Mark 6:45-8:26

New American Standard Bible

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (A)And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into ^(B)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to ^(C)Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And after ^(D)saying goodbye to them, He left ^(E)for 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 ^[a]straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the ^[b](F)fourth 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 thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[c]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(G)Take courage; it is I, ^(H)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(I)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(J)they ^[d]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[e]their hearts ^(K)were hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (L)When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored at the shore. ⁵⁴ And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that entire country and began carrying here and there on their pallets those who were sick, ^[f]to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or a countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just ^(M)touch ^(N)the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being ^[g]healed.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(O)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(P)from Jerusalem, ² and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[h](Q)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[i]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(R)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[j]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[k]washing of ^(S)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(T)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(U)[l]unholy hands?” ⁶ But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(X)tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(Y)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(Z)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(AA)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[m]certainly to be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(AB)Corban (that is, ^[n]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thereby invalidating the word of God by your ^(AC)tradition 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 person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person^[o].”

¹⁷ And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(AD)His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[p]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(AE)all foods ^(AF)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(AG)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹ For from within, out of the ^[q]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²² deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[r](AH)envy, slander, ^[s]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (AI)Now Jesus got up and went from there to the region of ^(AJ)Tyre^[t]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know about it; and yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[u]Gentile, of Syrophoenician descent. And she repeatedly asked 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 ^[v]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[w]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 ^[x]answer, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And after going back to her home, she found the child ^[y]lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

^31 (AK)Again He left the region of ^(AL)Tyre and came through Sidon to ^(AM)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(AN)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they *begged Him to ^(AO)lay His hand on him. ³³ And Jesus ^(AP)took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers in his ears, and after ^(AQ)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(AR)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[z]impediment of his tongue was ^[aa]removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(AS)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(AT)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even those who are deaf hear, and those who are unable to talk, speak.”

Four Thousand Men Fed

8 In those days, ^(AU)when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and *said to them, ² “^(AV)I feel compassion for the ^[ab]people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat. ³ And 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 replied to Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[ac]bread 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 ^[ad]people to recline on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve, and they served them to the ^[ae]people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and ^(AW)after He had blessed them, He told the disciples to serve these as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(AX)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand ^[af]men were there; and He dismissed them. ¹⁰ And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of ^(AY)Dalmanutha.

^11 (AZ)And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^(BA)demanding from Him a ^[ag]sign from heaven, ^[ah]to test Him. ^12 (BB)Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation demand a ^[ai]sign? Truly I say to you, ^[aj](BC)no ^[ak]sign will be given to this generation!” ¹³ And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ And the disciples 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, “^(BD)Watch out! Beware of the ^[al]leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of ^(BE)Herod.” ¹⁶ And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^(BF)Do you not yet comprehend or understand? Do you still have your heart ^[am]hardened? ^18 (BG)Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke ^(BH)the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^(BI)baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke ^(BJ)the seven for the four thousand, how many large ^(BK)baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(BL)Do you not yet understand?”

²² And they *came to ^(BM)Bethsaida. And some people *brought a man who was blind to ^[an]Jesus and *begged Him to ^(BN)touch him. ²³ Taking the man who was blind by the hand, He ^(BO)brought him out of the village; and after ^(BP)spitting in his eyes and ^(BQ)laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he ^[ao]looked up and said, “I see people, for I 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 ^(BR)the village.”