16. Although your peoplelive in darkness,they will seea bright light.Although they livein the shadow of death,a light will shineon them.”
17. Then Jesus started preaching, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.”
18. While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake.
19. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.”
20. At once the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.
21. Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too.
22. Straight away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.
23. Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the Jewish meeting places and preaching the good news about God's kingdom. He also healed every kind of disease and sickness.
24. News about him spread all over Syria, and people with every kind of sickness or disease were brought to him. Some of them had a lot of demons in them, others were thought to be mad, and still others could not walk. But Jesus healed them all.
25. Large crowds followed Jesus from Galilee and the region around the ten cities known as Decapolis. They also came from Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the River Jordan.