Matthew 15-17 (New American Standard Bible)

Matthew 15

Tradition and Commandment

 ^1(A)Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus ^(B)from Jerusalem and said,

 ²"Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^(C)do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

 ³And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

 ⁴"For God said, '^(D)HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, '^(E)HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'

 ⁵"But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"

 ⁶he is not to honor his father or his mother^[a].' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

 ⁷"You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
    ⁸'^(F)THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
         BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
    ⁹'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
         TEACHING AS ^(G)DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

 ¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.

 ¹¹"^(H)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

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

 ¹³But He answered and said, "^(I)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.

 ¹⁴"Let them alone; ^(J)they are blind guides ^[b]of the blind And ^(K)if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

The Heart of Man

 ¹⁵Peter said to Him, "^(L)Explain the parable to us."

 ¹⁶Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also?

 ¹⁷"Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?

 ¹⁸"But ^(M)the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

 ¹⁹"^(N)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

 ²⁰"These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

The Syrophoenician Woman

 ^21(O)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^(P)Tyre and ^(Q)Sidon.

 ²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(R)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly ^(S)demon-possessed."

 ²³But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us."

 ²⁴But He answered and said, "I was sent only to ^(T)the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

 ²⁵But she came and ^(U)began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"

 ²⁶And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

 ²⁷But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."

 ²⁸Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, ^(V)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.

Healing Crowds

 ^29(W)Departing from there, Jesus went along by ^(X)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there.

 ³⁰And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(Y)He healed them.

 ³¹So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^(Z)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

 ^32(AA)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "^(AB)I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way."

 ³³The disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?"

 ³⁴And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

 ³⁵And He directed the people to sit down on the ground;

 ³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^(AC)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

 ³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(AD)baskets full.

 ³⁸And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

 ³⁹And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(AE)the boat and came to the region of ^(AF)Magadan.

Matthew 16

Pharisees Test Jesus

 ^1(AG)The ^(AH)Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they ^(AI)asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

 ²But He replied to them, "^(AJ)When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'

 ³"And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' ^(AK)Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

 ⁴"^(AL)An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away.

 ⁵And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.

 ⁶And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and ^(AM)beware of the leaven of the ^(AN)Pharisees and Sadducees."

 ⁷They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring any bread."

 ⁸But Jesus, aware of this, said, "^(AO)You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

 ⁹"Do you not yet understand or remember ^(AP)the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?

 ¹⁰"Or ^(AQ)the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up?

 ¹¹"How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But ^(AR)beware of the leaven of the ^(AS)Pharisees and Sadducees."

 ¹²Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^(AT)Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter's Confession of Christ

 ^13(AU)Now when Jesus came into the district of ^(AV)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that ^(AW)the Son of Man is?"

 ¹⁴And they said, "Some say ^(AX)John the Baptist; and others, ^(AY)Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

 ¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

 ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are ^(AZ)the Christ, ^(BA)the Son of ^(BB)the living God."

 ¹⁷And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, ^(BC)Simon Barjona, because ^(BD)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

 ¹⁸"I also say to you that you are ^(BE)Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(BF)Hades will not overpower it.

 ¹⁹"I will give you ^(BG)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(BH)whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

 ^20(BI)Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was ^(BJ)the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

 ^21(BK)From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and ^(BL)suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

 ²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."

 ²³But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, ^(BM)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

Discipleship Is Costly

 ²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^(BN)take up his cross and follow Me.

 ²⁵"For ^(BO)whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

 ²⁶"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

 ²⁷"For the ^(BP)Son of Man ^(BQ)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(BR)WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.

 ²⁸"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(BS)Son of Man ^(BT)coming in His kingdom."

Matthew 17

The Transfiguration

 ^1(BU)Six days later Jesus took with Him ^(BV)Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

 ²And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

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

 ⁴Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, ^(BW)I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

 ⁵While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, ^(BX)a voice out of the cloud said, "^(BY)This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"

 ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.

 ⁷And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and ^(BZ)do not be afraid."

 ⁸And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

 ^9(CA)As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "^(CB)Tell the vision to no one until ^(CC)the Son of Man has ^(CD)risen from the dead."

 ¹⁰And His disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that ^(CE)Elijah must come first?"

 ¹¹And He answered and said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

 ¹²but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also ^(CF)the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

 ¹³Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

The Demoniac

 ^14(CG)When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,

 ¹⁵"Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a ^(CH)lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

 ¹⁶"I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him."

 ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me."

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

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

 ²⁰And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, ^(CI)if you have faith the size of ^(CJ)a mustard seed, you will say to ^(CK)this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and ^(CL)nothing will be impossible to you.

 ²¹["^[c](CM)But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."]

 ^22(CN)And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;

 ²³and ^(CO)they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day." And they were deeply grieved.

The Tribute Money

 ²⁴When they came to Capernaum, those who collected ^(CP)the ^[d]two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay ^(CQ)the two-drachma tax?"

 ²⁵He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect ^(CR)customs or ^(CS)poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?"

 ²⁶When Peter said, "From strangers," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are exempt.

 ²⁷"However, so that we do not ^(CT)offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find ^[e]a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me."