the bridegroom with them, they’re not able to fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they’ll fast, starting on that day. 21 No one sews a patch made of unshrunken cloth onto an old cloak. Otherwise, the patch would pull away from it, the new material from the old, and this would make for a worse tear. 22 And no one pours young wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine would burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins would be lost. Instead, people put young wine into new wineskins.”*18
23 And it happened that on the sabbata he was passing through fields of grain, and his students began to make a path, plucking off the heads of grain. 24 And the Farisaioi said to him, “Look! Why are they doing what’s forbidden on the sabbata?” 25 But he said to them, “H
aven’t you ever read what David did when he was in need, and starving—he himself and those with him? 26 How he entered the house of god when Abiathar was chief priest, and he ate the loaves of presentation, the ones no one but the priests is allowed to eat, and gave some to those with him too?”*19 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbaton was made for the sake of humankind, and not humankind for the sake of the sabbaton. 28 This means that the son of mankind is the ruler even of the sabbaton.”
Chapter 3
1 And he came into the synagogue again, and in it there was a man with a withered hand. 2 And they were watching Iēsous closely to see whether he would heal him on the sabbata, which would allow them to lay a charge against him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come into the center.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it permitted to do good on the sabbata or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they were silent.*20 5 And he looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved at the lack of feeling in their hearts, and said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” And he held out his hand, and it was restored. 6 Then the Farisaioi went out and, right away, along with men of Hērōdēs,*21 proceeded to come up with a plot against him, so that they could destroy him.
7 But Iēsous, with his students, withdrew to the seaside, and a great mass of people from Galilaia [followed him], 8 and from Ioudaia and Hierosoluma and Idoumaia and the other side of the Iordanēs, and the area around Turos and Sidōn—a great mass had heard of all the things he was doing and came to him.*22 9 And he told his students that a boat should be placed at the ready for him because of the crowd, to keep them from crushing him. 10 He had in fact healed many people, so everyone suffering from any scourges descended on him to touch him. 11 As to the unclean spirits, whenever they had him in sight, they fell down before him, screaming the words “You’re the son of god!” 12 But he insistently warned them, telling them not to expose who he was.
13 And he climbed a mountain, calling to him those he personally wanted with him, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve [whom he also called envoys] to be with him, and to be sent off by him to spread the word, 15 and to have authority to expel demons. 16 [And he appointed the twelve,]*23 and he gave Simōn the name Petros,*24 17 and to Iakōbos the son of Zebedaios and Iakōbos’ brother Iōannēs he gave the name Boanērges, which means “sons of thunder.” 18 And there were also Andreas and Filippos and Bartholomaios and Maththaios and Thōmas and Iakōbos the son of Alfaios, and Thaddaios and Simōn the Kananaios and 19 Ioudas Iskariōth, who actually handed him over.*25
20 Then he came home, and [the] crowd assembled again, so that Iēsous and his followers couldn’t even eat bread. 21 And when his own people heard about it, they went out to seize him, since they said, “He’s out of his mind.”
22 And the scholars who had come down from Hierosoluma were saying, “He has Be’elzeboul in him”; and “Through the demons’ ruler, he expels demons.”
23 Then he called them over to him and spoke to them through analogies. “How can satanas expel satanas? 24 If a kingdom’s split in two and the two pieces of it pitted against each other, that kingdom can’t remain standing. 25 And if a household’s split in two and the two pieces of it are pitted against each other, that household can’t remain standing. 26 So if satanas rises up against himself and is split in two, he can’t remain standing but is going to meet his end.*26 27 Certainly no one can come into a strong man’s house and pillage his things if he doesn’t first tie up the strong man; only then can he pillage his house.
28 “Amēn I tell you, the sons of mankind will be absolved from all their offenses, and from as many blasphemies as they’ve blasphemously uttered. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the holy life-breath, for all of time he won’t be absolved, but instead will be responsible for wrongdoing that lasts for all of time.” 30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 Then his mother and brothers came and stood outside, and sent someone to call him to them. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you.” 33 And he answered them with these words: “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?” 34 Then he looked around at those sitting around him in a circle, and he said, “Look, my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever [in fact] carries out what God wants, this is my brother and sister and mother.”*27
Chapter 4
1 And again he began to teach beside the sea; and a huge crowd gathered in front of him, so that he got into a boat and took a seat on the sea, and the whole crowd was on dry land by the sea. 2 And he taught them many things through analogies, and this is what he told them in his teaching.
3 “Listen! Look, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, it happened that some of the seed fell along the road, and the birds came and made short work of it. 5 And other seed fell on a stony place, where it didn’t have much earth, and right away it sprouted and rose up, because it didn’t have any depth of earth. 6 But when the sun rose up, the seedlings were seared, and due to their lack of roots they withered. 7 Still other seed fell among the thorny weeds, and these came up and strangled the seedlings, which didn’t produce any grain. 8 But other seeds fell onto good ground and produced grain, which came up and multiplied, with one kernel yielding thirty, another sixty, another a hundred more.” 9 And he said, “Whoever has ears for hearing had better hear.”
10 But when he was in private, those around him, including the twelve, started asking him about the analogies. 11 And he said to them, “To you the secret*28 of God’s kingdom has been granted, but to those outside, everything is done through analogies,
12 “ ‘So that they definitely look, and yet don’t see,
And they definitely hear, and yet don’t have any understanding;
And they never turn around or are pardoned.’ ”*29
13 And he said to them, “Don’t you understand this analogy? Then how will you understand all the other analogies? 14 The sower sows the true account.*30 15 This first example is the people beside the road: when the account’s sown and they hear it, satanas comes right away and takes the account that was sown in them. 16 And here next are the people sown in rocky places: when they hear the account, right away they take it in with joy. 17 Yet they don’t take root, but instead are merely of the moment, so then when grinding hardship or hounding come because of the account, they instantly fall away. 18 And the next people are the ones sown among the thorny weeds: these have heard the account, 19 but the anxieties of this present life, and the false appeal of wealth, and passions for other things come in among them and strangle the account, and then it can’t bear grain. 20 But then there are those sown on good ground, who hear the account and accept it, and they do produce a harvest, with every kernel yielding thirty or sixty or a hundred more.”
21 Then he said to them, “Is there any way a lamp is brought to be put under a basket or a bed? Isn’t it brought in to be placed on the lampstand? 22 Nothing’s hidden, you see, unless it’s meant to be shown in clear light later on, and nothing’s hidden away unless it’s meant to come into the clear light in due course.*31 23 If anyone has ears for hearing, he’d better hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Look what you’re hearing: the measure you give will be the measure you get—and you’ll get a bonus besides.*32 25 If someone has something, more will be given to him; but if someone doesn’t have something, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
26 And he said: “The kingdom of god is like a man scattering seed on the ground, 27 and he sleeps and wakes night after night and day after day, and the seed germinates and the stalks grow tall without his knowing how this happens. 28 On its own the earth produces a crop—first the shoot, and then the head, and then the full, ripe grain on the head. 29 And when the crop is ready, right away he dispatches the sickle, because harvest-time has arrived.”*33
30 And he said, “What can we say t
he kingdom of god is like? With what analogy can we present it? 31 It’s like the seed of a mustard plant, 32 which, when it’s sown on the earth, is smaller than all other seeds on the earth. But once it’s sown, it grows up and becomes bigger than all other garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky can find shelter under its shadow.”
33 So with many analogies like this, he spoke to them about the true account, in ways they were able to hear. 34 Unless it was by analogy, he didn’t speak to them; but on his own, to his own students, he explicated everything.
35 And on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the opposite shore.” 36 Then, once they had sent away the crowd, they took him with them, as he was already in the boat; and other boats were with him. 37 And a great squall arose, and the waves fell on the boat, so that in no time the boat was swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they woke him and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going under?” 39 So he got up, scolded the wind, and said to the sea, “Be quiet! Put a muzzle on it!” And the wind broke off, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said to them, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any trust yet?” 41 But their fear was an overwhelming one, and they said to one another, “Who is this man, then? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”*34
Chapter 5
1 Then they came to the opposite shore of the sea, to the region of the Gerasēnoi.*35 2 As soon as he got out of the boat, a man coming from among the tombs, who was under the power of an unclean spirit, met him. 3 He made his home among the tombs, and by this time nobody could restrain him, not even with a chain: 4 in the past he had often been restrained with fetters and chains, but the chains had been wrenched apart by him, and the fetters shattered, and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Now throughout the night and day he stayed among the tombs and in the mountains, screaming and mangling himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Iēsous from far off, he ran to him and groveled at his feet, 7 screamed at the top of his voice, and said, “What’s your business with me, Iēsous, son of the highest god? I call on you in god’s name, don’t torture me”— 8 Iēsous, you see, had said to him, “Unclean spirit, leave this man!” 9 Now Iēsous asked him, “What’s your name?” And he said to him, “My name’s legion: that’s how many of us there are!”*36— 10 and he pleaded with Iēsous fervently not to dispatch the demons out of the region. 11 In that place, on the slope of a hill, was a large herd of pigs grazing, 12 so the demons pleaded with Iēsous, saying, “Send us into the pigs—let us go into them.” 13 He gave them his permission, and the unclean spirits went out of the man and into the pigs, and the herd—there were around two thousand animals—barreled down the crag into the sea, and in the sea they drowned.