Beginning
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
6 (A)And Jesus went out from there and *came into [a](B)His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath came, He began (C)to teach in the synagogue; and (D)many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to this man, and such [b]miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 Is this man not (E)the carpenter, (F)the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not (G)His sisters here with us?” And they were taking (H)offense at Him. 4 And Jesus was saying to them, “(I)A prophet is not without honor except in [c](J)his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” 5 And He could do no [d]miracle there except that He (K)laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He was marveling 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 was giving them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 (P)and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only—no bread, no [e]bag, no money in their belt— 9 but [f]to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two [g]tunics.” 10 And He was saying to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you [h]leave town. 11 And any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, (Q)shake the dust [i]off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” 12 (R)And they went out and [j]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.
The Death of John the Baptist
14 (T)And King Herod heard 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 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)Now Herodias was holding a grudge against him and was wanting to put him to death and was not able; 20 for (AA)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he was keeping him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; [k]but he [l]used to enjoy listening to him. 21 And a strategic day came when Herod on his birthday (AB)gave a banquet for his great men and [m]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 [n]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 And 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 [o]his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him 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 And when his disciples heard this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
30 (AF)And 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 desolate 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)And they went away in (AJ)the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
33 And 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 And when Jesus went [p]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 And when it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and began saying, “[q]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 [r]something to eat.” 37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat!” (AM)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred [s](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 [t]sit down by [u]groups on the green grass. 40 And 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 And 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 And there were (AQ)five thousand men who ate the loaves.
Jesus Walks on the Sea
45 (AR)And 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 And after (AU)bidding them farewell, He left (AV)for the mountain to pray.
47 And when it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. 48 And 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 was intending to pass by them. 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought 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 [z]utterly amazed, 52 for (BA)they [aa]had not gained any insight about the loaves, but their [ab]heart (BB)was hardened.
Many Healed at Gennesaret
53 (BC)And when they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 and ran about that whole region and began to carry here and there on their mats those who were sick, to [ac]the place they heard He was. 56 And wherever He was entering villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces, and pleading with Him that they might just (BD)touch (BE)the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were being [ad]saved from their sicknesses.
God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions
7 (BF)And 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)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they [ae]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the (BI)tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they [af]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of (BJ)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5 And 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)defiled hands?” 6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘(BM)This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 (BN)But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’
8 Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the (BO)tradition of men.”
9 And He was also saying to them, “You are good 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 [ag]be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is (BS)Corban (that is to say, [ah]given to God),’ 12 you no longer leave 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 And 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 [ai][And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17 And when He had left the crowd and entered (BU)the house, (BV)His disciples were asking Him about the parable. 18 And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not [aj]perceive 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 goes to the sewer?” (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, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, [ak](BZ)envy, slander, [al]pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
A Gentile Woman’s Faith
24 (CA)Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of (CB)Tyre[am]. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting 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]Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. 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.
The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak
31 (CC)And again He went out from the region of (CD)Tyre, and came through Sidon to (CE)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the (CF)Decapolis. 32 And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to (CG)lay His hand on him. 33 (CH)And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after (CI)spitting, He touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven with a (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 was ordering them, the more widely they (CL)continued to proclaim it. 37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.