NIrV, The Illustrated Holy Bible for Kids NIrV, The Illustrated Holy Bible for Kids, Sampler | Page 2

MA RK
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
T
MARK 1:1–8
his is the be­gin­ning of the good news a
­ bout ­Jesus the Mes­si­ah, the Son of God. Long ago
Isa­iah the proph­et w
­ rote,
“I will send my messenger ahead of you.
He will prepare your way.”  (Malachi 3:1)
“A messenger is calling out in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make straight paths for him.’ ”  (Isaiah 40:3)
And so John the Bap­tist ap­peared in the des­ert. He p
­ reached that peo­ple s ­ hould be bap­tized and
turn away from t ­ heir sins. Then God ­would for­give them. All the peo­ple from the coun­try­side of
Ju­dea went out to him. All the peo­ple from Je­ru­sa­lem went too. When they ad­mit­ted they had
sinned, John bap­tized them in the Jor­dan Riv­er. John wore c ­ lothes made out of cam­el’s hair. He
had a leath­er belt a
­ round his ­waist. And he ate lo­custs and wild hon­ey. Here is what John was
preach­ing. “Af­ter me, t ­ here is some­one com­ing who is more pow­er­ful than I am. I’m not good
enough to bend down and un­tie his san­dals. I bap­tize you with wa­ter. But he will bap­tize you
with the Holy Spir­it.”
Jesus Is Baptized and Tempted
A
MARK 1:9–13
t that time ­Jesus came from Naz­a­reth in Gal­i l ­ ee. John bap­tized ­Jesus in the Jor­dan Riv­er.
Jesus was com­ing up out of the wa­ter. Just then he saw heav­en be­ing torn open. ­Jesus saw
the Holy Spir­it com­ing down on him like a dove. A ­voice ­spoke to him from heav­en. It said,
“You are my Son, and I love you. I am very ­pleased with you.”
At once the Holy Spir­it sent ­Jesus out into the des­ert. He was in the des­ert 40 days. ­There Sa­
tan tempt­ed him. The wild an­i­mals ­didn’t harm ­Jesus. An­gels took care of him.
Jesus Preaches the Good News
A
MARK 1:14–15
f­ter John was put in pris­on, ­Jesus went into Gal­i­lee. He ­preached the good news of God.
“The time has come,” he said. “The king­dom of God has come near. Turn away from your
sins and be­lieve the good news!”
Jesus Chooses His First Disciples
O
MARK 1:16–20
ne day ­Jesus was walk­ing be­side the Sea of Gal­i l ­ ee. ­There he saw Si­mon and his broth­er
An­drew. They were throw­ing a net into the lake. They were fish­er­men. “Come and fol­low
me,” ­Jesus said. “I will send you out to fish for peo­ple.” At once they left t ­ heir nets and
fol­lowed him.
Then ­Jesus ­walked a lit­tle far­ther. As he did, he saw ­James, the son of Zeb­e­dee, and his broth­er
John. They were in a boat pre­par­ing t ­ heir nets. R
­ ight away he c ­ alled out to them. They left t ­ heir
fa­ther Zeb­e­dee in the boat with the ­hired men. Then they fol­lowed ­Jesus.
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