Matthew 15-17 (Amplified Bible)

Matthew 15

 ¹THEN FROM Jerusalem came scribes and Pharisees and said,

    ²Why do Your disciples transgress and violate the rules handed down by the elders of the past? For they do not practice [ceremonially] washing their hands before they eat.

    ³He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?

    ⁴For God commanded, Honor 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 come to his end by death.^(A)

    ⁵But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.

    ⁶So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].

    ⁷You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:

    ⁸These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.

    ⁹Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.^(B)

    ¹⁰And Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, Listen and grasp and comprehend this:

    ¹¹It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

    ¹²Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were displeased and offended and indignant when they heard this saying?

    ¹³He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots.^(C)

    ¹⁴Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.

    ¹⁵But Peter said to Him, Explain this ^[a]proverb (this ^[b]maxim) to us.

    ¹⁶And He said, Are you also even yet dull and ignorant [without understanding and ^[c]unable to put things together]?

    ¹⁷Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the ^[d]abdomen and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited?

    ¹⁸But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him].

    ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech.

    ²⁰These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].

    ²¹And going away from there, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

    ²²And behold, a woman who was a Canaanite from that district came out and, with a [loud, troublesomely urgent] cry, begged, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably and distressingly and cruelly possessed by a demon!

    ²³But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us.

    ²⁴He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

    ²⁵But she came and, kneeling, worshiped Him and kept praying, Lord, help me!

    ²⁶And He answered, It is not right (proper, becoming, or fair) to take the children's bread and throw it to the ^[e]little dogs.

    ²⁷She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little pups (^[f]little whelps) eat the crumbs that fall from their [young] masters' table.

    ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that ^[g]moment.

    ²⁹And Jesus went on from there and passed along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up into the hills and kept sitting there.

    ³⁰And a great multitude came to Him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them down at His feet; and He cured them,

    ³¹So that the crowd was amazed when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^[h]recognized and praised and thanked and glorified the God of Israel.

    ³²Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, I have pity and sympathy and am deeply moved for the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and they have nothing [at all left] to eat; and I am not willing to send them away hungry, lest they faint or become exhausted on the way.

    ³³And the disciples said to Him, Where are we to get bread sufficient to feed so great a crowd in this isolated and desert place?

    ³⁴And Jesus asked them, How many loaves of bread do you have? They replied, Seven, and a few small fish.

    ³⁵And ordering the crowd to recline on the ground,

    ³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish, and when He had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

    ³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied. And they gathered up seven [^[i]large provision] baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.

    ³⁸Those who ate were 4,000 men, not including the women and the children.

    ³⁹Then He dismissed the crowds, got into the boat, and went to the district of Magadan.

   

Matthew 16

 ¹NOW THE Pharisees and Sadducees came up to Jesus, and they asked Him to show them a sign (spectacular miracle) from heaven [attesting His divine authority].

    ²He replied to them, ^[j]When it is evening you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,

    ³And in the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and has a gloomy and threatening look. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

    ⁴A wicked and morally unfaithful generation craves a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Then He left them and went away.^(D)

    ⁵When the disciples reached the other side of the sea, they found that they had forgotten to bring any bread.

    ⁶Jesus said to them, Be careful and on your guard against the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

    ⁷And they reasoned among themselves about it, saying, It is because we did not bring any bread.

    ⁸But Jesus, aware of this, asked, Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? O you [men, how little trust you have in Me, how] little faith!

    ⁹Do you not yet discern (perceive and understand)? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many [^[k]small hand] baskets you gathered?

    ¹⁰Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many [^[l]large provision] baskets you took up?

    ¹¹How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

    ¹²Then they discerned that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

    ¹³Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

    ¹⁴And they answered, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

    ¹⁵He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am?

    ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

    ¹⁷Then Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[m]to be envied) are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.

    ¹⁸And I tell you, you are ^[n]Peter [Greek, Petros--a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra--a ^[o]huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the ^[p]infernal region) shall ^[q]not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].

    ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth ^[r]must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth ^[s]must be what is already loosed in heaven.^(E)

    ²⁰Then He sternly and strictly charged and warned the disciples to tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

    ²¹From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised ^[t]from death.

    ²²Then Peter took Him aside ^[u]to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and ^[v]charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!

    ²³But Jesus turned ^[w]away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are ^[x]minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.

    ²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [^[y]cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

    ²⁵For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

    ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed ^[z]life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] ^[aa]life [in the kingdom of God]?

    ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory (majesty, splendor) of His Father with His angels, and then He will render account and reward every man in accordance with what he has done.

    ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in (into) His kingdom.

   

Matthew 17

 ¹AND SIX days after this, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

    ²And His appearance underwent a change in their presence; and His face shone ^[ab]clear and bright like the sun, and His clothing became as white as light.

    ³And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, who kept talking with Him.

    ⁴Then Peter began to speak and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good and delightful that we are here; if You approve, I will put up three booths here--one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

    ⁵While he was still speaking, behold, a shining cloud [^[ac]composed of light] overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is My Son, My Beloved, with Whom I am [and ^[ad]have always been] delighted. Listen to Him!^(F)

    ⁶When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were ^[ae]seized with alarm and struck with fear.

    ⁷But Jesus came and touched them and said, Get up, and do not be afraid.

    ⁸And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

    ⁹And as they were going down the mountain, Jesus cautioned and commanded them, Do not mention to anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

    ¹⁰The disciples asked Him, Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

    ¹¹He replied, Elijah does come and will get everything restored and ready.

    ¹²But I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know or recognize him, but did to him as they liked. So also the Son of Man is going to be treated and suffer at their hands.

    ¹³Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist.^(G)

    ¹⁴And when they approached the multitude, a man came up to Him, kneeling before Him and saying,

    ¹⁵Lord, do pity and have mercy on my son, for he has epilepsy (is ^[af]moonstruck) and he suffers terribly; for frequently he falls into the fire and many times into the water.

    ¹⁶And I brought him to Your disciples, and they were not able to cure him.

    ¹⁷And Jesus answered, O you unbelieving (^[ag]warped, wayward, rebellious) and ^[ah]thoroughly perverse generation! How long am I to remain with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.

    ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.

    ¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked privately, Why could we not drive it out?

    ²⁰He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of ^[ai]firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [^[aj]that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

    ^21[ak]But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

    ²²When they were going about here and there in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is going to be turned over into the hands of men.

    ²³And they will kill Him, and He will be raised [to life] again on the third day. And they were deeply and exceedingly grieved and distressed.

    ²⁴When they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half shekel [the temple tax] went up to Peter and said, Does not your Teacher pay the half shekel?^(H)

    ²⁵He answered, Yes. And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him [about it] first, saying, What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly rulers collect duties or tribute--from their own sons or from others ^[al]not of their own family?

    ²⁶And when Peter said, From other people ^[am]not of their own family, Jesus said to him, Then the sons are exempt.

    ²⁷However, in order not to give offense and cause them to stumble [that is, to cause them ^[an]to judge unfavorably and unjustly] go down to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find there a shekel. Take it and give it to them to pay the temple tax for Me and for yourself.