Mark 1
Verses 1-8
A beginning of the good news //reign of the heavens//
of Jesus Christ,
Son of God.
As it hath been written in the prophets,
`Lo, I send My messenger //John the Baptist//
before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way before thee,' --
`A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
straight make ye his paths,' --
John //John the Baptist// came baptizing
in the wilderness,
and proclaiming a baptism of reformation
-- to remission of sins,
and there were going forth to him
all the region of Judea,
and they of Jerusalem,
and they were all baptized
by him
in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins.
And John //John the Baptist// was
clothed with camel's hair,
and a girdle of skin around his loins,
and eating locusts and honey of the field,
and he //John the Baptist// proclaimed, saying,
`He //Jesus// doth come
-- who is mightier than I
-- after me,
of whom I am not worthy
-- having stooped down
-- to loose the latchet of his sandals;
I //John the Baptist// indeed did baptize you //everyone//
with water,
but he //Jesus// shall baptize you //everyone//
with the Holy Spirit.'
Jewish Flashback - Malachi 3 and Exodus 23- see Matthew 11
Jewish Flasback - Isaiah 40:3 - Prepare the way of the Lord
- people fade but the word of God endures forever.
2 Kings 1:8 - Elijah word garmetns of hair and a leather belt around his waist.
Leviticus 11:22 - Locust was acceptable to eat.
Jewish flashback - Jeremiah 31:34 - forgiveness of their wickedness - same phrase as remission of sins
- The Lord will redeem them from those stronger than they.
- I strayed, I repented, I came to understand
- Everyone will die for their own sin
- The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the one with their ancestors who I took out of Egypt because they broke my covenant.
- This is the covenant I will make with them. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they my people. They will know me from the least of them to the greatest. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember thier sins no more.
Verses 9-12
And it came to pass in those days //when John was baptizing//,
Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee,
and was baptized by John at the Jordan;
and immediately coming up from the water,
he //John or Jesus?// saw
the heavens dividing,
and the Spirit as a dove
coming down upon him //Jesus//;
and a voice came out of the heavens,
`Thou art My Son
-- the Beloved,
in whom I did delight.'
And immediately doth the Spirit
put him forth
to the wilderness,
and he //Jesus// was there in the wilderness forty days, //There he afflicted (fast) himself HGV//
being tempted by the Adversary,
and he was with the beasts,
and the messengers were ministering to him.
And after the delivering up of John //John the Baptist//,
Jesus came to Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of the reign of God,
and saying --
`Fulfilled //fulfill// hath been the time, //the time has come HGV//
and the Reign of God hath come nigh,
reform ye,
and believe in the good news.' //Gospel// //Believe the word of YHWH/El HGV//
Verses 16-
And, walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew his brother, casting a drag into the sea, for they were fishers,
^17 ^and Jesus said to them, `Come ye after me //Lech Acharai//, and I shall make you to become fishers of men;'
^18 ^and immediately, having left their nets, they followed him.
^19 ^And having gone on thence a little, he saw James of Zebedee, and John his brother, and they were in the boat refitting the nets,
^20 ^and immediately he called them, and, having left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, they went away after him.
^21 ^And they go on to Capernaum, and immediately, on the sabbaths, having gone into the synagogue, he was teaching,
^22 ^and they were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as having authority, and not as the scribes.
22And they were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as possessing authority, and not as the scribes.
And they were astounded at Moshiach’s torah (teaching), for he was teaching them as one having samchut, and not as the Sofrim.
^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!'
27And they were all so amazed, as to reason among themselves, saying, “What is this, a fresh teaching? With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!”
And all were astounded so that they began to discuss with each other, saying, What is this? Torah Chadasha with samchut? He gives orders to the shedim 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 //pray//;
^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 //gift// 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.
NOTES
Heiser, Michael S.. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (p. 308). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.
Mark’s note that the heavens were “split apart” is significant. The Greek lemma is schizo. Mark’s choice of the term in connection with the water baptism of Jesus has drawn the attention of scholars because of the use of schizo in the Septuagint,
Not coincidentally, schizo is the verb used in Exodus 14:21 to describe the miraculous parting of the sea.
Jesus’ baptism was his journey into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil at the direction of the Holy Spirit (Matt 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1–13). Think about the location: the wilderness.
It might sound hard to believe, but this event is first time in the entire Bible we read about a demon being cast out of a person. No such event is ever recorded in the Old Testament.