Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

8 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, ^(A)Jesus called His disciples and *said to them, ² “^(B)I feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days 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 answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[a]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 crowd to ^[b]sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to ^[c]serve to them, and they served them to the crowd. ⁷ And they also had a few small fish; and ^(C)after He blessed them, He ordered these to be ^[d]served as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(D)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ Now 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 ^(E)Dalmanutha.

^11 (F)And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^(G)seeking from Him ^[e]a sign from heaven, testing Him. ^12 (H)And sighing deeply ^[f]in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek ^[g]a sign? Truly I say to you, ^[h](I)no ^[i]sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ And 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, “^(J)Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^(K)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 do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? ^(L)Do you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? ^18 (M)Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke ^(N)the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^(O)baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke ^(P)the seven for the four thousand, how many large ^(Q)baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(R)Do you not yet understand?”

²² And they *came to ^(S)Bethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *pleaded with Him to ^(T)touch him. ²³ And taking the blind man by the hand, He ^(U)brought him out of the village; and after ^(V)spitting on his eyes and ^(W)laying His hands on him, He was asking him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he ^[j]looked up and was saying, “I see men, for ^[k]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 ^(X)the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

^27 (Y)And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of ^(Z)Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” ^28 (AA)And they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ And He continued asking them, “But who do you say that I am?” ^(AB)Peter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the ^[l]Christ.” ³⁰ And ^(AC)He ^[m]warned them to tell no one about Him.

^31 (AD)And He began to teach them that ^(AE)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 ^(AF)openly. 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, ^(AG)Satan! For you are not setting your mind on ^[n]God’s interests, but man’s.”

Take Up Your Cross

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to ^[o]come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^(AH)take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For ^(AI)whoever wishes to save his ^[p]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[q]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 ^(AJ)whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^(AK)the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^(AL)comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”