Mark 5-8

New Century Version

A Man with Demons Inside Him

5 Jesus and his followers went to the other side of the lake to the area of the Gerasene^[a] people. ² When Jesus got out of the boat, instantly a man with an evil spirit came to him from the burial caves. ³ This man lived in the caves, and no one could tie him up, not even with a chain. ⁴ Many times people had used chains to tie the man’s hands and feet, but he always broke them off. No one was strong enough to control him. ⁵ Day and night he would wander around the burial caves and on the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ While Jesus was still far away, the man saw him, ran to him, and fell down before him.

⁷ The man shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I command you in God’s name not to torture me!” ⁸ He said this because Jesus was saying to him, “You evil spirit, come out of the man.”

⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He answered, “My name is Legion,^[b] because we are many spirits.” ¹⁰ He begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of that area.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs; let us go into them.” ¹³ So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs—about two thousand of them—rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned.

¹⁴ The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened. ¹⁶ The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him, and they told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who was freed from the demons begged to go with him.

¹⁹ But Jesus would not let him. He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So the man left and began to tell the people in the Ten Towns^[c] about what Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

²¹ When Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him there. ²² A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. ²³ He begged Jesus, saying again and again, “My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. ²⁵ Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. ²⁷ When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. ²⁸ She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease.

³⁰ At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. ³³ The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. ³⁴ Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of the synagogue leader. They said, “Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore.”

³⁶ But Jesus paid no attention to what they said. He told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him. ³⁸ When they came to the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus found many people there making lots of noise and crying loudly. ³⁹ Jesus entered the house and said to them, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? The child is not dead, only asleep.” ⁴⁰ But they laughed at him. So, after throwing them out of the house, Jesus took the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room where the child was. ⁴¹ Taking hold of the girl’s hand, he said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means, “Young girl, I tell you to stand up!”) ⁴² At once the girl stood right up and began walking. (She was twelve years old.) Everyone was completely amazed. ⁴³ Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl something to eat.

Jesus Goes to His Hometown

6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, and his followers went with him. ² On the Sabbath day he taught in the synagogue. Many people heard him and were amazed, saying, “Where did this man get these teachings? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? And where did he get the power to do miracles? ³ He is just the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters are here with us.” So the people were upset with Jesus.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and with his own people and in his own home.” ⁵ So Jesus was not able to work any miracles there except to heal a few sick people by putting his hands on them. ⁶ He was amazed at how many people had no faith.

Then Jesus went to other villages in that area and taught. ⁷ He called his twelve followers together and got ready to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. ⁸ This is what Jesus commanded them: “Take nothing for your trip except a walking stick. Take no bread, no bag, and no money in your pockets. ⁹ Wear sandals, but take only the clothes you are wearing. ¹⁰ When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ If the people in a certain place refuse to welcome you or listen to you, leave that place. Shake its dust off your feet^[d] as a warning to them.”^[e]

¹² So the followers went out and preached that people should change their hearts and lives. ¹³ They forced many demons out and put olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

How John the Baptist Was Killed

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because he was now well known. Some people said,^[f] “He is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”^[g]

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet, like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ When Herod heard this, he said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. On Herod’s birthday, he gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias^[h] came in and danced, she pleased Herod and the people eating with him.

So King Herod said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ At once the girl went back to the king and said to him, “I want the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

²⁶ Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s followers heard this, they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

More than Five Thousand Fed

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they had done and taught. ³¹ Crowds of people were coming and going so that Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves, and we will go to a lonely place to get some rest.”

³² So they went in a boat by themselves to a lonely place. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So from all the towns they ran to the place where Jesus was going, and they got there before him. ³⁴ When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it was late in the day, his followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place, and it is already very late. ³⁶ Send the people away so they can go to the countryside and towns around here to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But Jesus answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!”

³⁸ Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five loaves and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus told his followers to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred. ⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and, looking up to heaven, he thanked God for the food. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² All the people ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ The followers filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were five thousand men who ate.

Jesus Walks on the Water

⁴⁵ Immediately Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida across the lake. He stayed there to send the people home. ⁴⁶ After sending them away, he went into the hills to pray.

⁴⁷ That night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ He saw his followers struggling hard to row the boat, because the wind was blowing against them. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water, and he wanted to walk past the boat. ⁴⁹ But when they saw him walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost and cried out. ⁵⁰ They all saw him and were afraid. But quickly Jesus spoke to them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind became calm. The followers were greatly amazed. ⁵² They did not understand about the miracle of the five loaves, because their minds were closed.

⁵³ When they had crossed the lake, they came to shore at Gennesaret and tied the boat there. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran everywhere in that area and began to bring sick people on mats wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶ And everywhere he went—into towns, cities, or countryside—the people brought the sick to the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch just the edge of his coat, and all who touched it were healed.

Obey God’s Law

7 When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t washed them. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. ⁴ And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[i])

⁵ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote,

⁸ You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings.”^[j]

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “You cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own teachings. ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[k] and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[l] 11} But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ ¹² You no longer let that person use that money for his father or his mother. ¹³ By your own rules, which you teach people, you are rejecting what God said. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. [ ¹⁶ Let those with ears use them and listen.]”^[m]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. ¹⁹ It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. ²¹ All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.”

Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.^[n] When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. ²⁵ A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard that he was there. So she quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶ She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”

²⁸ But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

³¹ Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.^{[o] 32} While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk plainly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.

³³ Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) ³⁵ Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. ³⁷ They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk he makes able to speak.”

More than Four Thousand People Fed

8 Another time there was a great crowd with Jesus that had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his followers and said, ² “I feel sorry for these people, because they have already been with me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way. Some of them live a long way from here.”

⁴ Jesus’ followers answered, “How can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”

⁵ Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

They answered, “Seven.”

⁶ Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, and divided the bread. He gave the pieces to his followers to give to the people, and they did so. ⁷ The followers also had a few small fish. After Jesus gave thanks for the fish, he told his followers to give them to the people also. ⁸ All the people ate and were satisfied. Then his followers filled seven baskets with the leftover pieces of food. ⁹ There were about four thousand people who ate. After they had eaten, Jesus sent them home. ¹⁰ Then right away he got into a boat with his followers and went to the area of Dalmanutha.

The Leaders Ask for a Miracle

¹¹ The Pharisees came to Jesus and began to ask him questions. Hoping to trap him, they asked Jesus for a miracle from God. ¹² Jesus sighed deeply and said, “Why do you people ask for a miracle as a sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to you.” ¹³ Then Jesus left the Pharisees and went in the boat to the other side of the lake.

Guard Against Wrong Teachings

¹⁴ His followers had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat; they had forgotten to bring more. ¹⁵ Jesus warned them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

¹⁶ His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your minds closed? ¹⁸ You have eyes, but you don’t really see. You have ears, but you don’t really listen. Remember when ¹⁹ I divided five loaves of bread for the five thousand? How many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Twelve.”

²⁰ “And when I divided seven loaves of bread for the four thousand, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man

²² Jesus and his followers came to Bethsaida. There some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch the man. ²³ So Jesus took the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village. Then he spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on the man and asked, “Can you see now?”

²⁴ The man looked up and said, “Yes, I see people, but they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵ Again Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then the man opened his eyes wide and they were healed, and he was able to see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus told him to go home, saying, “Don’t go into the town.”^[p]

Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ

²⁷ Jesus and his followers went to the towns around Caesarea Philippi. While they were traveling, Jesus asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

²⁸ They answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah,^[q] and others say you are one of the prophets.”

²⁹ Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

³⁰ Jesus warned his followers not to tell anyone who he was.

³¹ Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and that he would be rejected by the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law. He told them that the Son of Man must be killed and then rise from the dead after three days. ³² Jesus told them plainly what would happen. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to tell him not to talk like that. ³³ But Jesus turned and looked at his followers. Then he told Peter not to talk that way. He said, “Go away from me, Satan!^[r] You don’t care about the things of God, but only about things people think are important.”

³⁴ Then Jesus called the crowd to him, along with his followers. He said, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me. ³⁵ Those who want to save their lives will give up true life. But those who give up their lives for me and for the Good News will have true life. ³⁶ It is worthless to have the whole world if they lose their souls. ³⁷ They could never pay enough to buy back their souls. ³⁸ The people who live now are living in a sinful and evil time. If people are ashamed of me and my teaching, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes with his Father’s glory and with the holy angels.”