Mark 1:1-13

1 The first words of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 Even as it is said in the book of Isaiah the prophet, See, I send my servant before your face, who will make ready your way;

3 The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight;

4 John came, and gave baptism in the waste land, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.

5 And there went out to him all the people of Judaea, and all those of Jerusalem, and they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying that they were sinners.

6 And John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey.

7 And he said to them all, There is one coming after me who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.

8 I have given you baptism with water, but he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit.

9 And it came about in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was given baptism by John in the Jordan.

10 And straight away, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens broken open and the Spirit coming down on him as a dove:

11 And a voice came out of heaven, You are my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

12 And straight away the Spirit sent him out into the waste land.

13 And he was in the waste land for forty days, being tested by Satan; and he was with the beasts; and the angels took care of him.

Mark 1:1-13 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.