Mark 1:1-7

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,^[a] the Son of God,^[b]

2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”^[c] —

3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”^[d]

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

Mark 1:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MARK

This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Ac 12:12,25, and was Barnabas's sister's son, Col 4:10, his mother's name was Mary, Ac 12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1Pe 5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from him {a}, and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by him {b} it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.

{a} Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4. c. 5. {b} Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18.

Cross References

• 1. S Matthew 4:3
• 2. Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10; Luke 7:27
• 3. Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23
• 4. S Matthew 3:1
• 5. ver 8; John 1:26,33; Acts 1:5,22; 11:36; Acts 13:24; Acts 18:25; Acts 19:3,4
• 6. Luke 1:77
• 7. 2 Kings 1:8
• 8. Leviticus 11:22
• 9. Acts 13:25

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "Jesus Christ." "Messiah" (Hebrew) and "Christ" (Greek) both mean "Anointed One."
• [b]. Some manuscripts do not have "the Son of God."
• [c]. Mal. 3:1
• [d]. Isaiah 40:3