Mark 1-7

New American Standard Bible

Preaching of John the Baptist

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ^(A)the Son of God,

^2 (B)just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

⁴ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, ^[c](E)preaching a baptism of repentance for the ^(F)forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore ^(G)a leather belt around his waist, and ^[d]his diet was locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he was ^[e]preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. ⁸ I baptized you ^[f]with water; but He will baptize you ^[g]with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

^9 (H)In those days Jesus ^(I)came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens ^[h]opening, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him; ¹¹ and a voice came from the heavens: “^(J)You are My beloved Son; in You I ^[i]am well pleased.”

^12 (K)And immediately the Spirit *brought Him out into the wilderness. ¹³ And He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by ^(L)Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving Him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

^14 (M)Now after John was ^[j]taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^[k](N)preaching the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “^(O)The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ^[l]is at hand; ^(P)repent and ^[m]believe in the gospel.”

^16 (Q)As He was going along the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people.” ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, He saw ^[n]James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, ^[o]who were also in the boat mending the nets. ²⁰ Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went away ^[p]to follow Him.

^21 (R)They *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus ^(S)entered the synagogue and began to teach. ²² And ^(T)they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ²⁴ saying, “^(U)What ^[q]business do you have with us, Jesus ^[r]of ^(V)Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: ^(W)the Holy One of God!” ²⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” ²⁶ After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all ^(X)amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” ²⁸ Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Crowds Healed

^29 (Y)And immediately after they left ^(Z)the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with ^[s]James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately *spoke to ^[t]Jesus about her. ³¹ And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she served them.

³² Now ^(AA)when evening came, ^(AB)after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were ^(AC)demon-possessed. ³³ And the whole ^(AD)city had gathered at the door. ³⁴ And He ^(AE)healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew ^[u]who He was.

^35 (AF)And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and ^(AG)prayed there for a time. ³⁶ Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; ³⁷ and they found Him and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” ³⁸ He *said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also ^[v]preach there; for this is why I came.” ^39 (AH)And He went into their synagogues ^[w]preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons.

^40 (AI)And a man with ^[x]leprosy *came to ^[y]Jesus, imploring Him and ^(AJ)kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. ⁴³ And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, ⁴⁴ and He *said to him, “^(AK)See that you say nothing to anyone; but ^(AL)go, show yourself to the priest and ^(AM)offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to ^(AN)proclaim it ^[z]freely and to ^(AO)spread the news around, to such an extent that ^[aa]Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ^[ab]stayed out in unpopulated areas; and ^(AP)they were coming to Him from everywhere.

The Paralyzed Man Healed

2 When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ² And ^(AQ)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ^3 (AR)And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was ^(AS)paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ And when they were unable to ^[ac]get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(AT)removed the roof ^[ad]above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(AU)paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, ^(AV)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! ^(AW)Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware ^[ae]in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the ^(AX)paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(AY)were glorifying God, saying, “^(AZ)We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³ And He went out again by the seashore; and ^(BA)all the ^[af]people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Levi (Matthew) Called

^14 (BB)As He passed by, He saw ^[ag](BC)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “^(BD)Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵ And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and ^[ah]sinners were ^[ai]dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. ¹⁶ When ^(BE)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the ^[aj]sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “^(BF)Why is He eating with tax collectors and ^[ak]sinners?” ¹⁷ And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “^(BG)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

^18 (BH)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[al]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(BI)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[am]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Question of the Sabbath

^23 (BJ)And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while ^(BK)picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, ^(BL)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the ^[an]time of ^(BM)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the ^[ao]consecrated bread, which ^(BN)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “^(BO)The Sabbath ^[ap]was made ^[aq]for man, and ^(BP)not man ^[ar]for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

3 ^(BQ)He ^(BR)entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ² And ^(BS)they were watching Him ^[as]closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(BT)so that they might accuse Him. ³ He *said to the man with the withered hand, “^[at]Get up and come forward!” ⁴ And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ After ^(BU)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began ^[au]conspiring with the ^(BV)Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

^7 (BW)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(BX)a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(BY)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(BZ)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him. ^9 (CA)And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the ^[av]masses, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had ^(CB)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(CC)diseases pushed in around Him in order to ^(CD)touch Him. ¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are ^(CE)the Son of God!” ¹² And He ^(CF)strongly warned them not to ^[aw]reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He *went up on ^(CG)the mountain and *^(CH)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: ^(CI)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ^17 [ax]James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of ^[ay]James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, ^[az]James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^[ba]Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

²⁰ And He *came ^[bb](CJ)home, and the ^(CK)crowd *gathered again, ^(CL)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[bc]a meal. ²¹ And when ^(CM)His own ^[bd]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(CN)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(CO)from Jerusalem were saying, “He ^[be]is possessed by ^[bf](CP)Beelzebul,” and “^(CQ)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (CR)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(CS)parables: “How can ^(CT)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if ^(CU)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[bg]he is finished! ^27 (CV)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(CW)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; ²⁹ but ^(CX)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

^31 (CY)Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(CZ)Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(DA)does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(DB)He began to teach ^(DC)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(DD)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(DE)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(DF)He who has ears to hear, ^[bh]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[bi]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(DG)those who are outside, everything comes ^(DH)in parables, ¹² so that ^(DI)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (DJ)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(DK)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[bj]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(DL)the ^[bk]world, and the ^(DM)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[bl]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(DN)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(DO)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[bm]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (DP)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (DQ)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[bn]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[bo](DR)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (DS)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ Now when the crop permits, he immediately ^[bp](DT)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (DU)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[bq](DV)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that ^(DW)the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to ^[br]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(DX)without a parable; but He was ^(DY)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (DZ)On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After dismissing the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(EA)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a fierce gale of wind *developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. ³⁸ And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and ^(EB)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[bs]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[bt]afraid? ^(EC)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

The Demon-possessed Man Cured

5 ^(ED)They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. ² When He got out of ^(EE)the boat, immediately a man from the tombs ^(EF)with an unclean spirit met Him. ³ He lived among the tombs; and no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴ because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces; and no one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; ⁷ and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, “^[bu](EG)What business do You have with me, Jesus, ^(EH)Son of ^(EI)the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” ⁸ For He had already been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is ^(EJ)Legion, for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region. ¹¹ Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding ^[bv]nearby on the mountain. ¹² And the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.” ¹³ Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ And then they *came to Jesus and *saw the man who had been ^(EK)demon-possessed sitting down, ^(EL)clothed and ^(EM)in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the “^(EN)legion”; and they became frightened. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the ^(EO)demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to ^(EP)beg Him to leave their region. ^18 (EQ)And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been ^(ER)demon-possessed was begging Him that he might ^[bw]accompany Him. ¹⁹ And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “^(ES)Go home to your people and report to them ^[bx]what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to ^(ET)proclaim in ^(EU)Decapolis ^[by]what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

^21 (EV)When Jesus had crossed over again in ^(EW)the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He ^[bz]stayed ^(EX)by the seashore. ^22 (EY)And one of ^(EZ)the synagogue ^[ca]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 ^(FA)lay Your hands on her, so that she will ^[cb]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 ^[cc]cloak. ²⁸ For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will ^[cd]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 ^(FB)disease. ³⁰ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that ^(FC)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, ^(FD)your faith has ^[ce]made you well; ^(FE)go in peace and be cured of your ^(FF)disease.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, people *came from the house of the ^(FG)synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?” ³⁶ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the ^(FH)synagogue official, “^(FI)Do not be afraid, only ^[cf]believe.” ³⁷ And He allowed no one to accompany Him except ^(FJ)Peter, ^[cg]James, and John the brother of ^[ch]James. ³⁸ They *came to the house of the ^(FK)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, ^(FL)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 ^(FM)gave them strict orders that no one was to know about this, and He told them to have something given her to eat.

Teaching at Nazareth

6 ^(FN)Jesus went out from there and *came into ^[ci](FO)His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² And when the Sabbath came, He began ^(FP)to teach in the synagogue; and ^[cj]the ^(FQ)many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such ^[ck]miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is this not ^(FR)the carpenter, ^(FS)the son of Mary and brother of ^[cl]James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are ^(FT)His sisters not here with us?” And they took ^(FU)offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “^(FV)A prophet is not dishonored except in ^[cm](FW)his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could not do any ^[cn]miracle there except that He ^(FX)laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He was amazed at their unbelief.

^(FY)And He was going around the villages, teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

^7 (FZ)And ^(GA)He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out ^(GB)in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; ^8 (GC)and He instructed them that they were to take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no ^[co]bag, no money in their belt— ⁹ but ^[cp]to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not wear two ^[cq]tunics.” ¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you ^[cr]leave town. ¹¹ Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ^(GD)shake the dust ^[cs]off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.” ^12 (GE)And they went out and ^[ct]preached that people are to repent. ¹³ And they were casting out many demons and ^(GF)were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

^14 (GG)And King Herod heard about it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^(GH)John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” ¹⁵ But others were saying, “He is ^(GI)Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^(GJ)a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard about it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^(GK)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(GL)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And ^(GM)Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(GN)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he ^[cu]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, ^(GO)held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people ^(GP)of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of ^(GQ)Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[cv]his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to ^(GR)half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and ^[cw]his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

^30 (GS)The ^(GT)apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and ^(GU)they did not even have time to eat.) ^32 (GV)And they went away in ^(GW)the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Men Fed

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ^[cx]ashore, He ^(GX)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(GY)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “^[cy]This place is secluded and it is already late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[cz]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(GZ)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[da](HA)denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(HB)blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied; ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full ^(HC)baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(HD)five thousand ^[db]men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (HE)And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into ^(HF)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to ^(HG)Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And after ^(HH)saying goodbye to them, He left ^(HI)for the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Seeing them ^[dc]straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the ^[dd](HJ)fourth watch of the night, He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. ⁴⁹ But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[de]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(HK)Take courage; it is I, ^(HL)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(HM)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(HN)they ^[df]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[dg]their hearts ^(HO)were hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (HP)When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored at the shore. ⁵⁴ And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that entire country and began carrying here and there on their pallets those who were sick, ^[dh]to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or a countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just ^(HQ)touch ^(HR)the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being ^[di]healed.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(HS)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(HT)from Jerusalem, ² and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[dj](HU)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[dk]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(HV)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[dl]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[dm]washing of ^(HW)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(HX)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(HY)[dn]unholy hands?” ⁶ But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(IB)tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(IC)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(ID)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(IE)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[do]certainly to be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(IF)Corban (that is, ^[dp]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thereby invalidating the word of God by your ^(IG)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person^[dq].”

¹⁷ And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(IH)His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[dr]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(II)all foods ^(IJ)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(IK)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹ For from within, out of the ^[ds]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²² deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[dt](IL)envy, slander, ^[du]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (IM)Now Jesus got up and went from there to the region of ^(IN)Tyre^[dv]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know about it; and yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[dw]Gentile, of Syrophoenician descent. And she repeatedly asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[dx]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[dy]dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[dz]answer, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And after going back to her home, she found the child ^[ea]lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

^31 (IO)Again He left the region of ^(IP)Tyre and came through Sidon to ^(IQ)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(IR)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they *begged Him to ^(IS)lay His hand on him. ³³ And Jesus ^(IT)took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers in his ears, and after ^(IU)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(IV)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[eb]impediment of his tongue was ^[ec]removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(IW)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(IX)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even those who are deaf hear, and those who are unable to talk, speak.”