Introducing the Unitarian Standard Version Bible
References Used in the Unitarian Standard Version
Read Matthew 1 and 2 here...Read Matthew 3 here...Read Matthew 4 here...Read Matthew 5 here...Read Matthew 6 here...Read Matthew 7 here...Read Matthew 8 here...Read Matthew 9 here...Read Matthew 10 here...Read Matthew 11 here...Read Matthew 12 here...Read Matthew 13 here...Read Matthew 14 here...Read Matthew 15 here...Read Matthew 16 here...Read Matthew 17 here...Read Matthew 18 here...Read Matthew 19 here...Read Matthew 20 here...Read Matthew 21 here...Read Matthew 22 here...Read Mathew 23 here...Read Matthew 24 here...Read Matthew 25 here...Read Matthew 26 here...Read Matthew 27 here...Read Matthew 28 here...
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, [Son of God].
2 Even as it is written
in Isaiah the prophet,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall
prepare thy way.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye
ready the way of Jehovah(a), Make his paths
straight;
4 John came, who
baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of
repentance unto remission of sins. 5 And there went out
unto him all the country of Judaea, and all they of
Jerusalem; And they were baptized of him in the river
Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 And John was
clothed with camel`s hair, and [had] a leather girdle
about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey. 7
And he preached, saying, There cometh after me he that
is mightier than I, the strap of whose shoes I am not
worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I baptized you in
water; But he shall baptize you in holy spirit(b).
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized in the
Jordan by John. 10 And straightway coming up out
of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the
spirit as a dove descending into him: 11 And a
voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son(c),
in thee I am well pleased.
12 And straightway the spirit driveth(d) him
forth into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the
wilderness forty days(e) tempted of Satan; And he
was with the wild beasts; And the angels ministered unto
him.
14 Now after John was
delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the
gospel of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in
the gospel.
16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon(f)
and Andrew the brother of Simon casting into the
sea; for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them,
Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers
of men. 18 And straightway they left the nets, and
followed him. 19 And going on a little further, he saw
James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, who
also were in the boat mending the nets. 20 And
straightway he called them: and they left their father
Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went
after him.
21 And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the
sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22
And they were astonished at his teaching: For he taught
them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And
straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an
unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, What have
we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? art thou come
to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of
God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace,
and come out of him. 26 And the unclean spirit, tearing
him and calling with a loud voice, came out of
him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they
questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? a new
teaching! with authority he commandeth even the unclean
spirits, and they obey him. 28 And the report of him
went out straightway everywhere into all the region of
Galilee round about.
29 And straightway, when they were come out of the
synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew,
with James and John. 30 Now Simon`s wife`s mother lay
sick of a fever; and straightway they tell him of her:
31 and he came and took her by the hand, and raised her
up; and the fever left her, and she ministered unto
them. 32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought
unto him all that were sick, and them that were
possessed with demons. 33 And all the city was gathered
together at the door.
34 And he healed many that were sick with divers
diseases, and cast out many demons; and he suffered not
the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 And in
the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and
went out, and departed into a desert place, and there
prayed. 36 And Simon and they that were with him
followed after him; 37 and they found him, and say unto
him, All are seeking thee. 38 And he saith unto them,
Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may
preach there also; for to this end came I forth. 39 And
he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee,
preaching and casting out demons.
40 And there cometh to him a leper, beseeching him, and
kneeling down, and saying unto him, If thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. 41 And being moved with
compassion, he stretched forth his hand, and touched
him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou made clean.
42 And straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he
was made clean. 43 And he strictly charged him, and
straightway sent him out, 44 and saith unto him, See
thou say nothing to any man: but go show thyself to the
priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things which
Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 45 But he
went out, and began to publish it much, and to spread
abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus(g) could
no more openly enter into a city, but was without at
[the] desert places: and they came to him from
every quarter.
Footnotes
(a) From Isaiah
40:3 - "The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the
wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert
a highway for our God." John Nelson Darby in the preface
of his Bible includes Mark 1:3 as a Scripture in the New
Testament that has "the sense of Jehovah." "Nothing can be more erroneous, in most
cases, than to draw the conclusion, that because the
Scripture asserts some particular thing to have been
done by God, therefore he did it immediately, and no
instruments were employed by him. How much difficulty
and contradiction, as well in theology as in
interpretation, has such a mode of reasoning produced!
In interpreting the principles of human laws, we say, Qui
facit per alium, facit per se. [“ He who
does any thing by another, does it by himself.”] Does
not common sense approve of this, as applied to the
language of the Scriptures? Nothing can be more evident
than that the sacred writers have expressed themselves
in a manner which recognises this principle. — PROFESSOR
STUART: Excur. on Heb. ii. 2. [These observations will
justly apply to the passage in question. God came into
the world, by the agency of his Son Jesus Christ; and
therefore did John the Baptist prepare the way of
Jehovah, by preparing the way of the Messiah.]"JW
(b) Most Bibles have "the Holy Spirit." The
Greek text does not have the definite article THE here,
and the Greek text has no capitalization. Vine's
Dictionary states that the word SPIRIT "primarily
denotes the wind" (akin to pneo, 'to breathe, blow');
also 'breath;' then, especially 'the spirit,' which,
like the wind, is invisible, immaterial and powerful."
Since that is the case, there is no need to personalize
this word.
(c) God's son cannot be God. The "Son of God" is
a separate entity from God.
(d) "The extraordinary influence of God upon man
is often called an Impulse, because it drives or impels
the person, who is subject to it; and nothing is more
common than to speak of ourselves as led by particular
views, motives, and dispositions. If therefore we
understand the term spirit to denote gifts, affections,
and energies, these expressions are suited to the usual
forms of human speech. As the first Christians were
incited by the holy spirit go from place to place, we
find that the same influence occasionally restrained
them. For it is said, (Acts xvi. 6, 7,) that Paul and
Timothy 'were forbidden of the holy spirit to preach the
word in Asia,' or more properly, 'were restrained by the
holy spirit from preaching the word in Asia,' and that
'they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the spirit
suffered them not.'" James Yates, A Vindication of
Unitarianism 1815
(e) "Forty is a common numerological device in
the Bible, such as the forty days of the flood in
Genesis 7 and the forty years of the Israelites
wandering in the desert in Exodus. Elijah also spent
forty days and nights travelling to Mount Horeb in 1
Kings 19:8." Wikipedia
(f) Mark consistently uses 'Simon' until Mark
3:16 when Jesus changes the name to 'Peter'.
(g) The name JESUS has been called the
"pentagrammaton" and His name in Greek has the numerical
value of 888 which is called the "resurrection number."
USVBible@gmail.com
From Elbridge Gerry Brooks:
"But confining myself to the point before us, it is enough for me to ask if there is an intelligent man or woman to be found, who will say that the Trinitarian doctrine of Christ is a rational and consistent doctrine?—a doctrine that any thoughtful person can intelligently believe? I know how sensitive those who believe it are to any reflections to its disadvantage; but if I am speaking to any such, they must excuse me for pressing this question upon them: Is this Trinitarian doctrine a rational and consistent doctrine to you? Is there one present who can say that it is so? or who can say that he or she knows any body to whom it is so? The doctrine of the Trinity has been pronounced 'an outrage against our rational nature.' Certainly, it is an offence to all our ideas of what is reasonable or probable. 'Its three persons, constituting its one God, must either be frittered away into three unnecessary distinctions, into sounds signifying nothing, or they are three conscious agents, who cannot be made one being, with one consciousness and one will.' To say, then, that Christ is one of these three, and yet that with his two associates he is but one, is to contradict the very first principles of common-sense, and to assert what, as was said in our last discourse, is a mathematical impossibility."
