Mark 6-9

New American Standard Bible 1995

Teaching at Nazareth

6 ^(A)Jesus went out from there and *came into ^[a](B)His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began ^(C)to teach in the synagogue; and the ^(D)many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such ^[b]miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is not this ^(E)the carpenter, ^(F)the son of Mary, and brother of ^[c]James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not ^(G)His sisters here with us?” And they took ^(H)offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “^(I)A prophet is not without honor except in ^[d](J)his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could do no ^[e]miracle there except that He ^(K)laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He wondered at their unbelief.

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

The Twelve Sent Out

^7 (M)And ^(N)He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out ^(O)in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; ^8 (P)and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no ^[f]bag, no money in their belt— ⁹ but ^[g]to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two ^[h]tunics.” ¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you ^[i]leave town. ¹¹ Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ^(Q)shake the dust ^[j]off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” ^12 (R)They went out and ^[k]preached that men should repent. ¹³ And they were casting out many demons and ^(S)were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

^14 (T)And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^(U)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 ^(V)Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^(W)a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^(X)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(Y)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ^19 (Z)Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(AA)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; ^[l]but he ^[m]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday ^(AB)gave a banquet for his lords and ^[n]military commanders and the leading men ^(AC)of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of ^(AD)Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[o]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 ^(AE)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, yet because of his oaths and because of ^[p]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 had him beheaded 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 took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

^30 (AF)The ^(AG)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 while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and ^(AH)they did not even have time to eat.) ^32 (AI)They went away in ^(AJ)the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand 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 ^[q]ashore, He ^(AK)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(AL)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “^[r]This place is desolate and it is already quite late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[s]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(AM)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[t](AN)denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” ³⁸ And 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 commanded them all to ^[u]sit down by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They ^[v]sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(AO)blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full ^(AP)baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(AQ)five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (AR)Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into ^(AS)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to ^(AT)Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. ⁴⁶ After ^(AU)bidding them farewell, He left ^(AV)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 ^[w]straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the ^[x](AW)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 supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[y]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(AX)Take courage; it is I, ^(AY)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(AZ)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(BA)they ^[z]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[aa]their heart ^(BB)was hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (BC)When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to ^[ab]the place they heard He was. ⁵⁶ Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just ^(BD)touch ^(BE)the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(BF)The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come ^(BG)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(BH)impure hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[ac]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(BI)traditions of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they ^[ad]cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the ^[ae]washing of ^(BJ)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(BK)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(BL)impure hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(BO)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 ^(BP)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(BQ)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(BR)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[af]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(BS)Corban (that is to say, ^[ag]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(BT)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 man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶ [^[ah]If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered ^(BU)the house, ^(BV)His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[ai]is eliminated?” (Thus He declared ^(BW)all foods ^(BX)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(BY)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, ^[aj]fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, ^[ak](BZ)envy, slander, ^[al]pride and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (CA)Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of ^(CB)Tyre^[am]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; ^[an]yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[ao]Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking 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 ^[ap]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the 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 ^[aq]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child ^[ar]lying on the bed, the demon having left.

^31 (CC)Again He went out from the region of ^(CD)Tyre, and came through Sidon to ^(CE)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(CF)Decapolis. ³² They *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *implored Him to ^(CG)lay His hand on him. ^33 (CH)Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^(CI)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(CJ)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[as]impediment of his tongue ^[at]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(CK)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(CL)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Four Thousand Fed

8 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, ^(CM)Jesus called His disciples and *said to them, ² “^(CN)I feel compassion for the ^[au]people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³ 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 answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[av]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 ^[aw]people to ^[ax]sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to ^[ay]serve to them, and they served them to the ^[az]people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and ^(CO)after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be ^[ba]served as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(CP)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand were there; and He sent them away. ¹⁰ And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of ^(CQ)Dalmanutha.

^11 (CR)The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^(CS)seeking from Him a ^[bb]sign from heaven, ^[bc]to test Him. ^12 (CT)Sighing deeply ^[bd]in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek for a ^[be]sign? Truly I say to you, ^[bf](CU)no ^[bg]sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ And they 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, “^(CV)Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^(CW)Herod.” ¹⁶ They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? ^(CX)Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a ^[bh]hardened heart? ^18 (CY)Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke ^(CZ)the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^(DA)baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke ^(DB)the seven for the four thousand, how many large ^(DC)baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(DD)Do you not yet understand?”

²² And they *came to ^(DE)Bethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *implored Him to ^(DF)touch him. ²³ Taking the blind man by the hand, He ^(DG)brought him out of the village; and after ^(DH)spitting on his eyes and ^(DI)laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he ^[bi]looked up and said, “I see men, for ^[bj]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 ^(DJ)the village.”

Peter’s Confession of Christ

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

^31 (DP)And He began to teach them that ^(DQ)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 again. ³² And He was stating the matter ^(DR)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, ^(DS)Satan; for you are not setting your mind on ^[bm]God’s interests, but man’s.”

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^(DT)take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For ^(DU)whoever wishes to save his ^[bn]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[bo]life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For ^(DV)whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^(DW)the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^(DX)comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “^(DY)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 after it has come with power.”

^2 (DZ)Six days later, Jesus *took with Him ^(EA)Peter and ^[bp]James and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and ^(EB)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter *said to Jesus, “^(EC)Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; ^(ED)let us make three ^[bq]tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[br]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(EE)a voice ^[bs]came out of the cloud, “^(EF)This is My beloved Son, ^[bt]listen to Him!” ⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (EG)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(EH)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[bu]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[bv]seized upon ^[bw]that statement, discussing with one another ^[bx]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(EI)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of ^(EJ)the Son of Man that ^(EK)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[by]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (EL)When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(EM)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” ¹⁷ And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; ¹⁸ and ^[bz]whenever it seizes him, it ^[ca]slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and ^[cb]stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and 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 They brought ^[cc]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, 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 destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(EN)All things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(EO)a crowd was ^[cd]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I ^[ce]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[cf]again.” ²⁶ 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 ^(EP)into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

Death and Resurrection Foretold

^30 (EQ)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, “^(ER)The Son of Man is to be ^[cg]delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But ^(ES)they ^[ch]did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

^33 (ET)They came to Capernaum; and when He ^[ci]was in ^(EU)the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way ^(EV)they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “^(EW)If anyone wants to be first, ^[cj]he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ Taking a child, He set him ^[ck]before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “^(EX)Whoever receives ^[cl]one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Dire Warnings

^38 (EY)John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and ^(EZ)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 (FA)For he who is not against us is ^[cm]for us. ⁴¹ For ^(FB)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink ^[cn]because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

⁴² “^(FC)Whoever causes one of these ^[co]little ones who believe to stumble, it ^[cp]would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he ^[cq]had been cast into the sea. ^43 (FD)If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into ^[cr](FE)hell, into the ^(FF)unquenchable fire, ⁴⁴ [^[cs]where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] ⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into ^[ct](FG)hell, ⁴⁶ [^[cu]where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] ^47 (FH)If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into ^[cv](FI)hell, ^48 (FJ)where their worm does not die, and ^(FK)the fire is not quenched.

⁴⁹ “For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good; but ^(FL)if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you ^[cw]make it salty again? ^(FM)Have salt in yourselves, and ^(FN)be at peace with one another.”