Mark 9-12

New American Standard Bible

The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “^(A)Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

^2 (B)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(C)Peter, ^[a]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[b]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(D)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(E)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(F)let’s make three ^[c]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[d]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(G)a voice ^[e]came out of the cloud: “^(H)This is My beloved Son; ^[f]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (I)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(J)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[g]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[h]seized upon ^[i]that statement, discussing with one another ^[j]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of ^(L)the Son of Man that ^(M)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[k]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (N)And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(O)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” ¹⁷ And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸ and ^[l]whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ And they brought ^[m]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(P)All things are possible for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(Q)a crowd was ^[n]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I ^[o]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[p]again!” ²⁶ And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. ²⁸ When He came ^(R)into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

Death and Resurrection Foretold

^30 (S)And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “^(T)The Son of Man is to be ^[q]handed over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But ^(U)they ^[r]did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

^33 (V)They came to Capernaum; and when He was in ^(W)the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way ^(X)they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ And sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “^(Y)If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “^(Z)Whoever ^[s]receives ^[t]one child like this in My name ^[u]receives Me; and whoever ^[v]receives Me does not ^[w]receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Dire Warnings

^38 (AA)John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and ^(AB)we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. ^40 (AC)For the one who is not against us is ^[x]for us. ⁴¹ For ^(AD)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink ^[y]because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

⁴² “^(AE)Whoever causes one of these ^[z]little ones who believe in Me to ^[aa]sin, it is better for him if a heavy millstone is hung around his neck and he ^[ab]is thrown into the sea. ⁴³ And ^(AF)if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go into ^[ac](AG)hell, into the ^(AH)unquenchable fire.^{[ad] 45} And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown into ^[ae](AI)hell.^{[af] 47} And ^(AJ)if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown into ^[ag](AK)hell, ^48 (AL)where their worm does not die, and ^(AM)the fire is not extinguished. ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good; but ^(AN)if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you ^[ah]make it salty again? ^(AO)Have salt in yourselves, and ^(AP)be at peace with one another.”

Jesus’ Teaching about Divorce

10 ^(AQ)Setting out from there, Jesus *went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered to Him again, and, ^(AR)as He was accustomed, He once more began to teach them.

² And some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began questioning Him whether it was lawful for a man to ^[ai]divorce his wife. ³ And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “^(AS)Moses permitted a man to write a ^[aj]certificate of divorce and ^[ak]send his wife away.” ⁵ But Jesus said to them, “^[al](AT)Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But ^(AU)from the beginning of creation, God ^(AV)created them male and female. ^7 (AW)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother^[am], ^8 (AX)and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

¹⁰ And in the house the disciples again began questioning Him about this. ¹¹ And He *said to them, “^(AY)Whoever ^[an]divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; ¹² and ^(AZ)if she herself ^[ao]divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children

^13 (BA)And they were bringing children to Him so that He would touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Allow the children to come to Me; do not ^[ap]forbid them, ^(BB)for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, ^(BC)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” ¹⁶ And He ^(BD)took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

The Rich Young Ruler

^17 (BE)As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and ^(BF)knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may ^(BG)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘^(BH)Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept ^(BI)all these things from my youth.” ²¹ Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have ^(BJ)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But he ^[aq]was deeply dismayed by ^[ar]these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

²³ And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “^(BK)How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples ^(BL)were amazed at His words. But Jesus responded again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ^25 (BM)It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were even more astonished, and said to Him, “^[as]Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Looking at them, Jesus *said, “^(BN)With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

^28 (BO)Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and have followed You.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, ^(BP)there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, ^30 [at]but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in ^[au]the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in ^(BQ)the age to come, eternal life. ³¹ But ^(BR)many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Jesus’ Sufferings Foretold

^32 (BS)Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they ^(BT)were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, ³³ saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and ^(BU)the Son of Man will be ^[av]handed over to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will ^[aw]hand Him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will mock Him and ^(BV)spit on Him, and flog Him and kill Him; and three days later He will rise from the dead.”

^35 [ax](BW)James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to ^[ay]Jesus, saying to Him, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” ³⁶ And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³⁷ They said to Him, “^[az]Grant that we ^(BX)may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” ³⁸ But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(BY)to drink the cup that I drink, or ^(BZ)to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink ^(CA)you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. ⁴⁰ But to sit on My right or on My left is not Mine to give; ^(CB)but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

^41 (CC)Hearing this, the other ten began to feel indignant with ^[ba]James and John. ⁴² Calling them to Himself, Jesus *said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them; and their ^[bb]people in high position exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it is not this way among you; ^(CD)rather, whoever wants to become ^[bc]prominent among you shall be your servant; ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man ^(CE)did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His ^[bd]life as a ransom for many.”

Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

^46 (CF)Then they *came to Jericho. And later, ^(CG)as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a beggar who was blind named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus the ^(CH)Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, ^(CI)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “^(CJ)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they *called the man who was blind, saying to him, “^(CK)Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” ⁵⁰ And throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ And replying to him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the man who was blind said to Him, “^[be](CL)Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” ⁵² And Jesus said to him, “Go; ^(CM)your faith has ^[bf]made you well.” And immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(CN)And as they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and ^(CO)Bethany, near ^(CP)the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, ² and *said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³ And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he ^[bg]will send it back here.” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. ⁵ And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them just as Jesus had said, and they gave them permission. ^7 (CQ)They *brought the colt to Jesus and *put their cloaks on it; and He sat on it. ⁸ And many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

^11 (CT)And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple area; and after looking around at everything, ^(CU)He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

^12 (CV)On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

^15 (CW)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[bj]doves; ¹⁶ and He would not allow anyone to carry ^[bk]merchandise through the temple grounds. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘^(CX)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^(CY)But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they ^(CZ)began seeking how to put Him to death; for they were afraid of Him, because all ^(DA)the crowd was astonished at His teaching.

¹⁹ And ^(DB)whenever evening came, ^[bl]they would leave the city.

^20 (DC)As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “^(DD)Rabbi, look, the fig tree that You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered and *said to them, “^(DE)Have faith in God. ^23 (DF)Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. ²⁴ Therefore, I say to you, ^(DG)all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. ²⁵ And whenever you ^(DH)stand praying, ^(DI)forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you for your ^[bm]offenses. ²⁶ [^[bn](DJ)But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your ^[bo]offenses.”]

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷ And they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(DK)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the ^[bp]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-growers

12 ^(DL)And He began to speak to them in parables: “^(DM)A man ^(DN)planted a vineyard and put a ^[bq]fence around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and leased it to ^[br]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive his share of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶ He had one more man to send, a beloved son; he sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[bs]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put the vine-growers to death, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

^12 (DQ)And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the ^[bu]people, for they understood that He told the parable against them. And so ^(DR)they left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes

^13 (DS)Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^(DT)Herodians to Him in order to ^(DU)trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ They came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ^[bv]do not care what anyone thinks; for You ^[bw]are not partial to anyone, but You teach the way of God in truth. Is it ^[bx]permissible to pay a ^[by]poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Are we to pay, or not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a ^[bz]denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “^(DV)Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at Him.

^18 (DW)Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to ^[ca]Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(DX)if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and does not leave a child, his brother is to ^[cb]marry the wife and raise up ^[cc]children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. ²¹ The second one ^[cd]married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; ²² and so the seven together left no children. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, which one’s wife will she be? For each of the seven had her as his wife.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ^[ce]understand the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ But ^[cf]regarding the fact that the dead rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^(DY)in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^(DZ)I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ^27 (EA)He is not the God ^[cg]of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

^28 (EB)One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and ^(EC)recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[ch]foremost of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The ^[ci]foremost is, ‘^(ED)Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; ^30 (EE)and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘^(EF)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^(EG)He is One, and there is no other besides Him; ^33 (EH)and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, ^(EI)is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(EJ)And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.

^35 (EK)And Jesus responded and began saying, as He ^(EL)taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the ^[cj]Christ is the ^(EM)son of David? ³⁶ David himself said ^[ck]in the Holy Spirit,

³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^(EO)the large crowd ^[cl]enjoyed listening to Him.

^38 (EP)And in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like ^(EQ)personal greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets, ^40 (ER)who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive all the more condemnation.”

The Widow’s Coins

^41 (ES)And Jesus sat down opposite ^(ET)the treasury, and began watching how the ^[cm]people were ^(EU)putting ^[cn]money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large amounts. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^[co]lepta coins, which amount to a ^[cp]quadrans. ⁴³ Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all ^[cq]the contributors to the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their ^[cr]surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ^[cs]all she had ^(EV)to live on.”