Matthew 15:29-16:12

Christian Standard Bible

Healing Many People

²⁹ Moving on from there,^(A) Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.^(B) He went up on a mountain and sat there, ³⁰ and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,^(C) and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding of the Four Thousand

³² Jesus called his disciples and said,^(D) “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³ The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place^(E) to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴ “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵ After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.^{(F) 37} They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. ³⁸ Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. ³⁹ After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.^[a](G)

The Leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees approached,^(H) and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.^{(I) 2} He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You^[b] know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times.^{[c] 4} An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of^[d] Jonah.”^(J) Then he left them and went away.

⁵ The disciples reached the other shore,^[e] and they had forgotten to take bread. ⁶ Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven^[f] of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”^(K)

⁷ They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸ Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith,^(L) why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? ⁹ Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected?^{(M) 11} Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?”^{(N) 12} Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.^(O)