Chapter 6

Teaching at Nazareth

1 aJesus went out from there and * came into 1bHis hometown; and His disciples * followed Him.

2 When the Sabbath came, He began ato teach in the synagogue; and the bmany listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such 1miracles as these performed by His hands?

3 “Is not this athe carpenter, bthe son of Mary, and brother of 1James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not cHis sisters here with us?” And they took doffense at Him.

4 Jesus said to them, “aA prophet is not without honor except in 1bhis hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”

5 And He could do no 1miracle there except that He alaid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

6 And He wondered at their unbelief.

aAnd He was going around the villages teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

7 aAnd bHe * summoned the twelve and began to send them out cin pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;

8 aand He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no 1bag, no money in their belt—

9 but 1to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two 2tunics.”

10 And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you 1leave town.

11 “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ashake the dust 1off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”

12 aThey went out and 1preached that men should repent.

13 And they were casting out many demons and awere anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

14 aAnd King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “bJohn the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”

15 But others were saying, “He is aElijah.” And others were saying, “He is ba prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

16 But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

17 For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of aHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.

18 For John had been saying to Herod, “aIt is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

19 aHerodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so;

20 for aHerod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; 1but he 2used to enjoy listening to him.

21 A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday agave a banquet for his lords and 1military commanders and the leading men bof Galilee;

22 and when the daughter of aHerodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and 1his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

23 And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to ahalf of my kingdom.”

24 And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

25 Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of 1his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison,

28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

29 When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

30 aThe bapostles * gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.

31 And He * said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and athey did not even have time to eat.)

32 aThey went away in bthe boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Fed

33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

34 When Jesus went 1ashore, He asaw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because bthey were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “1This place is desolate and it is already quite late;

36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves 1something to eat.”

37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” aAnd they * said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred 1bdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

38 And He * said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they * said, “Five, and two fish.”

39 And He commanded them all to 1sit down by groups on the green grass.

40 They 1sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.

41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ablessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.

42 They all ate and were satisfied,

43 and they picked up twelve full abaskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.

44 There were afive thousand men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

45 aImmediately Jesus made His disciples get into bthe boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to cBethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.

46 After abidding them farewell, He left bfor the mountain to pray.

47 When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.

48 Seeing them 1straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the 2afourth watch of the night He * came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.

49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;

50 for they all saw Him and were 1terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and * said to them, “aTake courage; it is I, bdo not be afraid.”

51 Then He got into athe boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,

52 for athey 1had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but 2their heart bwas hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

53 aWhen they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.

54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,

55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to 1the place they heard He was.

56 Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just atouch bthe fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

Chapter 7

Followers of Tradition

1 aThe Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come bfrom Jerusalem,

2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with aimpure hands, that is, unwashed.

3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they 1carefully wash their hands, thus observing the atraditions of the elders;

4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they 1cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the 2washing of acups and pitchers and copper pots.)

5 The Pharisees and the scribes * asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with bimpure hands?”

6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘aThis people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

7 ‘aBut in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the atradition of men.”

9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your atradition.

10 “For Moses said, ‘aHonor your father and your mother’; and, ‘bHe who speaks evil of father or mother, is to 1be put to death’;

11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is aCorban (that is to say, 1given to God),’

12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;

13 thus invalidating the word of God by your atradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:

15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

16 [“1If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

17 When he had left the crowd and entered athe house, bHis disciples questioned Him about the parable.

18 And He * said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,

19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and 1is eliminated?” (Thus He declared aall foods bclean.)

20 And He was saying, “aThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, 1fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, 1aenvy, slander, 2pride and foolishness.

23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

24 aJesus got up and went away from there to the region of bTyre1. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; 2yet He could not escape notice.

25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.

26 Now the woman was a 1Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not 1good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

28 But she answered and * said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”

29 And He said to her, “Because of this 1answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

30 And going back to her home, she found the child 1lying on the bed, the demon having left.

31 aAgain He went out from the region of bTyre, and came through Sidon to cthe Sea of Galilee, within the region of dDecapolis.

32 They * brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they * implored Him to alay His hand on him.

33 aJesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after aspitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva;

34 and looking up to heaven with a deep asigh, He * said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

35 And his ears were opened, and the 1impediment of his tongue 2was removed, and he began speaking plainly.

36 And aHe gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they bcontinued to proclaim it.

37 They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Chapter 8

Four Thousand Fed

1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, aJesus called His disciples and * said to them,

2 “aI feel compassion for the 1people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

3 “If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

4 And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough 1bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”

5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”

6 And He * directed the 1people to 2sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to 3serve to them, and they served them to the 1people.

7 They also had a few small fish; and aafter He had blessed them, He ordered these to be 1served as well.

8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large abaskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.

9 About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.

10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of aDalmanutha.

11 aThe Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, bseeking from Him a 1sign from heaven, 2to test Him.

12 aSighing deeply 1in His spirit, He * said, “Why does this generation seek for a 2sign? Truly I say to you, 3bno 2sign will be given to this generation.”

13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, “aWatch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of bHerod.”

16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.

17 And Jesus, aware of this, * said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? aDo you not yet see or understand? Do you have a 1hardened heart?

18 “aHaving eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,

19 when I broke athe five loaves for the five thousand, how many bbaskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They * said to Him, “Twelve.”

20 “When I broke athe seven for the four thousand, how many large bbaskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they * said to Him, “Seven.”

21 And He was saying to them, “aDo you not yet understand?”

22 And they * came to aBethsaida. And they * brought a blind man to Jesus and * implored Him to btouch him.

23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He abrought him out of the village; and after aspitting on his eyes and blaying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”

24 And he 1looked up and said, “I see men, for 2I see them like trees, walking around.”

25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.

26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter athe village.”

Peter’s Confession of Christ

27 aJesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of bCaesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

28 aThey told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

29 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” aPeter * answered and * said to Him, “You are 1the Christ.”

30 And aHe 1warned them to tell no one about Him.

31 aAnd He began to teach them that bthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

32 And He was stating the matter aplainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and * said, “Get behind Me, aSatan; for you are not setting your mind on 1God’s interests, but man’s.”

34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and atake up his cross and follow Me.

35 “For awhoever wishes to save his 1life will lose it, but whoever loses his 1life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

37 “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

38 “For awhoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, bthe Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ccomes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”