¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, ²as it stands written in the prophets: ⁴It was the case that John was baptizing in the desert and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, ⁵and all the region of Judaea would go out to him, as would the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and they were all baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed in camel hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he would preach and say, “He who is more powerful than me is coming after me, the buckle of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop to loosen. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with holy spirit.” ⁹And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan, ¹⁰and immediately as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the spirit descending like a dove on him, ¹¹and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are my beloved son, with whom I am very pleased.” ¹²And immediately the spirit drove him out into the desert. ¹³And he was there in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild animals, while the angels would take care of him. ¹⁴Then after John had been arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time has been completed, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel.” ¹⁶Then as he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, Simon's, casting a round net in the sea. After all, they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishermen of men.” ¹⁸And they immediately left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹Then when he had moved on a little from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, while they were in a boat mending their nets, ²⁰and he immediately called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and they went away following him. ²¹Then they went into Capernaum, and on the Sabbath he immediately went into the synagogue and gave some teaching. ²²And they were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And there was a man with an unclean spirit in their synagogue, and he shouted out, ²⁴and he said, “Hey, what have you to do with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the holy one of God.” ²⁵At this Jesus rebuked it and said, “Be silent and come out of him.” ²⁶Then the unclean spirit convulsed him and shouted in a loud voice and came out of him. ²⁷And they were all astounded, so much so that they debated among themselves and said, “What does this mean? What is this new doctrine, where he even commands the unclean spirits with authority, and they obey him?” ²⁸And his fame immediately spread into the whole country area of Galilee. ²⁹Then immediately when they had come out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon's mother-in-law was laid up ill with a fever, and they told him about her straightaway. ³¹And he came over and took hold of her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her immediately, and she looked after them. ³²When evening had come, when the sun had set, they brought to him all those with ailments and those possessed by a demon, ³³and the whole city was congregated at the door, ³⁴and he cured many who were ailing with various diseases, and he cast out many demons, and he did not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. ³⁵Then he got up early, while it was still very much night, and he went out and went to a deserted place, and he prayed there. ³⁶Meanwhile Simon and those with him went after him, ³⁷and when they had found him, they said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸And he said to them, “Let us go to the nearby towns, so that I may preach there too. For I have come out for this very purpose.” ³⁹And he preached in their synagogues in the whole of Galilee, while he also cast out the demons. ⁴⁰Then a leper came to him pleading with him, and kneeling down to him, and he said to him, “If you are willing, you are able to cleanse me.” ⁴¹At this, Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched his hand out and touched him, and he said to him, “I am willing, be cleansed.” ⁴²And as soon as he had spoken, the leprosy went from him, and he was cleansed. ⁴³Then he vehemently admonished him and straightaway dismissed him, ⁴⁴and he said to him, “See to it that you don't say anything to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵But he went out and began to publicize it widely and to blaze the matter abroad, so that he could no longer go openly into a city, but was outside in desolate places. And they kept coming to him from all sides.

Reference(s) in Chapter 1: v.2 ↔ Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1 ● v.3 ↔ Isaiah 40:3.