Mark 1:23-45

23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

24 saying, `Away! what -- to us and to thee, Jesus the Nazarene? thou didst come to destroy us; I have known thee who thou art -- the Holy One of God.'

25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, `Be silenced, and come forth out of him,'

26 and the unclean spirit having torn him, and having cried with a great voice, came forth out of him,

27 and they were all amazed, so as to reason among themselves, saying, `What is this? what new teaching [is] this? that with authority also the unclean spirits he commandeth, and they obey him!'

28 And the fame of him went forth immediately to all the region, round about, of Galilee.

29 And immediately, having come forth out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John,

30 and the mother-in-law of Simon was lying fevered, and immediately they tell him about her,

31 and having come near, he raised her up, having laid hold of her hand, and the fever left her immediately, and she was ministering to them.

32 And evening having come, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all who were ill, and who were demoniacs,

33 and the whole city was gathered together near the door,

34 and he healed many who were ill of manifold diseases, and many demons he cast forth, and was not suffering the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 And very early, it being yet night, having risen, he went forth, and went away to a desert place, and was there praying;

36 and Simon and those with him went in quest of him,

37 and having found him, they say to him, -- `All do seek thee;'

38 and he saith to them, `We may go to the next towns, that there also I may preach, for for this I came forth.'

39 And he was preaching in their synagogues, in all Galilee, and is casting out the demons,

40 and there doth come to him a leper, calling on him, and kneeling to him, and saying to him -- `If thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me.'

41 And Jesus having been moved with compassion, having stretched forth the hand, touched him, and saith to him, `I will; be thou cleansed;'

42 and he having spoken, immediately the leprosy went away from him, and he was cleansed.

43 And having sternly charged him, immediately he put him forth,

44 and saith to him, `See thou mayest say nothing to any one, but go away, thyself shew to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing the things Moses directed, for a testimony to them.'

45 And he, having gone forth, began to proclaim much, and to spread abroad the thing, so that no more he was able openly to enter into the city, but he was without in desert places, and they were coming unto him from every quarter.

Mark 1:23-45 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.