Mark 4-9

New American Standard Bible

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)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 ^(D)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, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]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 ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)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 (I)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 ^(J)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 ^[c]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 ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(N)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[f]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[g]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (R)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 ^[i](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[j](U)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 ^(V)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 ^[k]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(W)without a parable; but He was ^(X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (Y)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 ^(Z)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 ^(AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[l]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[m]afraid? ^(AB)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 ^(AC)They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. ² When He got out of ^(AD)the boat, immediately a man from the tombs ^(AE)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, “^[n](AF)What business do You have with me, Jesus, ^(AG)Son of ^(AH)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 ^(AI)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 ^[o]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 ^(AJ)demon-possessed sitting down, ^(AK)clothed and ^(AL)in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the “^(AM)legion”; and they became frightened. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the ^(AN)demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to ^(AO)beg Him to leave their region. ^18 (AP)And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been ^(AQ)demon-possessed was begging Him that he might ^[p]accompany Him. ¹⁹ And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “^(AR)Go home to your people and report to them ^[q]what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to ^(AS)proclaim in ^(AT)Decapolis ^[r]what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

^21 (AU)When Jesus had crossed over again in ^(AV)the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He ^[s]stayed ^(AW)by the seashore. ^22 (AX)And one of ^(AY)the synagogue ^[t]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 ^(AZ)lay Your hands on her, so that she will ^[u]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 ^[v]cloak. ²⁸ For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will ^[w]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 ^(BA)disease. ³⁰ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that ^(BB)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, ^(BC)your faith has ^[x]made you well; ^(BD)go in peace and be cured of your ^(BE)disease.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, people *came from the house of the ^(BF)synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?” ³⁶ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the ^(BG)synagogue official, “^(BH)Do not be afraid, only ^[y]believe.” ³⁷ And He allowed no one to accompany Him except ^(BI)Peter, ^[z]James, and John the brother of ^[aa]James. ³⁸ They *came to the house of the ^(BJ)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, ^(BK)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 ^(BL)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 ^(BM)Jesus went out from there and *came into ^[ab](BN)His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² And when the Sabbath came, He began ^(BO)to teach in the synagogue; and ^[ac]the ^(BP)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 ^[ad]miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is this not ^(BQ)the carpenter, ^(BR)the son of Mary and brother of ^[ae]James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are ^(BS)His sisters not here with us?” And they took ^(BT)offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “^(BU)A prophet is not dishonored except in ^[af](BV)his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could not do any ^[ag]miracle there except that He ^(BW)laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He was amazed at their unbelief.

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

The Twelve Sent Out

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

John’s Fate Recalled

^14 (CF)And King Herod heard about it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^(CG)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 ^(CH)Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^(CI)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 ^(CJ)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(CK)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And ^(CL)Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(CM)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 ^[an]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, ^(CN)held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people ^(CO)of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of ^(CP)Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[ao]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 ^(CQ)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 ^[ap]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 (CR)The ^(CS)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 ^(CT)they did not even have time to eat.) ^32 (CU)And they went away in ^(CV)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 ^[aq]ashore, He ^(CW)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(CX)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, “^[ar]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 ^[as]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(CY)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[at](CZ)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 ^(DA)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 ^(DB)baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(DC)five thousand ^[au]men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (DD)And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into ^(DE)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to ^(DF)Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And after ^(DG)saying goodbye to them, He left ^(DH)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 ^[av]straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the ^[aw](DI)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 ^[ax]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(DJ)Take courage; it is I, ^(DK)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(DL)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(DM)they ^[ay]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[az]their hearts ^(DN)were hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (DO)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, ^[ba]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 ^(DP)touch ^(DQ)the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being ^[bb]healed.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(DR)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(DS)from Jerusalem, ² and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[bc](DT)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[bd]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(DU)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[be]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[bf]washing of ^(DV)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(DW)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^[bg](DX)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 ^(EA)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 ^(EB)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(EC)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(ED)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[bh]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 ^(EE)Corban (that is, ^[bi]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 ^(EF)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Mankind

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^[bj].”

¹⁷ And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(EG)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 ^[bk]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(EH)all foods ^(EI)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(EJ)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹ For from within, out of the ^[bl]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²² deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[bm](EK)envy, slander, ^[bn]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (EL)Now Jesus got up and went from there to the region of ^(EM)Tyre^[bo]. 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 ^[bp]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 ^[bq]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[br]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 ^[bs]answer, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And after going back to her home, she found the child ^[bt]lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

^31 (EN)Again He left the region of ^(EO)Tyre and came through Sidon to ^(EP)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(EQ)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they *begged Him to ^(ER)lay His hand on him. ³³ And Jesus ^(ES)took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers in his ears, and after ^(ET)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(EU)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[bu]impediment of his tongue was ^[bv]removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(EV)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(EW)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.”

Four Thousand Men Fed

8 In those days, ^(EX)when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and *said to them, ² “^(EY)I feel compassion for the ^[bw]people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat. ³ And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴ And His disciples replied to Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[bx]bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” ⁵ And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶ And He *directed the ^[by]people to recline on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve, and they served them to the ^[bz]people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and ^(EZ)after He had blessed them, He told the disciples to serve these as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(FA)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand ^[ca]men were there; and He dismissed them. ¹⁰ And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of ^(FB)Dalmanutha.

^11 (FC)And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^(FD)demanding from Him a ^[cb]sign from heaven, ^[cc]to test Him. ^12 (FE)Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation demand a ^[cd]sign? Truly I say to you, ^[ce](FF)no ^[cf]sign will be given to this generation!” ¹³ And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ And the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. ¹⁵ And He was giving orders to them, saying, “^(FG)Watch out! Beware of the ^[cg]leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of ^(FH)Herod.” ¹⁶ And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^(FI)Do you not yet comprehend or understand? Do you still have your heart ^[ch]hardened? ^18 (FJ)Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke ^(FK)the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^(FL)baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke ^(FM)the seven for the four thousand, how many large ^(FN)baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(FO)Do you not yet understand?”

²² And they *came to ^(FP)Bethsaida. And some people *brought a man who was blind to ^[ci]Jesus and *begged Him to ^(FQ)touch him. ²³ Taking the man who was blind by the hand, He ^(FR)brought him out of the village; and after ^(FS)spitting in his eyes and ^(FT)laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he ^[cj]looked up and said, “I see people, for I see them like trees, walking around.” ²⁵ Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. ²⁶ And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter ^(FU)the village.”

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^27 (FV)Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of ^(FW)Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” ^28 (FX)They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ And He continued questioning them: “But who do you say that I am?” ^(FY)Peter answered and *said to Him, “You are the ^[ck]Christ.” ³⁰ And ^(FZ)He ^[cl]warned them to tell no one about Him.

^31 (GA)And He began to teach them that ^(GB)the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead. ³² And He was stating the matter ^(GC)plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, ^(GD)Satan; for you are not setting your mind on ^[cm]God’s purposes, but on man’s.”

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(GE)take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For ^(GF)whoever wants to save his ^[cn]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[co]life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what could a person give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For ^(GG)whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^(GH)the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^(GI)comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “^(GJ)Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

^2 (GK)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(GL)Peter, ^[cp]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[cq]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(GM)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(GN)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(GO)let’s make three ^[cr]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[cs]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(GP)a voice ^[ct]came out of the cloud: “^(GQ)This is My beloved Son; ^[cu]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (GR)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(GS)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[cv]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[cw]seized upon ^[cx]that statement, discussing with one another ^[cy]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(GT)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of ^(GU)the Son of Man that ^(GV)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[cz]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (GW)And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(GX)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” ¹⁷ And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸ and ^[da]whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ And they brought ^[db]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(GY)All things are possible for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(GZ)a crowd was ^[dc]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I ^[dd]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[de]again!” ²⁶ And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. ²⁸ When He came ^(HA)into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

Death and Resurrection Foretold

^30 (HB)And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “^(HC)The Son of Man is to be ^[df]handed over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But ^(HD)they ^[dg]did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

^33 (HE)They came to Capernaum; and when He was in ^(HF)the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way ^(HG)they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ And sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “^(HH)If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “^(HI)Whoever ^[dh]receives ^[di]one child like this in My name ^[dj]receives Me; and whoever ^[dk]receives Me does not ^[dl]receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Dire Warnings

^38 (HJ)John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and ^(HK)we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. ^40 (HL)For the one who is not against us is ^[dm]for us. ⁴¹ For ^(HM)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink ^[dn]because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

⁴² “^(HN)Whoever causes one of these ^[do]little ones who believe in Me to ^[dp]sin, it is better for him if a heavy millstone is hung around his neck and he ^[dq]is thrown into the sea. ⁴³ And ^(HO)if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go into ^[dr](HP)hell, into the ^(HQ)unquenchable fire.^{[ds] 45} And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown into ^[dt](HR)hell.^{[du] 47} And ^(HS)if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown into ^[dv](HT)hell, ^48 (HU)where their worm does not die, and ^(HV)the fire is not extinguished. ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good; but ^(HW)if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you ^[dw]make it salty again? ^(HX)Have salt in yourselves, and ^(HY)be at peace with one another.”