Mark 6-7 (Amplified Bible)

Mark 6

 ¹JESUS WENT away from there and came to His [own] country and hometown [Nazareth], and His disciples followed [with] Him.

    ²And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who listened to Him were utterly astonished, saying, Where did this ^[a]Man acquire all this? What is the wisdom [the broad and full intelligence which has been] given to Him? What mighty works and exhibitions of power are wrought by His hands!

    ³Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and ^[b]were hurt [that is, they ^[c]disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority] and they were caused to stumble and fall.

    ⁴But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor (deference, reverence) except in his [own] country and among [his] relatives and in his [own] house.

    ⁵And He was not able to do ^[d]even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people [and] cured them.

    ⁶And He marveled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.

    ⁷And He called to Him the Twelve [apostles] and began to send them out [as His ambassadors] two by two and gave them authority and power over the unclean spirits.

    ⁸He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick--no bread, ^[e]no wallet for a collection bag, no money in their belts (girdles, purses)--

    ⁹But to go with sandals on their feet and not to put on two tunics (undergarments).

    ¹⁰And He told them, Wherever you go into a house, stay there until you leave that place.

    ¹¹And if any community will not receive and accept and welcome you, and they refuse to listen to you, when you depart, shake off the dust that is on your feet, for a testimony against them. ^[f]Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment day than for that town.

    ¹²So they went out and preached that men should repent [^[g]that they should change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins].

    ¹³And they drove out many unclean spirits and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

    ¹⁴King Herod heard of it, for [Jesus'] name had become well known. ^[h]He and they [of his court] said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why these mighty powers [^[i]of performing miracles] are at work in Him.

    ¹⁵[But] others kept saying, It is Elijah! And others said, It is a prophet, like one of the prophets [of old].

    ¹⁶But when Herod heard [of it], he said, [^[j]This very] John, whom I beheaded, has been raised [from the dead].

    ¹⁷For [this] Herod himself had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he [Herod] had married her.

    ¹⁸For John had told Herod, It is not lawful and you have no right to have your brother's wife.

    ¹⁹And Herodias was angry (enraged) with him and held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him; but she could not,

    ²⁰For Herod had [^[k]a reverential] fear of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and [continually] kept him safe [^[l]under guard]. When he heard [John speak], he was much perplexed; and [yet] he heard him gladly.

    ²¹But an opportune time came [for Herodias] when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and the high military commanders and chief men of Galilee.

    ²²For when the daughter ^[m]of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased and ^[n]fascinated Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever you desire, and I will give it to you.

    ²³And he put himself under oath to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give it to you, even to the half of my kingdom.^(A)

    ²⁴Then she left the room and said to her mother, What shall I ask for [myself]? And she replied, The head of John the Baptist!

    ²⁵And she rushed back instantly to the king and requested, saying, I wish you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

    ²⁶And the king was deeply pained and grieved and exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to slight her [by breaking faith with her].

    ²⁷And immediately the king sent off one [of the soldiers] of his bodyguard and gave him orders to bring [John's] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison

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

    ²⁹When his disciples learned of it, they came and took [John's] body and laid it in a tomb.

    ³⁰The apostles [sent out as missionaries] came back and gathered together to Jesus, and told Him all that they had done and taught.

    ³¹And He said to them, [^[o]As for you] come away by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while--for many were [continually] coming and going, and they had not even leisure enough to eat.

    ³²And they went away in a boat to a solitary place by themselves.

    ³³Now many [people] saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the surrounding towns, and they got there ahead [of those in the boat].

    ³⁴As Jesus landed, He saw a great crowd waiting, and He was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

    ³⁵And when ^[p]the day was already far gone, His disciples came to Him and said, This is a desolate and isolated place, and the hour is now late.

    ³⁶Send the crowds away to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.

    ³⁷But He replied to them, Give them something to eat yourselves. And they said to Him, Shall we go and buy 200 ^[q]denarii [about forty dollars] worth of bread and give it to them to eat? [II Kings 4:42-44.]

    ³⁸And He said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they [had looked and] knew, they said, Five [loaves] and two fish.

    ³⁹Then He commanded the people all to recline on the green grass by companies.

    ⁴⁰So they threw themselves down in ranks of hundreds and fifties [with the ^[r]regularity of an arrangement of beds of herbs, looking ^[s]like so many garden plots].

    ⁴¹And taking the five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven and, praising God, gave thanks and broke the loaves and kept on giving them to the disciples to set before the people; and He [also] divided the two fish among [them] all.

    ⁴²And they all ate and were satisfied.

    ⁴³And they took up twelve [^[t]small hand] baskets full of broken pieces [from the loaves] and of the fish.

    ⁴⁴And those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

    ⁴⁵And at once He insisted that the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He was sending the throng away.

    ⁴⁶And after He had taken leave of them, He went off into the hills to pray.

    ⁴⁷Now when evening had come, the boat was out in the middle of the lake, and He was by Himself on the land.

    ⁴⁸And having seen that they were troubled and tormented in [their] rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night [between 3:00-6:00 a.m.] He came to them, walking [directly] on the sea. And He acted as if He meant to pass by them,

    ⁴⁹But when they saw Him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and ^[u]raised a [deep, throaty] shriek of terror.

    ⁵⁰For they all saw Him and were agitated (troubled and filled with fear and dread). But immediately He talked with them and said, Take heart! I AM! Stop being alarmed and afraid.^(B)

    ⁵¹And He went up into the boat with them, and the wind ceased (^[v]sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating). And they were astonished exceedingly [beyond measure],

    ⁵²For they failed to consider or understand [the teaching and meaning of the miracle of] the loaves; [in fact] their hearts had ^[w]grown callous [had become dull and had ^[x]lost the power of understanding].

    ⁵³And when they had crossed over, they reached the land of Gennesaret and ^[y]came to [anchor at] the shore.

    ⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, [the people] recognized Him,

    ⁵⁵And they ran about the whole countryside, and began to carry around sick people on their sleeping pads or mats to any place where they heard that He was.

    ⁵⁶And wherever He came into villages or cities or the country, they would lay the sick in the marketplaces and beg Him that they might touch even the fringe of His outer garment, and as many as touched Him were restored to health.

   

Mark 7

 ¹NOW THERE gathered together to [Jesus] the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,

    ²For they had seen that some of His disciples ate with ^[z]common hands, that is, unwashed [with hands defiled and unhallowed, because they had not given them a ^[aa]ceremonial washing]--

    ³For the Pharisees and all of the Jews do not eat unless [merely for ceremonial reasons] they wash their hands [diligently ^[ab]up to the elbow] with clenched fist, adhering [carefully and faithfully] to the tradition of [practices and customs handed down to them by] their forefathers [to be observed].

    ⁴And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions [oral, man-made laws handed down to them, which they observe faithfully and diligently, such as], the washing of cups and wooden pitchers and widemouthed jugs and utensils of copper and ^[ac]beds--

    ⁵And the Pharisees and scribes kept asking [Jesus], Why do Your disciples not order their way of living according to the tradition handed down by the forefathers [to be observed], but eat with hands unwashed and ceremonially not purified?

    ⁶But He said to them, Excellently and truly [^[ad]so that there will be no room for blame] did Isaiah prophesy of you, the pretenders and hypocrites, as it stands written: These people [constantly] honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far distant from Me.

    ⁷In vain (fruitlessly and without profit) do they worship Me, ordering and teaching [to be obeyed] as doctrines the commandments and precepts of men.^(C)

    ⁸You disregard and give up and ask to depart from you the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men [keeping it carefully and faithfully].

    ⁹And He said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting [thus thwarting and nullifying and doing away with] the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition (your own human regulations)!

    ¹⁰For Moses said, Honor (revere with tenderness of feeling and deference) your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely die.^(D)

    ¹¹But [as for you] you say, A man is exempt if he tells [his] father or [his] mother, What you would otherwise have gained from me [everything I have that would have been of use to you] is Corban, that is, is a gift [already given as an offering to God],

    ¹²Then you no longer are permitting him to do anything for [his] father or mother [but are letting him off from helping them].

    ¹³Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on. And many things of this kind you are doing.

    ¹⁴And He called the people to [Him] again and said to them, Listen to Me, all of you, and understand [what I say].

    ¹⁵There is not [even] one thing outside a man which by going into him can pollute and defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him and make him unhallowed and unclean.

    ^16[ae]If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening [and let him ^[af]perceive and comprehend by hearing].

    ¹⁷And when He had left the crowd and had gone into the house, His disciples began asking Him about the parable.

    ¹⁸And He said to them, Then are you also unintelligent and dull and without understanding? Do you not discern and see that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unhallowed or unclean,

    ¹⁹Since it does not reach and enter his heart but [only his] digestive tract, and so passes on [into the place designed to receive waste]? Thus He was making and declaring all foods [ceremonially] clean [that is, ^[ag]abolishing the ceremonial distinctions of the Levitical Law].

    ²⁰And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed.

    ²¹For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

    ²²Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; ^[ah]unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride (^[ai]the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness).

    ²³All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed.

    ²⁴And Jesus arose and went away from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He went into a house and did not want anyone to know [that He was there]; but it was not possible for Him to be hidden [from public notice].

    ²⁵Instead, at once, a woman whose little daughter had (was under the control of) an unclean spirit heard about Him and came and flung herself down at His feet.

    ²⁶Now the woman was a Greek (Gentile), a Syrophoenician by nationality. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her little daughter.

    ²⁷And He said to her, First let the children be fed, for it is not becoming or proper or right to take the children's bread and throw it to the [little house] dogs.

    ²⁸But she answered Him, Yes, Lord, yet even the small pups under the table eat the little children's scraps of food.

    ²⁹And He said to her, Because of this saying, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter [permanently].

    ³⁰And she went home and found the child thrown on the couch, and the demon departed.

    ³¹Soon after this, Jesus, coming back from the region of Tyre, passed through Sidon on to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of Decapolis [the ten cities].

    ³²And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty in speaking, and they begged Jesus to place His hand upon him.

    ³³And taking him aside from the crowd [privately], He thrust His fingers into the man's ears and spat and touched his tongue;

    ³⁴And looking up to heaven, He sighed as He said, Ephphatha, which means, Be opened!

    ³⁵And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak distinctly and as he should.

    ³⁶And Jesus [^[aj]in His own interest] admonished and ordered them sternly and expressly to tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

    ³⁷And they were overwhelmingly astonished, saying, He has done everything excellently (commendably and nobly)! He even makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!