Mark 1:1-13

1 This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ^[a]

2 It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: ¹ "God said, "I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'

3 Someone is shouting in the desert, ² "Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!' "

4 So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching. ^[b] "Turn away from your sins and be baptized," he told the people, "and God will forgive your sins."

5 Many people from the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

6 John wore clothes made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ³

7 He announced to the people, "The man who will come after me is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals.

8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9 Not long afterward Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10 As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove.

11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you." ⁴

12 At once the Spirit made him go into the desert,

13 where he stayed forty days, being tempted by Satan. Wild animals were there also, but angels came and helped 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.

Cross References

• 1. 1.2Malachi 3.1.
• 2. 1.3Isaiah 40.3 (LXX).
• 3. 1.6 2 Kings 1.8.
• 4. 1.11Genesis 22.2;Psalms 2.7;Isaiah 42.1;Matthew 3.17; 12.18;Mark 9.7;Luke 3.22.

Footnotes

• [a] [Some manuscripts do not have] the Son of God.
• [b] John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching; [some manuscripts have] John the Baptist appeared in the desert, preaching.