Day 294 of 364

^4:1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ^4:2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. ^4:3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ^4:4Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” ^4:5The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ^4:6The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I want. ^4:7If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” ^4:8Jesus answered him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” ^4:9He led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, ^4:10for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ ^4:11and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’” ^4:12Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” ^4:13When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time. ^4:14Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. ^4:15He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. ^4:16He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ^4:17The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, ^4:18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, ^4:19and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” ^4:20He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. ^4:21He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ^4:22All testified about him and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” ^4:23He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” ^4:24He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ^4:25But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. ^4:26Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ^4:27There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.” ^4:28They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue as they heard these things. ^4:29They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. ^4:30But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way. ^4:31He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day, ^4:32and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. ^4:33In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, ^4:34saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!” ^4:35Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ^4:36Amazement came on all and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ^4:37News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region. ^4:38He rose up from the synagogue and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him to help her. ^4:39He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them. ^4:40When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. ^4:41Demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. ^4:42When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them. ^4:43But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.” ^4:44He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. ^5:1Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. ^5:2He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ^5:3He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. ^5:4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ^5:5Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.” ^5:6When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. ^5:7They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ^5:8But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.” ^5:9For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught; ^5:10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.” ^5:11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him. ^5:12While he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.” ^5:13He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him. ^5:14He commanded him to tell no one, “But go your way and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” ^5:15But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. ^5:16But he withdrew himself into the desert and prayed. ^5:17On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them. ^5:18Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus. ^5:19Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus. ^5:20Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ^5:21The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” ^5:22But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts? ^5:23Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? ^5:24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, arise, take up your cot, and go to your house.” ^5:25Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God. ^5:26Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.” ^5:27After these things he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!” ^5:28He left everything, and rose up and followed him. ^5:29Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. ^5:30Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” ^5:31Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. ^5:32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” ^5:33They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” ^5:34He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? ^5:35But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.” ^5:36He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. ^5:37No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled and the skins will be destroyed. ^5:38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. ^5:39No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”