Mark 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Mark opens his account of Jesus with John baptizing in the desert and announcing someone stronger coming after him. Jesus is baptized, spends forty days in the desert being tested by Satan, and then begins preaching in Galilee that God's kingdom is near. He calls four fishermen to follow him, teaches in the synagogue at Capernaum with authority, drives out an unclean spirit, heals Simon's mother-in-law and crowds of sick people, and cleanses a man with leprosy, whose talk about it means Jesus can no longer enter a town openly.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
   • Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
2. 1:2
   • What follows is written in the prophets.
   • God says he is sending his messenger ahead of the one addressed.
   • The messenger will prepare the way of the one addressed.
3. 1:3
   • There is a voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
   • The voice says to prepare the way of the Lord.
   • The voice says to make his paths straight.
4. 1:4
   • John baptized in the wilderness.
   • John preached a baptism of repentance.
   • That baptism was for the forgiveness of sins.
5. 1:5
   • All the region of Judaea went out to him.
   • All the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him.
   • They were all baptized by him in the river Jordan.
   • They confessed their sins as they were baptized.
6. 1:6
   • John was clothed with camel's hair.
   • John wore a leather belt around his waist.
   • John ate locusts.
   • John ate wild honey.
7. 1:7
   • John preached.
   • John said one mightier than he was coming after him.
   • John said he was not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of that one's sandals.
8. 1:8
   • John said he baptized them with water.
   • John said the coming one would baptize them with the Holy Spirit.
9. 1:9
   • In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee.
   • Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10. 1:10
    • Immediately as he came up out of the water, Jesus saw the heavens being torn open.
    • Jesus saw the Spirit descending upon him like a dove.
11. 1:11
    • A voice came from heaven.
    • The voice said, You are my beloved Son.
    • The voice said, In you I am well pleased.
12. 1:12
    • Immediately the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.
13. 1:13
    • Jesus was in the wilderness forty days.
    • Jesus was tempted by Satan.
    • Jesus was with the wild beasts.
    • The angels ministered to him.
14. 1:14
    • John was handed over into custody.
    • After that, Jesus came into Galilee.
    • Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God.
15. 1:15
    • Jesus said the time is fulfilled.
    • Jesus said the kingdom of God has drawn near.
    • Jesus commanded them to repent.
    • Jesus commanded them to believe in the gospel.
16. 1:16
    • Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee.
    • He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother.
    • They were casting a net into the sea.
    • They were fishermen.
17. 1:17
    • Jesus told them to come after him.
    • Jesus said he would make them become fishers of men.
18. 1:18
    • Immediately they left their nets.
    • They followed him.
19. 1:19
    • Jesus went on a little farther.
    • He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother.
    • They were in the boat mending their nets.
20. 1:20
    • Immediately Jesus called them.
    • They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants.
    • They went after Jesus.
21. 1:21
    • They went into Capernaum.
    • On the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue.
    • Jesus taught there.
22. 1:22
    • They were astonished at his teaching.
    • He taught them as one having authority.
    • He did not teach as the scribes did.
23. 1:23
    • In their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit.
    • The man cried out.
24. 1:24
    • He said, Let us alone.
    • He asked what they had to do with Jesus of Nazareth.
    • He said Jesus had come to destroy them, worded so that it can be read either as a question or as a statement.
    • He said he knew who Jesus was.
    • He called Jesus the Holy One of God.
25. 1:25
    • Jesus rebuked the spirit.
    • Jesus commanded it to be silent.
    • Jesus commanded it to come out of the man.
26. 1:26
    • The unclean spirit convulsed the man.
    • The spirit cried with a loud voice.
    • The spirit came out of him.
27. 1:27
    • They were all amazed.
    • They questioned among themselves.
    • They asked what this was.
    • They asked what new teaching this was.
    • They said he commands even the unclean spirits with authority.
    • They said the unclean spirits obey him.
28. 1:28
    • Immediately the report about him went out everywhere.
    • It went throughout all the region around Galilee.
29. 1:29
    • Immediately they came out of the synagogue.
    • They entered the house of Simon and Andrew.
    • James and John were with them.
30. 1:30
    • Simon's wife's mother was lying down sick with a fever.
    • At once they told Jesus about her.
31. 1:31
    • Jesus came to her.
    • Jesus took her by the hand.
    • Jesus lifted her up.
    • The fever left her.
    • She served them.
32. 1:32
    • Evening came, after the sun had set.
    • They brought to him all who were sick.
    • They brought to him those who were demon-possessed.
33. 1:33
    • The whole city was gathered together at the door.
34. 1:34
    • He healed many who were sick with various diseases.
    • He cast out many demons.
    • He did not permit the demons to speak.
    • The reason was that they knew him.
35. 1:35
    • Early in the morning, while it was still night, Jesus rose.
    • He went out.
    • He departed to a solitary place.
    • He prayed there.
36. 1:36
    • Simon and those with him pursued after him.
37. 1:37
    • They found him.
    • They told him that everyone was seeking him.
38. 1:38
    • Jesus said they should go elsewhere, to the neighboring towns.
    • Jesus said he would preach there also.
    • Jesus said that this was why he had come out.
39. 1:39
    • He went preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee.
    • He cast out demons.
40. 1:40
    • A leper came to Jesus.
    • The leper begged him.
    • The leper knelt down to him.
    • The leper said that if Jesus was willing, Jesus could make him clean.
41. 1:41
    • Jesus was moved with compassion.
    • Jesus stretched out his hand.
    • Jesus touched him.
    • Jesus said, I am willing.
    • Jesus said, Be clean.
42. 1:42
    • As soon as Jesus had spoken, the leprosy immediately departed from him.
    • The man was cleansed.
43. 1:43
    • Jesus sternly warned him.
    • Jesus immediately sent him away.
44. 1:44
    • Jesus told him to say nothing to anyone.
    • Jesus told him to go and show himself to the priest.
    • Jesus told him to offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded.
    • This was to be a testimony to them.
45. 1:45
    • The man went out.
    • He began to proclaim it widely.
    • He spread the matter abroad.
    • As a result Jesus could no longer openly enter a city.
    • Jesus stayed outside in desert places.
    • People came to him from every direction.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

"Gospel" translates a Greek word meaning good news, the sort of announcement a herald made about a victory or a new ruler. "Christ" is not a surname but a title: it renders the Greek christos, "anointed one," which in Hebrew is the word we spell as Messiah. Kings and priests were anointed with oil when installed in office, so the title means someone marked out and commissioned. Some early manuscripts lack the words "the Son of God" here.

1:2

The quotation is a blend of two passages: this line comes from Malachi 3:1, with wording borrowed from Exodus 23:20, while the line quoted in the next verse comes from Isaiah 40:3. The oldest manuscripts introduce it as "in Isaiah the prophet"; later copies read "in the prophets," which is what the King James translators had in front of them.

1:3

The image is practical road work. When a king traveled, crews went ahead to clear, level and straighten the track so his party could pass. "Wilderness" in the King James does not mean forest; it means dry, unfarmed, thinly settled country.

1:4

"Baptize" is a Greek word carried into English rather than translated; it means to dip or plunge. Washing with water for ritual purity was already familiar in Jewish practice, but those washings were repeated and self-administered, while John's was a single public act performed on people who came out to him. "Remission" in 1611 English means release or cancellation, the way a debt is cancelled, not a reduction.

1:5

In King James English "of" frequently means "by," so "baptized of him" is "baptized by him." The Jordan is the river running down the deep valley east of Jerusalem, a hard day's journey from the city, so coming to John meant a deliberate trip out of settled territory. "All the land of Judaea" is the ordinary ancient way of saying a very great many people, not literally everyone.

1:6

Camel hair cloth and a leather belt were coarse, cheap clothing, and the pairing matches the description of the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8, "an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins." "Loins" means the waist and hips. Locusts are edible insects, specifically listed among the creatures Jewish law permits as food in Leviticus 11:22, and wild honey was taken from rock crevices and hollow trees. Both are food you find rather than farm.

1:7

"Latchet" is an old English word for a strap or lace, and the "shoes" are sandals. Untying and removing a man's sandals was work given to the lowest slave in a household, so the comparison is not modesty in general but a specific picture of the meanest possible service.

1:8

"Ghost" in 1611 English simply meant spirit, with none of the modern sense of a haunting; "Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" render the same two Greek words. The preposition translated "with" can equally mean "in," so the phrase can be read as baptized with water or in water.

1:9

Nazareth was a small village in the hills of Galilee, the northern region of the country, and is never mentioned in the Old Testament or in any earlier surviving source. Galilee lay well north of Jerusalem, and its people were regarded by southerners as provincial.

1:10

"Straightway" is the King James word for "at once." Mark uses this Greek adverb around forty times, far more than any other New Testament writer, which is what gives his account its breathless pace. The verb behind "opened" is stronger than it sounds: it means torn or ripped apart, and Mark uses the same word later for the tearing of the temple curtain.

1:11

The sentence is built from two Old Testament lines. "Thou art my Son" comes from Psalm 2:7, words addressed to the king at his enthronement, and "in whom my soul delighteth" comes from Isaiah 42:1, addressed to God's chosen servant. The Greek word rendered "beloved" can also carry the sense of "only."

1:12

"Driveth" translates a forceful verb, the same one Mark uses a few verses later for throwing demons out of people. It means pushed or expelled, not led.

1:13

Forty days is a span with a history behind it: Israel spent forty years in the desert, and both Moses and Elijah were described as spending forty days there. "Tempted" in 1611 English means tested or put to the proof, a wider idea than being enticed to do wrong. "Ministered" means waited on or served, and includes the practical sense of bringing food. The wild beasts are a real hazard of uninhabited country, not a decorative detail.

1:14

"The kingdom of God" means God's rule or reign, the state of affairs in which God is acting as king, rather than a territory with borders. To a first-century Jewish audience under Roman occupation, announcing it was a claim about who was actually in charge.

1:15

"The time is fulfilled" uses a Greek word for a particular appointed moment rather than time as ongoing duration; the sense is that the awaited moment has now arrived. "At hand" translates a verb meaning has come near, and interpreters have argued for centuries over whether that means it has already arrived or is on the point of arriving; the Greek does not settle it. "Repent" renders a word meaning to change one's mind and turn around, and in Jewish usage it meant turning back toward God in conduct, not simply feeling regret.

1:16

The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake roughly thirteen miles long and eight across, and fishing it was an ordinary trade with boats, crews, salting works and export markets. The net being thrown here is the circular casting net, weighted around its edge, thrown by a single man from the shore or from shallow water.

1:17

"Fishers of men" is a deliberate play on their trade. The image of catching people already existed in the prophets, where it can mean gathering them in or hauling them off for judgment, as in Jeremiah 16:16, so the phrase did not sound purely warm to the first hearers.

1:19

Mending nets was daily work, not a repair after an accident. Linen nets rotted, snagged on rocks and had to be washed, dried and knotted back together after every outing. The "ship" of the King James here is a small open fishing boat rowed or sailed by a handful of men.

1:20

"Hired servants" means paid employees, not slaves. Their presence shows a family business substantial enough to take on crew, so what the brothers walk away from is a working concern with assets.

1:21

Capernaum was a fishing town on the northwest shore of the lake, sitting on a trade road and large enough to have a customs post. The Sabbath ran from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday and was kept as a day on which no work was done. A synagogue was the local assembly building where Jews gathered on that day to hear the scriptures read and explained; there was no fixed preacher, and a qualified visitor could be invited to speak, which is how Jesus comes to be teaching there.

1:22

"Doctrine" in 1611 English means simply teaching, with none of the modern sense of formal dogma. Scribes were the trained specialists in the written law, professionally literate in a largely illiterate society, and they taught by citing what earlier recognized authorities had ruled. Teaching "as one that had authority" means speaking on one's own account instead of leaning on that chain of citation.

1:23

"Unclean" here has nothing to do with dirt. It belongs to the vocabulary of ritual purity: what is unclean is barred from contact with what is holy, which makes the presence of such a spirit inside a synagogue a contradiction in terms. "Unclean spirit" is Mark's usual phrase for what other writers call a demon.

1:24

"What have we to do with thee" is a literal rendering of a Semitic idiom, word for word "what is there between us and you," used to fend someone off: we want nothing from you, leave us alone. The speech slides between "us" and "I" in the Greek as well as in English. Stating a person's exact name and origin, as the spirit does here, was widely believed in the ancient world to be a way of getting power over them.

1:25

"Hold thy peace" means be silent. The Greek verb is literally "be muzzled," a blunt command of the kind used on an animal, and Mark uses the same word later when the storm is silenced.

1:26

"Torn him" means threw him into convulsions. The verb describes violent physical wrenching of the body, not tearing in the sense of injury to the skin.

1:28

"Fame" in 1611 English means report or news, simply what is being said about a person, without the modern implication of celebrity.

1:30

"Anon" is old English for at once. "Simon's wife's mother" is his mother-in-law, and the phrase states plainly that Simon, later called Peter, was married. In the ancient world a fever was treated as a disease in its own right rather than a symptom, and it could be a serious one.

1:31

"Ministered unto them" means waited on them, in practice preparing and serving food. The detail is there to show the completeness of the recovery: someone with such a fever could not have risen and gone straight to work.

1:32

The doubled time marker is doing real work. The Sabbath ended at sunset, and carrying a sick person through the streets before then would have counted as the labor forbidden on that day, so the crowd arrives at the first lawful moment. "Devils" is the King James word for what modern versions call demons; the Greek word here is a different one from the name of the devil, Satan.

1:33

"City" in the King James covers any settled town, however small. Capernaum probably held one or two thousand people. "All the city" is ordinary exaggeration for a very large crowd.

1:34

"Suffered not" means did not allow; "suffer" in 1611 English regularly means permit, as in "suffer the little children to come unto me." "Divers" is the old spelling of "diverse" in the sense of various or several different kinds.

1:35

"A great while before day" means long before dawn. Work began at first light and people slept in shared quarters, so this is a deliberately chosen hour, the only time no one would be awake to follow.

1:38

"Next towns" means the neighboring or nearest towns, not the next ones in a sequence. "Therefore came I forth" is ambiguous in the Greek as much as in the English: it can mean that is why I left the house this morning, or why I came out of Capernaum, or what I came for in a larger sense. The wording does not decide between them.

1:40

The Greek word covers a range of disfiguring skin conditions and is not confined to the illness now called Hansen's disease. Under the law of Leviticus 13 a person diagnosed with one had to live apart from the community, keep his clothes torn and his head uncovered, call out a warning to anyone approaching, and stay out of worship. "Clean" is therefore not about washing: the man is asking to be released from that status and returned to normal life.

1:41

Some early manuscripts read not "moved with compassion" but "moved with anger," and translators still divide over which wording was original. The touch itself is the arresting detail, since under the purity law contact with such a person made the toucher unclean.

1:43

"Straitly charged" means gave a strict and severe order; "straitly" means tightly or strictly and is unrelated to "straight." The Greek verb is unusually harsh, used elsewhere of snorting in anger. "Forthwith" means immediately.

1:44

The procedure is laid out in Leviticus 14: the priest inspects the healed person, and then over eight days offerings of birds, lambs, flour and oil are made, after which the person is formally readmitted. Only a priest could certify someone clean, so this is the legal step that gives the man his place in the community back. "For a testimony unto them" is ambiguous in the Greek: it can mean evidence for the priests that he is cured, or evidence against them, and both readings are possible.

1:45

"Publish" in 1611 English means to announce openly and has nothing to do with printing. "Blaze abroad" means to spread news widely; the verb comes from an old word for blowing a horn and is unconnected with fire. "Desert places" means uninhabited open country, and "without" here means outside.