Beginning
God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions
15 (A)Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus (B)from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they (C)do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘(D)Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘(E)He who speaks evil of father or mother is to [a]be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might benefit from me [b]is given to God,” 6 he need not [c]honor his father.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
8 ‘(F)This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
9 But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as (G)doctrines the commands of men.’”
10 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. 11 (H)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
12 Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were [d]offended when they heard this statement?” 13 But He answered and said, “(I)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; (J)they are blind guides [e]of the blind. And (K)if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
The Heart of Man
15 Now Peter answered and said to Him, “(L)Explain the parable to us.” 16 And [f]Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17 Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and goes into the sewer? 18 But (M)the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 (N)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
The Canaanite Woman
21 (O)And going away from there, Jesus withdrew into the district of (P)Tyre and (Q)Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, (R)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly (S)demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and were pleading with Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting [g]at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to (T)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and [h](U)was bowing down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not [i]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; [j]but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, (V)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed [k]at once.
Jesus Heals the Crowds
29 (W)And departing from there, Jesus went along by (X)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And [l]large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and (Y)He healed them. 31 So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled [m]restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they (Z)glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
32 (AA)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “(AB)I feel compassion for the crowd, because they [n]have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” 33 And 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 crowd to [o]sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and (AC)giving thanks, He broke them and kept 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 (AD)baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into (AE)the boat and came to the region of (AF)Magadan.
The Pharisees and Sadducees Test Jesus
16 (AG)And the (AH)Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him, they (AI)asked Him to show them [p]a sign from heaven. 2 But He replied to them, “[q](AJ)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.’ (AK)Do you know how to discern the [r]appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? 4 (AL)An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for [s]a sign; and [t]a sign will not be given it, except the [u]sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
5 And coming to the other side of the sea, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. 6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and (AM)beware of the [v]leaven of the (AN)Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 Now they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “(AO)You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand or remember (AP)the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? 10 Or (AQ)the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? 11 How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But (AR)beware of the [w]leaven of the (AS)Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the (AT)Pharisees and Sadducees.
Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ
13 (AU)Now when Jesus came into the district of (AV)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that (AW)the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say (AX)John the Baptist; and others, [x](AY)Elijah; but still others, [y]Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are [z](AZ)the Christ, (BA)the Son of (BB)the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, (BC)Simon [aa]Bar-Jonah, because (BD)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are [ab](BE)Peter, and upon this [ac]rock I will build My church; and the gates of (BF)Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you (BG)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and (BH)whatever you bind on earth [ad]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth [ae]shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 (BI)Then He [af]warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the [ag](BJ)Christ.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
21 (BK)From that time [ah]Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and (BL)suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “[ai]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never [aj]happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, (BM)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on [ak]God’s interests, but man’s.”
Take Up Your Cross
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and (BN)take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For (BO)whoever wishes to save his [al]life will lose it; but whoever loses his [am]life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the (BP)Son of Man (BQ)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and (BR)will then [an]repay each one according to his [ao]deeds.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the (BS)Son of Man (BT)coming in His kingdom.”
The Transfiguration
17 And (BU)six days later Jesus *brought with Him (BV)Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, (BW)I will make three [ap]booths here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, (BX)a voice out of the cloud said, “(BY)This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and (BZ)do not be afraid.” 8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
9 (CA)And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “(CB)Tell the vision to no one until (CC)the Son of Man has (CD)risen from the dead.” 10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that (CE)Elijah must come first?” 11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did [aq]to him whatever they wished. So also (CF)the Son of Man is going to suffer [ar]at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.
Jesus Casts Out a Demon
14 (CG)And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 “[as]Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has [at](CH)seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 17 And Jesus answered and said, “O you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured [au]at once.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 And He *said to them, “Because of your little faith; for truly I say to you, (CI)if you have faith [av]the size of (CJ)a mustard seed, you will say to (CK)this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and (CL)nothing will be impossible to you. 21 [aw][(CM)But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]
22 (CN)And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be [ax]delivered into the hands of men; 23 and (CO)they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.
The Temple Tax
24 Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected (CP)the [ay]two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay (CQ)the [az]two-drachma tax?” 25 He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect (CR)tolls or (CS)taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” 26 And when Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are [ba]exempt. 27 However, so that we do not [bb](CT)offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a [bc]stater. Take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
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