Matthew 15:29-16:12

New American Standard Bible

Healing Crowds

^29 (A)Departing from there, Jesus went along ^(B)the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[a]large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(C)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs ^[b]restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they ^(D)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Men Fed

^32 (E)Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “^(F)I feel compassion for the ^[c]people, because they ^[d]have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the ^[e]people to ^[f]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after ^(G)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(H)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(I)the boat and came to the region of ^(J)Magadan.

Pharisees and Sadducees Test Jesus

16 ^(K)The ^(L)Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they ^(M)asked Him to show them a ^[g]sign from heaven. ² But He replied to them, “^[h](N)When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ ^(O)You know how to discern the ^[i]appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times? ^4 (P)An evil and adulterous generation wants a ^[j]sign; and so a ^[k]sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵ And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and ^(Q)beware of the ^[l]leaven of the ^(R)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “^(S)You men of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand nor remember ^(T)the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up? ¹⁰ Nor ^(U)the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up? ¹¹ How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? But ^(V)beware of the ^[m]leaven of the ^(W)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the ^[n]leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^(X)Pharisees and Sadducees.