The Gospel According to Saint Mark
1:1 At the outset, the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, began;
1:2 As foretold by the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.”
1:3 A voice cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.”
1:4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
1:6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He preached, saying, “After me comes one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
1:8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
1:9 In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
1:12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness,
1:13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
1:14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
1:16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
1:17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
1:18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
1:19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
1:20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
1:21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.
1:22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
1:23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out,
1:24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
1:25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”
1:26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
1:27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”
1:28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.
1:30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her.
1:31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
1:32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.
1:33 The whole town gathered at the door,
1:34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
1:36 Simon and his companions went to look for him,
1:37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
1:38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
1:39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
1:40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
1:41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
1:43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:
1:44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.
1:45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
2:2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
2:3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
2:4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.
2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
2:6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,
2:7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
2:8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?
2:9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
2:10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man,
2:11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
2:12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
2:13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
2:14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
2:15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
2:16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
2:17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
2:18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples?”
2:19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
2:20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
2:21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
2:23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
2:24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
2:25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
2:26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
2:28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
3:1 He once more entered a synagogue, and there was a man there with a shriveled hand.
3:2 They watched him closely, to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath, so they could accuse him.
3:3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
3:4 Then Jesus asked them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
3:5 He looked around at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
3:6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
3:7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
3:8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
3:9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.
3:10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
3:11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
3:12 But he gave them strict orders not to reveal who he was.
3:13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.
3:14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach
3:15 and to have authority to drive out demons.
3:16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),
3:17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”),
3:18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot
3:19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
3:20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.
3:21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
3:22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
3:23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
3:26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
3:27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
3:28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
3:30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
3:31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
3:33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
3:34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
3:35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
4:1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.
4:2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:
4:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4:4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
4:5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
4:6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
4:7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
4:8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
4:9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
4:10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
4:11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
4:12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
4:13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
4:14 The farmer sows the word.
4:15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
4:16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
4:17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
4:18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
4:19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
4:20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
4:21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?
4:22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.
4:23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
4:24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.
4:25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
4:26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
4:27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
4:28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
4:29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
4:30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
4:31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
4:32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
4:33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
4:34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
4:35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
4:36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
4:37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
4:38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
4:39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
4:40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
4:41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
5:1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.
5:2 Upon disembarking from the ship, immediately he encountered a man emerging from the tombs, possessed by an impure spirit.
5:3 This man resided among the tombs, and no one could restrain him, not even with chains.
5:4 He had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
5:5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.
5:7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”
5:8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
5:9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
5:10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
5:11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.
5:12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.”
5:13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
5:14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
5:15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
5:16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well.
5:17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
5:18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
5:19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
5:20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
5:21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.
5:22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.
5:23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”
5:24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
5:25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
5:26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
5:27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
5:28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
5:29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
5:30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
5:31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
5:32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
5:33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
5:34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
5:35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
5:36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
5:37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James.
5:38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.
5:39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
5:40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.
5:41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
5:42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
5:43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
6:1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.
6:2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?
6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
6:4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
6:5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
6:6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
6:7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
6:8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.
6:9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.
6:10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.
6:11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
6:12 They went out and preached that people should repent.
6:13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
6:14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
6:15 Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
6:16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
6:17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.
6:18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
6:19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to,
6:20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
6:21 Finally, the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
6:22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.”
6:23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
6:24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.
6:25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
6:26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.
6:27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison,
6:28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother.
6:29 When His disciples heard this, they retrieved his body and laid it in a tomb.
6:30 The apostles reconvened with Jesus, recounting their actions and teachings.
6:31 Jesus suggested, “Withdraw to a secluded place and rest a bit,” as the constant coming and going gave them no time to eat.
6:32 They set off privately by boat to a solitary place.
6:33 Seeing them leave, many recognized them and hurried on foot from all towns, surpassing them to gather together.
6:34 Jesus, stepping ashore, saw the large crowd and felt compassion, for they were like leaderless sheep. He began instructing them at length.
6:35 As evening approached, His disciples said, “This is a remote place, and it’s late.
6:36 Dismiss them so they can find food in the nearby countryside and villages.”
6:37 Jesus replied, “You provide them with food.” They asked, “Shall we buy bread worth 200 denarii for them to eat?”
6:38 He inquired, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” They found out and reported, “Five, and two fish.”
6:39 He instructed everyone to sit on the green grass in groups.
6:40 They sat down in rows, in hundreds and fifties.
6:41 Taking the five loaves and two fish, He looked heavenward, blessed and broke the loaves, and handed them to His disciples to distribute; He also divided the fish among everyone.
6:42 All ate and were satisfied.
6:43 They collected twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.
6:44 Those who ate the loaves numbered about five thousand men.
6:45 Immediately, He urged His disciples to board the boat and precede Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.
6:46 After sending them away, He retreated to a mountain to pray.
6:47 At night, the boat was in the sea’s midst, and He was alone on land.
6:48 Observing them struggling to row against the wind, He approached them, walking on the sea, intending to pass by them.
6:49 They saw Him walking on the sea and mistook Him for a spirit, crying out in fear.
6:50 They all saw Him and were terrified. But He immediately spoke to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
6:51 He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind calmed. They were utterly astounded.
6:52 They had not grasped the significance of the loaves; their hearts were closed.
6:53 Having crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.
6:54 As soon as they disembarked, people recognized Him,
6:55 and they scurried throughout the region, bringing the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.
6:56 Wherever He went—villages, towns, or rural areas—they laid the sick in the streets, pleading to touch even the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.
7:1 The Pharisees and some scribes from Jerusalem convened around Him.
7:2 They noticed His disciples eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing, and they criticized.
7:3 The Pharisees and all Jews cling to the tradition of the elders, not eating unless they wash their hands thoroughly.
7:4 Returning from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions they observe, like washing cups, pots, bronze vessels, and dining tables.
7:5 The Pharisees and scribes questioned Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?”
7:6 He replied, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
7:7 They worship Me in vain, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
7:8 You abandon God’s commandment and hold to human tradition—washing pots and cups and many other similar practices.”
7:9 He continued, “You skillfully sidestep God’s command to keep your own tradition.
7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses father or mother must surely die.’
7:11 But you say, ‘If someone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God),’
7:12 you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother,
7:13 nullifying God’s word with your tradition you’ve handed down. And you do many similar things.”
7:14 Calling the crowd again, He said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:
7:15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
7:16 “If anyone has ears to hear, let them listen.”
7:17 After entering a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked about the parable.
7:18 He said to them, “Are you also lacking understanding? Do you not see that whatever enters a person from outside cannot defile them,
7:19 because it does not enter their heart but their stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
7:20 He added, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
7:21 For from within, out of the heart of humans, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
7:22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
7:23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
7:24 He left and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house, hoping to remain unnoticed, but He could not escape attention.
7:25 A woman whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of Him and fell at His feet.
7:26 The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she pleaded with Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
7:27 He replied, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
7:28 But she answered, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
7:29 He said to her, “For this statement, go; the demon has left your daughter.”
7:30 She returned home and found the child lying on the bed, the demon gone.
7:31 Departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He went to the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the region of the Decapolis.
7:32 People brought to Him a deaf man with a speech impediment and implored Him to lay His hand on him.
7:33 Taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into the man’s ears, spat, and touched his tongue;
7:34 looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
7:35 Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
7:36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it.
7:37 They were utterly astounded, saying, “He has done everything well; He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
8:1 In those days, there was a very large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called His disciples and said,
8:2 “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.
8:3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; some of them have come from a great distance.”
8:4 His disciples replied, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this desolate place?”
8:5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
8:6 He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd.
8:7 They also had a few small fish; and after blessing them, He said to distribute these too.
8:8 They ate and were filled, and they collected seven baskets of leftover fragments.
8:9 About four thousand people were fed, and He sent them away.
8:10 Immediately He got into a boat with His disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
8:11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.
8:12 He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
8:13 Leaving them, He boarded the boat again and departed to the other side.
8:14 Now the disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
8:15 He cautioned them, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
8:16 They discussed among themselves, “It is because we have no bread.”
8:17 Recognising their confusion, Jesus asked, “Why do you ponder over having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
8:18 Though you have eyes, do you not see? And ears, but do not hear?
8:19 Remember when I divided the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They replied, “Twelve.”
8:20 “And the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets of scraps did you gather?” They answered, “Seven.”
8:21 He said to them, “Do you still not comprehend?”
8:22 Upon arriving in Bethsaida, people brought a blind man to Jesus, pleading for him to touch the man.
8:23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the village, spat on his eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked, “Can you see anything?”
8:24 The man looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.”
8:25 Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. His sight was restored, and he saw everything distinctly.
8:26 Jesus sent him home, instructing, “Do not even enter the village.”
8:27 Jesus and his disciples went to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he asked, “Who do people say I am?”
8:28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
8:29 “But who do you say I am?” he asked. Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
8:30 He strictly warned them not to tell anyone about him.
8:31 He began teaching them that the Son of Man must endure great suffering, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He spoke plainly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But Jesus turned, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
8:36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
8:37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
9:1 He said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.”
9:2 After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.
9:3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
9:4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
9:5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
9:6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
9:7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
9:8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
9:10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
9:11 They asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
9:12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?
9:13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”
9:14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.
9:15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
9:16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
9:17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
9:19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
9:20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
9:21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered.
9:22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
9:23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
9:24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
9:25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
9:26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”
9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
9:28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
9:29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
9:30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were,
9:31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
9:32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
9:33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?”
9:34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
9:36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
9:38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
9:39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,
9:40 for whoever is not against us is for us.
9:41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.
9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
9:44 [And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.]
9:45 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
9:46 where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
9:47 Everyone will be salted with fire.
9:48 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
9:49 “Indeed, everyone shall be purified by fire, and every offering must be seasoned with salt.
9:50 Salt is good, but if it loses its flavour, how can it be made salty again? Have salt within yourselves and live in peace with each other.”
10:1 Leaving there, Jesus travelled to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Once more, crowds gathered around him, and as was his custom, he taught them again.
10:2 Some Pharisees approached him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
10:3 He responded, “What did Moses command you?”
10:4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
10:5 Jesus said to them, “It was because of your hearts’ hardness that Moses wrote this law for you.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
10:7 For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
10:8 and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10:10 In the house, the disciples asked him again about this matter.
10:11 He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
10:12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
10:13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.
10:14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
10:15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
10:16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and blessed them.
10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
10:18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good except God alone.
10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’”
10:20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
10:22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.
10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
10:24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
10:26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
10:28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
10:29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
10:30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
10:32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.
10:33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,
10:34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
10:36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
10:37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
10:38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
10:39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,
10:40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
10:41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.
10:42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
10:43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
10:44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
10:46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”
10:50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
10:51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
10:52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
11:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,
11:2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
11:3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
11:4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it,
11:5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”
11:6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.
11:7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, and he sat on it.
11:8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
11:9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
11:10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
11:12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
11:14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
11:15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,
11:16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
11:17 “Is it not written,” he taught, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
11:18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the entire crowd was astonished at his teaching.
11:19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
11:20 In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
11:21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
11:22 Jesus replied, “Have faith in God.
11:23 Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
11:26 [But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your sins.]
11:27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him.
11:28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”
11:29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
11:30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”
11:31 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’
11:32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’…” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)
11:33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
12:1 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.
12:2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
12:3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
12:4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.
12:5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
12:6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
12:7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
12:8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
12:9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
12:10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
12:11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12:12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
12:13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.
12:14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?
12:15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
12:16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
12:18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.
12:19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
12:20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children.
12:21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third.
12:22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too.
12:23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
12:24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
12:25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
12:26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
12:29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
12:31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
12:32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.
12:33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
12:35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?
12:36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
12:37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.
12:38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,
12:39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
12:40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
12:41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
12:42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
12:43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
12:44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
13:2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
13:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately,
13:4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
13:5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
13:6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.
13:7 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
13:8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
13:9 Be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me, you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
13:10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
13:11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
13:12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
13:13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
13:14 When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
13:15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out.
13:16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
13:17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
13:18 Pray that this will not take place in winter,
13:19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
13:20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
13:21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.
13:22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
13:23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
13:24 But in those days, following that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
13:25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
13:26 At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
13:27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
13:28 Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
13:29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.
13:30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
13:32 But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
13:33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
13:34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
13:35 Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
13:36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
13:37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’
14:1 Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.
14:2 But not during the festival, they said, or the people may riot.
14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
14:4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?
14:5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
14:6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
14:7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want. But you will not always have me.
14:8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
14:9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
14:11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
14:12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
14:13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.
14:14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
14:15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
14:16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14:17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.
14:18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
14:19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
14:20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.
14:21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
14:23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
14:24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.
14:25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
14:26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
14:27 “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’
14:28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
14:29 Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
14:30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”
14:31 But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.
14:32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
14:33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.
14:34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
14:35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.
14:36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
14:37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?
14:38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
14:39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.
14:40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
14:41 “Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
14:42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
14:43 And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
14:44 And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.
14:45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
14:46 And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
14:47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
14:48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?
14:49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
14:50 And they all forsook him, and fled.
14:51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
14:52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
14:53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
14:54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
14:55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.
14:56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
14:57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
14:59 But neither so did their witness agree together.
14:60 And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
14:61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
14:63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?
14:64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
14:65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
14:66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:
14:67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.
14:68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
14:69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
14:70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.
14:71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
14:72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
15:1 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto them, Thou sayest it.
15:3 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
15:4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
15:5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
15:6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
15:7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
15:8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
15:11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
15:13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.
15:14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15:15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
15:16 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.
15:17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
15:18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
15:19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
15:20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
15:21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
15:22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
15:24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
15:25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
15:28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
15:29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
15:30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
15:31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
15:32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
15:35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.
15:36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.
15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
15:38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
15:40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
15:41 Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
15:42 Now when evening had come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
15:44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.
15:45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.
15:46 Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
16:1 And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
16:2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
16:3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
16:4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
16:5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
16:6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
16:8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
16:9 Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
16:10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
16:11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
16:12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.
16:13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
16:14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
16:18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
16:19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
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