Ministry of the Twelve

9 ^(A)Now He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. ² And He sent them out to ^(B)proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. ³ And He said to them, “^(C)Take nothing for your journey, ^(D)neither a staff, nor a ^[a]bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two ^[b]tunics. ⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there ^[c]until you leave that city. ⁵ And as for all who do not receive you, when you leave that city, ^(E)shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ And as they were leaving, they began going ^[d]throughout the villages, ^(F)preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

^7 (G)Now ^(H)Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^(I)John had risen from the dead, ⁸ and by some that ^(J)Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. ⁹ Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^(K)he kept trying to see Him.

^10 (L)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(M)And taking them with Him, He withdrew privately to a city called ^(N)Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and He welcomed them and began speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and curing those who had need of healing.

Five Thousand Men Fed

¹² Now the day ^[e]was ending, and the twelve came up and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get ^[f]something to eat; because here, we are in a secluded place.” ¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) But He said to His disciples, “Have them recline to eat ^(O)in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all recline. ¹⁶ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples again and again, to serve the crowd. ¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and ^[g]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^(P)baskets full.

Peter Says Jesus is The Christ

^18 (Q)And it happened that while He was ^(R)praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the ^[h]people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” ²⁰ And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “^(S)The ^[i]Christ of God.” ²¹ But He ^[j](T)warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, ^22 (U)saying, “^(V)The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.”

²³ And He was saying to them all, “^(W)If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. ²⁴ For ^(X)whoever wants to save his ^[k]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[l]life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. ²⁵ For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but ^(Y)loses or forfeits himself? ^26 (Z)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. ²⁷ But I say to you truthfully, ^(AA)there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

^28 (AB)About eight days after these sayings, He took along ^(AC)Peter, John, and James, and ^(AD)went up on the mountain ^(AE)to pray. ²⁹ And while He was ^(AF)praying, the appearance of His face ^(AG)became different, and His clothing became white and ^[m]gleaming. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who, appearing in ^[n]glory, were speaking of His ^(AH)departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and his companions ^(AI)had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who were standing with Him. ³³ And as ^[o]these two men were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “^(AJ)Master, it is good that we are here; and ^(AK)let’s make three ^[p]tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—^(AL)not realizing what he was saying. ³⁴ But while he was saying this, a cloud ^[q]formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And then ^(AM)a voice came from the cloud, saying, “^(AN)This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” ³⁶ And when the voice ^[r]had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And ^(AO)they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

^37 (AP)On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. ³⁸ And a man from the crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, because he is my only son, ³⁹ and a spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. ⁴⁰ And I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.” ⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² Now while he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And they were all amazed at the ^[s](AQ)greatness of God.

^(AR)But while everyone was astonished at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁴ “As for you, let these words sink into your ears: ^(AS)for the Son of Man is going to be ^[t]handed over to men.” ⁴⁵ But ^(AT)they ^[u]did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not comprehend it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

The Test of Greatness

^46 (AU)Now an argument ^[v]started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, ^(AV)knowing ^[w]what they were thinking in their hearts, took a child and had him stand by His side, ⁴⁸ and He said to them, “^(AW)Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; ^(AX)for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

^49 (AY)John answered and said, “^(AZ)Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow along with us.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; ^(BA)for the one who is not against you is ^[x]for you.”

⁵¹ When the days were approaching for ^(BB)His ^[y]ascension, He ^[z]was determined ^(BC)to go to Jerusalem; ⁵² and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the ^(BD)Samaritans to ^[aa]make arrangements for Him. ⁵³ And they did not receive Him, ^(BE)because ^[ab]He was traveling toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When His disciples ^(BF)James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^(BG)command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them.^{[ac] 56} And they went on to another village.

Exacting Discipleship

^57 (BH)As they were going on the road, ^(BI)someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but ^(BJ)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹ And He said to another, “^(BK)Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^(BL)proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but ^(BM)first permit me to say goodbye to those at my home.” ⁶² But Jesus said to him, “^(BN)No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Miracles of Healing

^18 (A)While He was saying these things to them, behold, ^[a]a synagogue ^[b]official came and ^[c](B)bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will become alive again.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up from the table and began to accompany him, along with His disciples.

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him, and touched ^(C)the ^[d]border of His ^[e]cloak; ²¹ for she was ^[f]saying ^[g]to herself, “If I only ^(D)touch His cloak, I will ^[h]get well.” ²² But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Daughter, ^(E)take courage; ^(F)your faith has ^[i]made you well.” And ^[j]at once the woman was ^[k]made well.

²³ When Jesus came into the ^[l]official’s house and saw ^(G)the flute players and the crowd in noisy disorder, ²⁴ He said, “Leave; for the girl ^(H)has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. ²⁵ But ^(I)when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and ^(J)took her by the hand, and the girl ^[m]got up. ²⁶ And ^(K)this news spread throughout that land.

Miracles and Healing

^21 (A)When Jesus had crossed over again in ^(B)the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He ^[a]stayed ^(C)by the seashore. ^22 (D)And one of ^(E)the synagogue ^[b]officials, named Jairus, *came, and upon seeing Him, *fell at His feet ²³ and *pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and ^(F)lay Your hands on her, so that she will ^[c]get well and live.” ²⁴ And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

²⁵ A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶ and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— ²⁷ after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His ^[d]cloak. ²⁸ For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will ^[e]get well.” ²⁹ And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her ^(G)disease. ³⁰ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that ^(H)power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” ³¹ And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³² And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. ³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, ^(I)your faith has ^[f]made you well; ^(J)go in peace and be cured of your ^(K)disease.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, people *came from the house of the ^(L)synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?” ³⁶ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the ^(M)synagogue official, “^(N)Do not be afraid, only ^[g]believe.” ³⁷ And He allowed no one to accompany Him except ^(O)Peter, ^[h]James, and John the brother of ^[i]James. ³⁸ They *came to the house of the ^(P)synagogue official, and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. ³⁹ And after entering, He *said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child has not died, but is asleep.” ⁴⁰ And they began laughing at Him. But putting them all outside, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was in bed. ⁴¹ And taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha, kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, ^(Q)I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astonished. ⁴³ And He ^(R)gave them strict orders that no one was to know about this, and He told them to have something given her to eat.