The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness.

So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

In the wilderness John the baptizer began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer.

He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.

When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place and it is already very late.

But as the man went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely, so that Jesus was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still they kept coming to him from everywhere.

He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).