⁵¹ Do you understand all these things?”

“Yes,” they said, “we do.”

¹¹ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets^[a] of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.^[a] And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

³⁰ Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

⁴⁴ “Listen to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” ⁴⁵ But they didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ¹⁸ ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’^[a] Don’t you remember anything at all?

¹⁸ “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?

³⁴ In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

¹⁵ “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration^[a] standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!)

¹¹ Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”