New Testament
Mark
Mark is the shortest, fastest Gospel, told almost at a run. It drives towards the cross and presses one question on the reader from start to finish: who do you say this Jesus is?
Mark 1
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 1:3
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’”
Discussed in: - Mark 1:9
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan.
Discussed in: - Mark 1:12
Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness.
Discussed in: - Mark 1:16-18
Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.” Immediately they left their nets, and followed him.
Discussed in: - Mark 1:20
Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.
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Mark 2
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 2:17
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
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Mark 4
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 4:38
He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?”
Discussed in: - Mark 4:39
He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm.
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Mark 5
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 5:38
He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
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Mark 6
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 6:3
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended at him.
Discussed in: - Mark 6:17-29
For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly. Then a convenient day came when Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” He swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptiser.” She came in immediately with haste to the king and requested, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptiser on a platter.” The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her. Immediately the king sent out a soldier of his guard and commanded to bring John’s head; and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard this, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
Discussed in: - Mark 6:18
For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
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Mark 8
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 8:24
He looked up, and said, “I see men, but I see them like walking trees.”
Discussed in: - Mark 8:29
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
Discussed in: - Mark 8:31-33
He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke to them openly. Peter took him and began to rebuke him. But he, turning around and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”
Discussed in: - Mark 8:38
For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
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Mark 9
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 9:16
He asked the scribes, “What are you asking them?”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:18
and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:22
Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:23
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:24
Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Read the passage article - Mark 9:25
When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:26
After crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead, so much that most of them said, “He is dead.”
Discussed in: - Mark 9:27
But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he arose.
Discussed in: - Mark 9:28-29
When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”
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Mark 10
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 10:1
He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:2
Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Discussed in: - Mark 10:4
They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”
Discussed in: - Mark 10:5
But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:9
What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
Read the passage article - Mark 10:10
In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:11-12
He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Discussed in: - Mark 10:13
They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:16
He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:21
Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
Discussed in: - Mark 10:22
But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:27
Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
Discussed in: - Mark 10:29-30
Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
Discussed in: - Mark 10:49
Jesus stood still and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
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Mark 12
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 12:1-9
He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another, and they killed him, and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers said amongst themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.
Discussed in: - Mark 12:16
They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
Discussed in: - Mark 12:30
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
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Mark 14
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 14:62-64
Jesus said, “I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky.” The high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” They all condemned him to be worthy of death.
Discussed in: - Mark 14:72
The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the words that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept.
Discussed in:
Mark 15
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 15:34
At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
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Mark 16
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Mark 16:10
She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
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More about Mark
Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels and easily the quickest, and you feel it as soon as you start reading. The writer keeps using a little word often translated 'immediately', so the scenes tumble after one another and you are swept from the riverbank to the desert to a crowded house almost without pausing for breath. There is no birth story here and very little teaching gathered into long speeches. Instead we get Jesus on the move: healing, arguing, casting out, walking ahead of his followers towards a city where it will all come to a head. If the other Gospels are paintings, Mark is closer to a hurried, vivid letter from someone who was there.
Behind that pace sits one pressing question, and Mark will not let you off the hook about it. Halfway through, Jesus turns and asks his friends who they say he is, and the whole book leans on the answer. Everything before that moment has been piling up evidence, and everything after it walks steadily towards the cross. Mark is honest about how slow the disciples were to understand, which is oddly comforting. The desperate father who cries out 'I believe; help my unbelief' (9:24) speaks for most of us. He does not pretend to a confidence he lacks, and Jesus meets him anyway.
Many scholars think Mark drew on Peter's own memories, which would explain its raw, eyewitness feel and its willingness to show the disciples missing the point. It was likely written for believers facing pressure, perhaps in Rome, people who needed to know that following a crucified Lord was not a mistake. That setting matters, because Mark does not soften the cost. He shows Jesus teaching plainly about marriage and faithfulness, reminding his hearers that what God has joined together, no one should separate (10:9), and he shows a Saviour who walks towards suffering with his eyes open.
What we love about Mark is its lack of fuss. It does not flatter the reader or tidy up the messy parts. It simply puts Jesus in front of you, in motion, and asks the same question it asked the first disciples. You can read the whole thing in an afternoon, and we would gently suggest you do, in one sitting, the way you would read a letter from a friend. Let the pace carry you. By the end you may find that the question Mark keeps pressing has quietly become your own, and that is exactly where he wanted to leave you.
Questions about Mark
- Why is Mark the shortest Gospel?
- Mark is short because it is focused. It leaves out the birth narratives and much of the longer teaching found in Matthew and Luke, and instead drives hard towards the cross and resurrection. Many scholars also think it was the earliest Gospel written, drawing on Peter's recollections, which would account for its brisk, eyewitness energy. The brevity is not a weakness. It gives the book a momentum the others do not have, and it keeps the spotlight firmly on who Jesus is and what he came to do, rather than slowing to gather every detail.
- What is the main question Mark wants readers to answer?
- Mark builds the whole Gospel around one question that Jesus asks his disciples roughly halfway through: who do you say that I am? Everything before that moment gathers evidence, and everything after it walks towards the cross, where the answer becomes clearest of all. Mark is not interested in leaving you as a neutral observer. He wants you to weigh the same evidence the first followers did and to reach your own answer. That is why the book feels so direct. It is, in a sense, a long and honest invitation to decide.
- What does 'I believe; help my unbelief' mean in Mark 9:24?
- In Mark 9:24 a desperate father brings his suffering son to Jesus and is asked whether he believes. His reply is one of the most honest sentences in scripture: he believes, and at the same time he begs Jesus to help where his faith falls short. We find it deeply reassuring. It tells us that faith and doubt often live in the same heart, and that Jesus does not wait for us to feel certain before he acts. You can come to him with a faith that is real but shaky, and that is enough for him to work with.
Topics in Mark
The themes these verses speak to. Follow one to find related verses from right across the Bible.