New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Reference Bible

1 [The] beginning of the good news* about* Jesus Christ: 2 Just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “(Look! I am sending forth my messenger* before your face, who will prepare your way;)+ 3 listen! someone is crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of Jehovah,* YOU people, make his roads straight,’”+ 4 John the baptizer* turned up in the wilderness, preaching baptism [in symbol] of repentance for forgiveness of sins.+ 5 Consequently all the territory of Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem made their way out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, openly confessing their sins.+ 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather girdle around his loins,+ and was eating insect locusts+ and wild honey.+ 7 And he would preach, saying: “After me someone stronger than I am is coming; I am not fit to stoop and untie the laces of his sandals.+ 8 I baptized YOU with water, but he will baptize YOU with holy spirit.”+

9 In the course of those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.+ 10 And immediately on coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being parted, and, like a dove, the spirit coming down upon* him;+ 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.”+

12 And immediately the spirit* impelled him to go into the wilderness.+ 13 So he continued in the wilderness forty days,+ being tempted by Satan,+ and he was with the wild beasts, but the angels were ministering to him.+

14 Now after John was put under arrest Jesus went into Galilee,+ preaching the good news of God+ 15 and saying: “The appointed time has been fulfilled,+ and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Be repentant,+ YOU people, and have faith in the good news.”

16 While walking alongside the sea of Galilee he saw Simon+ and Andrew the brother of Simon casting [their nets] about in the sea, for they were fishers.+ 17 So Jesus said to them: “Come after me, and I shall cause YOU to become fishers of men.”+ 18 And at once they abandoned their nets and followed him.+ 19 And after going a little farther he saw James the [son] of Zebedee and John his brother, in fact, while they were in their boat mending their nets;+ 20 and without delay he called them. In turn they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him. 21 And they went their way into Capernaum.+

No sooner was it the sabbath than he entered into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 And they became astounded at his way of teaching,+ for there he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.+ 23 Also, at that immediate time there was in their synagogue a man under the power of an unclean spirit, and he shouted,+ 24 saying: “What have we to do with you,* Jesus you Nazarene?+ Did you come to destroy us? I know+ exactly who you are, the Holy One+ of God.”+ 25 But Jesus rebuked it, saying: “Be silent, and come on out of him!”+ 26 And the unclean spirit, after throwing him into a convulsion and yelling at the top of its voice, came on out of him.+ 27 Well, the people were all so astonished that they began a discussion among themselves, saying: “What is this? A new teaching! He authoritatively orders even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”+ 28 So the report about him spread out immediately in all directions through all the country round about in Galilee.+

29 And immediately they went out of the synagogue and went into the home of Simon+ and Andrew with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law+ was lying down sick with a fever,+ and they at once told him about her. 31 And going to her he raised her up, taking her by the hand; and the fever left her,+ and she began ministering to them.+

32 After evening had fallen, when the sun had set, the people began bringing him all those who were ill+ and those demon-possessed;+ 33 and the whole city was gathered right at the door. 34 So he cured many that were ill with various sicknesses,+ and he expelled many demons, but he would not let the demons speak, because they knew him to be Christ.+

35 And early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went outside and left for a lonely place,+ and there he began praying.+ 36 However, Simon and those with him hunted him down 37 and found him, and they said to him: “All are looking for you.” 38 But he said to them: “Let us go somewhere else, into the village towns nearby, that I may preach+ there also, for it is for this purpose I have gone out.”+ 39 And he did go, preaching in their synagogues throughout the whole of Galilee and expelling the demons.+

40 There also came to him a leper, entreating him even on bended knee, saying to him: “If you just want to, you can make me clean.”+ 41 At that he was moved with pity,+ and he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him: “I want to. Be made clean.”+ 42 And immediately the leprosy vanished from him, and he became clean.+ 43 Furthermore, he gave him strict orders and at once sent him away, 44 and said to him: “See that you tell nobody a thing, but go show yourself to the priest+ and offer in behalf of your cleansing the things Moses directed,+ for a witness to them.”+ 45 But after going away the man started to proclaim it a great deal and to spread the account abroad, so that [Jesus]* was no longer able to enter openly into a city, but he continued outside in lonely places. Yet they kept coming to him from all sides.+

2 However, after some days he again entered into Capernaum and he was reported to be at home.+ 2 Consequently many gathered, so much so that there was no more room, not even about the door, and he began to speak the word+ to them. 3 And men came bringing him a paralytic carried by four.+ 4 But not being able to bring him right to [Jesus]* on account of the crowd, they removed the roof over where he was, and having dug an opening they lowered the cot on which the paralytic was lying.+ 5 And when Jesus saw their faith+ he said to the paralytic: “Child, your sins are forgiven.”+ 6 Now there were some of the scribes there, sitting and reasoning in their hearts:+ 7 “Why is this man talking in this manner? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins except one, God?”+ 8 But Jesus, having discerned immediately by his spirit that they were reasoning that way in themselves, said to them: “Why are YOU reasoning these things in YOUR hearts?+ 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and pick up your cot and walk’?+ 10 But in order for YOU men to know that the Son of man+ has authority to forgive sins upon the earth,”+—he said to the paralytic: 11 “I say to you, Get up, pick up your cot, and go to your home.”+ 12 At that he did get up, and immediately picked up his cot and walked out in front of them all,+ so that they were all simply carried away, and they glorified God, saying: “We never saw the like of it.”+

13 Again he went out beside the sea; and all the crowd kept coming to him, and he began to teach them. 14 But as he was passing along, he caught sight of Levi+ the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: “Be my follower.” And rising up he followed him.+ 15 Later he happened to be reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors+ and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them and they began following him.+ 16 But the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, began saying to his disciples: “Does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners?”+ 17 Upon hearing this Jesus said to them: “Those who are strong do not need a physician, but those who are ill do. I came to call, not righteous people, but sinners.”+

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees practiced fasting. So they came and said to him: “Why is it the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees practice fasting, but your disciples do not practice fasting?”+ 19 And Jesus said to them: “While the bridegroom is with them the friends of the bridegroom* cannot fast,+ can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.+ 20 But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.+ 21 Nobody sews a patch of unshrunk cloth upon an old outer garment; if he does, its full strength pulls from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.+ 22 Also, nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine bursts the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins.+ But people put new wine into new wineskins.”+

23 Now it happened that he was proceeding through the grainfields on the sabbath, and his disciples started to make their way plucking+ the heads of grain.+ 24 So the Pharisees went saying to him: “Look here! Why are they doing on the sabbath what is not lawful?”+ 25 But he said to them: “Have YOU never once read what David+ did when he fell in need and got hungry, he and the men with him?+ 26 How he entered into the house of God, in the account about Abiathar+ the chief priest,* and ate the loaves of presentation,*+ which it is not lawful+ for anybody to eat except the priests, and he gave some also to the men who were with him?”+ 27 So he went on to say to them: “The sabbath came into existence for the sake of man,+ and not man for the sake of the sabbath;+ 28 hence the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.”+

3 Once again he entered into a synagogue, and a man was there with a dried-up hand.+ 2 So they were watching him closely to see whether he would cure the man on the sabbath, in order that they might accuse him.+ 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand: “Get up [and come] to the center.” 4 Next he said to them: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do a good deed or to do a bad deed, to save or to kill a soul?”*+ But they kept silent. 5 And after looking around upon them with indignation, being thoroughly grieved at the insensibility of their hearts,+ he said to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.+ 6 At that the Pharisees went out and immediately began holding council with the party followers of Herod*+ against him, in order to destroy him.+

7 But Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea; and a great multitude from Galilee and from Judea followed him.+ 8 Even from Jerusalem and from Idumea and from across the Jordan and around Tyre+ and Sidon, a great multitude, on hearing of how many things he was doing, came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a little boat continually at his service so that the crowd might not press upon him. 10 For he cured many, with the result that all those who had grievous diseases were falling upon him to touch him.+ 11 Even the unclean spirits,+ whenever they would behold him, would prostrate themselves before him and cry out, saying: “You are the Son of God.”+ 12 But many times he sternly charged them not to make him known.+

13 And he ascended a mountain and summoned those he wanted,+ and they went off to him.+ 14 And he formed [a group of] twelve, whom he also named “apostles,” that they might continue with him and that he might send them out to preach+ 15 and to have authority to expel the demons.+

16 And the [group of] twelve that he formed were Simon, to whom he also gave the surname Peter,+ 17 and James the [son] of Zebedee and John the brother of James+ (he also gave these the surname Boanerges,* which means Sons of Thunder), 18 and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the [son] of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon the Cananaean 19 and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him.+

And he went into a house. 20 Once more the crowd gathered, so that they were not able even to eat a meal.+ 21 But when his relatives+ heard about it, they went out to lay hold of him, for they were saying: “He has gone out of his mind.”+ 22 Also, the scribes that came down from Jerusalem were saying: “He has Beelzebub,* and he expels the demons by means of the ruler of the demons.”+ 23 So, after calling them to him, he began to say to them with illustrations:* “How can Satan expel Satan? 24 Why, if a kingdom becomes divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand;+ 25 and if a house becomes divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.+ 26 Also, if Satan has risen up against himself and become divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.+ 27 In fact, no one that has got into the house of a strong man is able to plunder+ his movable goods unless first he binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.+ 28 Truly I say to YOU that all things will be forgiven the sons of men, no matter what sins and blasphemies they blasphemously commit.+ 29 However, whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of everlasting sin.”+ 30 This, because they were saying: “He has an unclean spirit.”+

31 Now his mother and his brothers+ came, and, as they were standing on the outside, they sent in to him to call him.+ 32 As it was, a crowd was sitting around him, so they said to him: “Look! Your mother and your brothers outside are seeking you.”+ 33 But in reply he said to them: “Who are my mother and my brothers?”+ 34 And having looked about upon those sitting around him in a circle, he said: “See, my mother and my brothers!+ 35 Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother.”+

4 And he again started teaching beside the sea.+ And a very great crowd gathered near him, so that he went aboard a boat and sat out on the sea, but all the crowd beside the sea were on the shore.+ 2 So he began to teach them many things with illustrations+ and to say to them in his teaching:+ 3 “Listen. Look! The sower went out to sow.+ 4 And as he was sowing, some [seed] fell alongside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.+ 5 And other [seed] fell upon the rocky place where it, of course, did not have much soil, and it immediately sprang up because of not having depth of soil.+ 6 But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and for not having root it withered.+ 7 And other [seed] fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.+ 8 But others fell upon the fine soil,+ and, coming up and increasing, they began to yield fruit, and they were bearing thirtyfold, and sixty and a hundred.”+ 9 So he added the word: “Let him that has ears to listen listen.”+

10 Now when he got to be alone, those around him with the twelve began questioning him on the illustrations.+ 11 And he proceeded to say to them: “To YOU the sacred secret+ of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside all things occur in illustrations,+ 12 in order that, though looking, they may look and yet not see, and, though hearing, they may hear and yet not get the sense of it, nor ever turn back and forgiveness be given them.”+ 13 Further, he said to them: “YOU do not know this illustration, and so how will YOU understand all the other illustrations?

14 “The sower sows the word.+ 15 These, then, are the ones alongside the road where the word is sown; but as soon as they have heard [it] Satan comes+ and takes away the word that was sown in them.+ 16 And likewise these are the ones sown upon the rocky places: as soon as they have heard the word, they accept it with joy.+ 17 Yet they have no root in themselves, but they continue for a time; then as soon as tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, they are stumbled.+ 18 There are still others who are sown among the thorns; these are the ones that have heard the word,+ 19 but the anxieties+ of this system of things* and the deceptive power of riches+ and the desires+ for the rest of the things make inroads and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.+ 20 Finally, the ones that were sown on the fine soil are those who listen to the word and favorably receive it and bear fruit thirtyfold and sixty and a hundred.”+

21 And he went on to say to them: “A lamp is not brought to be put under a measuring basket or under a bed, is it? It is brought to be put upon a lampstand, is it not?+ 22 For there is nothing hidden except for the purpose of being exposed; nothing has become carefully concealed but for the purpose of coming into the open.+ 23 Whoever has ears to listen, let him listen.”+

24 He further said to them: “Pay attention to what YOU are hearing.+ With the measure that YOU are measuring out, YOU will have it measured out to YOU,+ yes, YOU will have more added to YOU.+ 25 For he that has will have more given to him; but he that does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”+

26 So he went on to say: “In this way the kingdom of God is just as when a man casts the seed upon the ground,+ 27 and he sleeps at night and rises up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows tall, just how he does not know.+ 28 Of its own self the ground bears fruit gradually, first the grass-blade, then the stalk head, finally the full grain in the head. 29 But as soon as the fruit permits it, he thrusts in the sickle, because the harvesttime has come.”

30 And he went on to say: “With what are we to liken the kingdom of God, or in what illustration shall we set it out?+ 31 Like a mustard grain, which at the time it was sown in the ground was the tiniest of all the seeds that are on the earth+— 32 but when it has been sown, it comes up and becomes greater than all other vegetables and produces great branches,+ so that the birds of the heaven+ are able to find lodging under its shadow.”+

33 So with many illustrations+ of that sort he would speak the word to them, as far as they were able to listen. 34 Indeed, without an illustration he would not speak to them, but privately to his disciples he would explain all things.+

35 And on that day, when evening had fallen, he said to them: “Let us cross to the other shore.”+ 36 So, after they had dismissed the crowd, they took him in the boat, just as he was, and there were other boats with him.+ 37 Now a great violent windstorm broke out, and the waves kept dashing into the boat, so that the boat was close to being swamped.+ 38 But he was in the stern, sleeping upon a pillow. So they woke him up and said to him: “Teacher, do you not care that we are about to perish?”+ 39 With that he roused himself and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: “Hush! Be quiet!”+ And the wind abated, and a great calm set in.+ 40 So he said to them: “Why are YOU fainthearted? Do YOU not yet have any faith?” 41 But they felt an unusual fear, and they would say to one another: “Who really is this, because even the wind and the sea obey him?”+

5 Well, they got to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes.*+ 2 And immediately after he got out of the boat a man under the power of an unclean spirit met him from among the memorial tombs.+ 3 He had his haunt among the tombs; and up to that time absolutely nobody was able to bind him fast even with a chain, 4 because he had oftentimes been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains were snapped apart by him and the fetters were actually smashed; and nobody had the strength to subdue him. 5 And continually, night and day, he was crying out in the tombs and in the mountains and slashing himself with stones. 6 But on catching sight of Jesus from a distance he ran and did obeisance to him, 7 and, when he had cried out with a loud voice,+ he said: “What have I to do with you,* Jesus, Son of the Most High God?+ I put you under oath+ by God not to torment me.”+ 8 For he had been telling it: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”+ 9 But he began to ask him: “What is your name?” And he said to him: “My name is Legion,+ because there are many of us.”+ 10 And he entreated him many times not to send the spirits out of the country.+

11 Now a great herd of swine+ was there at the mountain feeding.+ 12 So they entreated him, saying: “Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.” 13 And he permitted them. With that the unclean spirits came out and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed over the precipice into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they drowned one after another in the sea.+ 14 But the herders of them fled and reported it in the city and in the countryside; and people came to see what it was that had happened.+ 15 So they came to Jesus, and they beheld the demon-possessed [man] sitting clothed and in his sound mind, this [man] that had had the legion; and they grew fearful. 16 Also, those who had seen it related to them how this had happened to the demon-possessed [man] and about the swine. 17 And so they started to entreat him to go away from their districts.+

18 Now as he was boarding the boat, the [man] that had been demon-possessed began entreating him that he might continue with him.+ 19 However, he did not let him, but said to him: “Go home to your relatives,+ and report to them all the things Jehovah*+ has done for you and the mercy+ he had on you.” 20 And he went away and started to proclaim* in the Decapolis*+ all the things Jesus did for him, and all the people began to wonder.+

21 After Jesus had crossed back again in the boat to the opposite shore a great crowd gathered together to him; and he was beside the sea.+ 22 Now one of the presiding officers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came and, on catching sight of him, he fell at his feet+ 23 and entreated him many times, saying: “My little daughter is in an extreme condition. Would you please come and put your hands+ upon her that she may get well and live.”+ 24 At that he went off with him. And a great crowd was following him and pressing against him.+

25 Now there was a woman subject to a flow of blood+ twelve years,+ 26 and she had been put to many pains by many physicians+ and had spent all her resources and had not been benefited but, rather, had got worse. 27 When she heard the things about Jesus, she came behind in the crowd and touched+ his outer garment; 28 for she kept saying: “If I touch just his outer garments I shall get well.”*+ 29 And immediately her fountain of blood dried up, and she sensed in her body that she had been healed of the grievous sickness.+

30 Immediately, also, Jesus recognized in himself that power+ had gone out of him, and he turned about in the crowd and began to say: “Who touched my outer garments?”+ 31 But his disciples began to say to him: “You see the crowd pressing in upon you,+ and do you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 However, he was looking around to see her that had done this. 33 But the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.+ 34 He said to her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.* Go in peace,*+ and be in good health from your grievous sickness.”+

35 While he was yet speaking, some men from the home of the presiding officer of the synagogue came and said: “Your daughter died! Why bother the teacher any longer?”+ 36 But Jesus, overhearing the word being spoken, said to the presiding officer of the synagogue: “Have no fear, only exercise faith.”+ 37 Now he did not let anyone follow along with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.+

38 So they came to the house of the presiding officer of the synagogue, and he beheld the noisy confusion and those weeping and letting out many wails, 39 and, after stepping in, he said to them: “Why are YOU causing noisy confusion and weeping? The young child has not died, but is sleeping.”+ 40 At this they began to laugh scornfully at him. But, having put them all out, he took along the young child’s father and mother and those with him, and he went in where the young child was.+ 41 And, taking the hand of the young child, he said to her: “Talitha cumi,” which, translated, means: “Maiden, I say to you, Get up!”+ 42 And immediately the maiden rose and began walking, for she was twelve years old. And at once they were beside themselves with great ecstasy.+ 43 But he ordered them again and again to let no one learn+ of this, and he said that something should be given her to eat.

6 And he departed from there and came into his home territory, and his disciples followed him.+ 2 When it became sabbath, he started teaching in the synagogue; and the greater number of those listening were astounded and said: “Where did this man get these things?+ And why should this wisdom have been given this man, and such powerful works be performed through his hands? 3 This is the carpenter+ the son of Mary+ and the brother of James+ and Joseph* and Judas and Simon,+ is it not? And his sisters are here with us, are they not?” So they began to stumble at him.+ 4 But Jesus went on to say to them: “A prophet is not unhonored except in his home territory+ and among his relatives and in his own house.”+ 5 So he was able to do no powerful work there except to lay his hands upon a few sickly ones and cure them. 6 Indeed, he wondered at their lack of faith. And he went round about to the villages in a circuit, teaching.+

7 Now he summoned the twelve, and he initiated sending them out two by two,+ and he began to give them authority over the unclean spirits.+ 8 Also, he gave them orders to carry nothing for the trip except a staff alone, no bread, no food pouch,+ no copper money in their girdle purses,+ 9 but to bind on sandals, and not to wear two undergarments.+ 10 Further, he said to them: “Wherever YOU enter into a home,+ stay there until YOU go out of that place.+ 11 And wherever a place will not receive YOU nor hear YOU, on going out from there shake off the dirt that is beneath YOUR feet for a witness* to them.”+ 12 So they set out and preached in order that people might repent;+ 13 and they would expel many demons+ and grease many sickly people with oil+ and cure them.+

14 Now it got to the ears of King Herod, for the name of [Jesus]* became public, and people were saying:* “John the baptizer* has been raised from the dead, and on that account the powerful works are operating in him.”+ 15 But others were saying: “It is Elijah.”+ Still others were saying: “It is a prophet like one of the prophets.”+ 16 But when Herod heard it he began to say: “The John that I beheaded, this one has been raised up.”+ 17 For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John and bound him in prison on account of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her.+ 18 For John had repeatedly said to Herod: “It is not lawful for you to be having the wife of your brother.”+ 19 But Herodias was nursing a grudge+ against him and was wanting to kill him, but could not.+ 20 For Herod stood in fear+ of John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man;+ and he was keeping him safe. And after hearing+ him he was at a great loss what to do, yet he continued to hear him gladly.

21 But a convenient day+ came along when Herod spread an evening meal on his birthday+ for his top-ranking men and the military commanders* and the foremost ones of Galilee. 22 And the daughter of this very Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod and those reclining+ with him. The king said to the maiden: “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” 23 Yes, he swore to her: “Whatever you ask me for, I will give it to you,+ up to half my kingdom.”+ 24 And she went out and said to her mother: “What should I ask for?” She said: “The head of John the baptizer.”+ 25 Immediately she went in with haste to the king and made her request, saying: “I want you to give me right away on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 26 Although he became deeply grieved, yet the king did not want to disregard her, in view of the oaths and those reclining at the table.+ 27 So the king immediately dispatched a body guardsman and commanded him to bring his head. And he went off and beheaded him in the prison+ 28 and brought his head on a platter, and he gave it to the maiden, and the maiden gave it to her mother.+ 29 When his disciples heard of it they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a memorial tomb.+

30 And the apostles gathered together before Jesus and reported to him all the things they had done and taught.+ 31 And he said to them: “Come, YOU yourselves, privately into a lonely place+ and rest up a bit.”+ For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure time even to eat a meal.+ 32 So off they went in the boat for a lonely place to themselves.+ 33 But people saw them going and many got to know it, and from all the cities they ran there together on foot and got ahead of them.+ 34 Well, on getting out, he saw a great crowd, but he was moved with pity+ for them, because they were as sheep without a shepherd.+ And he started to teach them many things.+

35 By now the hour had grown late, and his disciples came up to him and began to say: “The place is isolated, and the hour is already late.+ 36 Send them away, that they may go off into the countryside and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.”+ 37 In reply he said to them: “YOU give them something to eat.” At this they said to him: “Shall we go off and buy two hundred denarii* worth of loaves and give [them] to the people to eat?”+ 38 He said to them: “How many loaves have YOU? Go see!” After ascertaining it, they said: “Five, besides two fishes.”+ 39 And he instructed all the people to recline by companies+ on the green grass.+ 40 And they laid themselves down in groups of a hundred and of fifty.+ 41 Taking now the five loaves and the two fishes he looked up to heaven and said a blessing,+ and broke+ the loaves up and began giving them to the disciples, that these might place them before the people; and he divided up the two fishes for all. 42 So they all ate and were satisfied;+ 43 and they took up fragments, twelve baskets full, aside from the fishes. 44 Furthermore, those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.+

45 And, without delay, he compelled his disciples to board the boat and go on ahead to the opposite shore toward Bethsaida, while he himself dismissed the crowd.+ 46 But after saying good-bye to them he went off into a mountain to pray.+ 47 Evening having now fallen, the boat was in the midst of the sea, but he was alone on the land.+ 48 And when he saw them being hard put+ to it in their rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night* he came toward them, walking on the sea; but he was inclined to pass them by. 49 At catching sight of him walking on the sea they thought: “It is an apparition!” and they cried aloud.+ 50 For they all saw him and were troubled. But immediately he spoke with them, and he said to them: “Take courage, it is I; have no fear.”+ 51 And he got up into the boat with them, and the wind abated. At this they were very much amazed within themselves,+ 52 for they had not grasped the meaning of the loaves, but their hearts continued dull of understanding.+

53 And when they got across to land, they came into Gennesaret and anchored ship nearby.+ 54 But as soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized him, 55 and they ran around all that region and started to carry about on cots those who were ailing to where they heard he was. 56 And wherever he would enter into villages or cities or countryside+ they would place the sick ones in the marketplaces, and they would plead with him that they might touch+ just the fringe+ of his outer garment. And as many as did touch it were made well.*+

7 Now the Pharisees and some of the scribes that had come from Jerusalem gathered about him.+ 2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat their meal with defiled hands, that is, unwashed ones+— 3 for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands up to the elbow,* holding fast the tradition of the men of former times, 4 and, when back from market, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves by sprinkling; and there are many other traditions+ that they have received to hold fast, baptisms of cups and pitchers and copper vessels;+— 5 so these Pharisees and scribes asked him: “Why is it your disciples do not conduct themselves according to the tradition of the men of former times, but they take their meal with defiled hands?”+ 6 He said to them: “Isaiah aptly prophesied about YOU hypocrites, as it is written,+ ‘This people honor me with [their] lips, but their hearts are far removed from me.+ 7 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.’+ 8 Letting go the commandment of God, YOU hold fast the tradition of men.”+ Matt.15:9

9 Further, he went on to say to them: “Adroitly YOU set aside the commandment+ of God in order to retain YOUR tradition. 10 For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’+ and, ‘Let him that reviles father or mother end up in death.’*+ 11 But YOU men say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother: “Whatever I have by which you may get benefit from me is corban,*+ (that is, a gift dedicated+ to God,)”’*— 12 YOU men no longer let him do a single thing for his father or his mother,+ 13 and thus YOU make the word of God+ invalid by YOUR tradition which YOU handed down. And many things+ similar to this YOU do.” 14 So, calling the crowd to him again, he proceeded to say to them: “Listen to me, all of YOU, and get the meaning.+ 15 There is nothing from outside a man that passes into him that can defile him; but the things that issue forth out of a man are the things that defile a man.”+ 16* ——

17 Now when he had entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples began to question him respecting the illustration.+ 18 So he said to them: “Are YOU also without perception like them?+ Are YOU not aware that nothing from outside that passes into a man can defile him, 19 since it passes, not into [his] heart, but into [his] intestines, and it passes out into the sewer?”*+ Thus he declared all foods clean.*+ 20 Further, he said: “That which issues forth out of a man is what defiles a man;+ 21 for from inside, out of the heart of men,+ injurious reasonings issue forth: fornications,*+ thieveries, murders,+ 22 adulteries, covetings,+ acts of wickedness, deceit, loose conduct,*+ an envious eye,* blasphemy, haughtiness, unreasonableness. 23 All these wicked things issue forth from within and defile a man.”+

24 From there he rose up and went into the regions of Tyre and Sidon.+ And he entered into a house and did not want anyone to get to know it. Yet he could not escape notice;+ 25 but immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and came and prostrated herself at his feet.+ 26 The woman was a Grecian, a Syrophoenician nationally; and she kept asking him to expel the demon from her daughter.+ 27 But he began by saying to her: “First let the children be satisfied, for it is not right to take the bread of the children+ and throw it to the little dogs.”+ 28 In reply, however, she said to him: “Yes, sir, and yet the little dogs underneath the table eat of the crumbs+ of the little children.”+ 29 At that he said to her: “Because of saying this, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”+ 30 So she went away to her home and found+ the young child laid on the bed and the demon gone out.

31 Now coming back out of the regions of Tyre he went through Sidon to the sea of Galilee up through the midst of the regions of Decapolis.*+ 32 Here they brought him a man deaf and with a speech impediment, and they entreated him to lay his hand upon him.+ 33 And he took him away from the crowd privately and put his fingers into the man’s ears and, after spitting, he touched his tongue.+ 34 And with a look up into heaven+ he sighed+ deeply and said to him: “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 Well, his hearing powers were opened,+ and the impediment* of his tongue was loosed, and he began speaking normally. 36 With that he charged them not to tell anyone;+ but the more he would charge them, that much more they would proclaim it.+ 37 Indeed, they were being astounded+ in a most extraordinary way and they said: “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the speechless speak.”+

8 In those days, when there was again a big crowd and they had nothing to eat, he summoned the disciples and said to them:+ 2 “I feel pity+ for the crowd, because it is already three days that they have remained near me and they have nothing to eat; 3 and if I should send them off to their homes fasting, they will give out on the road. Indeed, some of them are from far away.” 4 But his disciples answered him: “From where will anybody here in an isolated place be able to satisfy these people with loaves?”+ 5 Still he went on to ask them: “How many loaves have YOU?” They said: “Seven.”+ 6 And he instructed the crowd to recline on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, gave thanks,+ broke them, and began to give them to his disciples to serve, and they served them to the crowd.+ 7 They also had a few little fishes; and, having blessed these, he told them also to serve these.+ 8 Accordingly they ate and were satisfied, and they took up surpluses of fragments, seven provision baskets full.+ 9 Yet there were about four thousand [men]. Finally he sent them away.+

10 And immediately he boarded the boat with his disciples and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.+ 11 Here the Pharisees came out and started disputing with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, to put him to the test.+ 12 So he groaned deeply+ with his spirit, and said: “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say, No sign will be given to this generation.”+ 13 With that he left them, got aboard again, and went off to the opposite shore.

14 As it was, they forgot to take loaves along, and except for one loaf they had nothing with them in the boat.+ 15 And he began to order them expressly and say: “Keep YOUR eyes open, look out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”+ 16 So they went arguing with one another over the fact that they had no loaves.+ 17 Noting this, he said to them: “Why do YOU argue over your having no loaves?+ Do YOU not yet perceive and get the meaning? Do YOU have YOUR hearts dull of understanding?+ 18 ‘Though having eyes, do YOU not see; and though having ears, do YOU not hear?’+ And do YOU not remember, 19 when I broke the five loaves+ for the five thousand [men], how many baskets full of fragments YOU took up?” They said to him: “Twelve.”+ 20 “When I broke the seven for the four thousand [men], how many provision baskets full of fragments did YOU take up?” And they said to him: “Seven.”+ 21 With that he said to them: “Do YOU not yet get the meaning?”+

22 Now they put in at Bethsaida. Here people brought him a blind man, and they entreated him to touch+ him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, brought him outside the village, and, having spit+ upon his eyes, he laid his hands upon him and began to ask him: “Do you see anything?” 24 And the man looked up* and began saying: “I see men, because I observe what seem to be trees, but they are walking about.” 25 Then he laid his hands again upon the man’s eyes, and the man saw clearly, and he was restored, and he was seeing everything distinctly. 26 So he sent him off home, saying: “But do not enter into the village.”+

27 Jesus and his disciples now left for the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he began questioning his disciples, saying to them: “Who are men saying that I am?”+ 28 They said to him: “John the Baptist,*+ and others, Elijah,+ still others, One of the prophets.”+ 29 And he put the question to them: “YOU, though, who do YOU say I am?” In answer Peter* said to him: “You are the Christ.”+ 30 At that he strictly charged them not to tell anyone about him.+ 31 Also, he started teaching them that the Son of man must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by the older men and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed,+ and rise three days later.+ 32 Indeed, with outspokenness he was making that statement. But Peter took him aside and started rebuking him.+ 33 He turned, looked at his disciples and rebuked Peter, and said: “Get behind me, Satan, because you think, not God’s thoughts,* but those of men.”+

34 He now called the crowd to him with his disciples and said to them: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake* and follow me continually.+ 35 For whoever wants to save his soul* will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for the sake of me and the good news will save it.+ 36 Really, of what benefit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?+ 37 What, really, would a man give in exchange for his soul?+ 38 For whoever becomes ashamed of me and my words Matt.10:33; Luke9:26 in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will also be ashamed+ of him when he arrives in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”+

9 Furthermore, he went on to say to them: “Truly I say to YOU, There are some of those standing here that will not taste death at all until first they see the kingdom of God already come in power.”+ 2 Accordingly six days later Jesus took Peter and James and John along, and brought them up into a lofty mountain to themselves alone. And he was transfigured before them,+ 3 and his outer garments became glistening, far whiter than any clothes cleaner on earth could whiten them.+ 4 Also, Elijah with Moses appeared to them, and they were conversing with Jesus.+ 5 And responsively Peter said to Jesus: “Rabbi, it is fine for us to be here, so let us erect three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”+ 6 In fact, he did not know what response he should make, for they became quite fearful. 7 And a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice+ came out of the cloud: “This is my Son,+ the beloved; listen to him.”+ 8 Suddenly, however, they looked around and saw no one with them any longer, except Jesus alone.+

9 As they were coming down out of the mountain, he expressly ordered them not to relate+ to anybody what they saw, until after the Son of man had risen from the dead.+ 10 And they took the word to heart,* but discussed among themselves what this rising from the dead meant. 11 And they began to question him, saying: “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah+ must come?”+ 12 He said to them: “Elijah does come first and restore all things;+ but how is it that it is written respecting the Son of man that he must undergo many sufferings+ and be treated as of no account?+ 13 But I say to YOU, Elijah,+ in fact, has come, and they did to him as many things as they wanted, just as it is written respecting him.”+

14 When, now, they came toward the other disciples, they noticed a great crowd about them and scribes disputing with them.+ 15 But as soon as all the crowd caught sight of him they were stunned, and, running up to him, they began to greet him. 16 And he asked them: “What are YOU disputing with them?” 17 And one of the crowd answered him: “Teacher, I brought my son to you because he has a speechless spirit;+ 18 and wherever it seizes him it dashes him to the ground, and he foams and grinds his teeth and loses his strength. And I told your disciples to expel it, but they were not capable.”+ 19 In response he said to them: “O faithless generation,+ how long must I continue with YOU? How long must I put up with YOU? Bring him to me.”+ 20 So they brought him to him. But at the sight of him the spirit at once threw [the child]* into convulsions, and after falling on the ground he kept rolling about, foaming.+ 21 And he asked his father: “How long has this been happening to him?” He said: “From childhood on; 22 and time and again it would throw him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.+ But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him: “That expression, ‘If you can’! Why, all things can be to one if one has faith.”+ 24 Immediately crying out, the father of the young child was saying: “I have faith! Help me out where I need faith!”*+

25 Jesus, now noticing that a crowd was running together upon [them], rebuked+ the unclean spirit, saying to it: “You speechless and deaf spirit, I order you, get out of him and enter into him no more.” 26 And after crying out and going through many convulsions it got out;+ and he became as dead, so that the greater number of them were saying: “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up, and he rose.+ 28 So after he entered into a house his disciples proceeded to ask him privately: “Why could we not expel it?”+ 29 And he said to them: “This kind cannot get out by anything except by prayer.”+

30 From there they departed and went their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to get to know it. 31 For he was teaching his disciples and telling them: “The Son of man is to be delivered* into men’s hands, and they will kill him,+ but, despite being killed, he will rise three days later.”+ 32 However, they were not understanding the saying, and they were afraid to question him.+

33 And they came into Capernaum. Now when he was inside the house he put the question to them: “What were YOU arguing over on the road?”+ 34 They kept silent, for on the road they had argued among themselves who is greater.+ 35 So he sat down and called the twelve and said to them: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and minister of all.”+ 36 And he took a young child, stood it in their midst and put his arms around it and said to them:+ 37 “Whoever receives one of such young children on the basis of my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives, not me only, but also him that sent me forth.”+

38 John said to him: “Teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him,+ because he was not accompanying us.”+ 39 But Jesus said: “Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me;+ 40 for he that is not against us is for us.+ 41 For whoever gives YOU a cup+ of water to drink on the ground that YOU belong to Christ,+ I truly tell YOU, he will by no means lose his reward. 42 But whoever stumbles one of these little ones that believe, it would be finer for him if a millstone such as is turned by an ass were put around his neck and he were actually pitched into the sea.+

43 “And if ever your hand makes you stumble, cut it off; it is finer for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go off into Gehenna,* into the fire that cannot be put out.+ 44* —— 45 And if your foot makes you stumble, cut it off; it is finer for you to enter into life lame+ than with two feet to be pitched into Gehenna.+ 46* —— 47 And if your eye makes you stumble, throw it away;+ it is finer for you to enter one-eyed into the kingdom of God than with two eyes to be pitched into Gehenna,+ 48 where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out.+

49 “For everyone must be salted+ with fire. ISA48:10; MT5:13 50 Salt is fine; but if ever the salt loses its strength,* with what will YOU season it itself?+ Have salt+ in yourselves, HEB6:4-6 and keep peace+ between one another.”

10 From there he rose and came to the frontiers of Judea and across the Jordan, and again crowds came together to him, and as he was accustomed to do he again went teaching them.+ 2 Pharisees now approached and, to put him to the test, began questioning him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.+ 3 In answer he said to them: “What did Moses command YOU?” 4 They said: “Moses allowed the writing of a certificate of dismissal and divorcing [her].”+ 5 But Jesus said to them: “Out of regard for YOUR hardheartedness+ he wrote YOU this commandment. 6 However, from [the] beginning of creation ‘He* made them male and female.+ 7 On this account a man will leave his father and mother, 8 and the two will be one flesh’;+ so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God yoked together let no man put apart.”+ 10 When again in the house+ the disciples began to question him concerning this. 11 And he said to them: “Whoever divorces* his wife and marries another commits adultery+ against her, 12 and if ever a woman, after divorcing her husband, marries another, she commits adultery.”+

13 Now people began bringing him young children for him to touch these; but the disciples reprimanded them.+ 14 At seeing this Jesus was indignant and said to them: “Let the young children come to me; do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to suchlike ones.+ 15 Truly I say to YOU, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a young child will by no means enter into it.”+ 16 And he took the children into his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands upon them.+

17 And as he was going out on his way, a certain man ran up and fell upon his knees before him and put the question to him: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?”*+ 18 Jesus said to him: “Why do you call me good?+ Nobody is good, except one, God.+ 19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder,+ Do not commit adultery,+ Do not steal,+ Do not bear false witness,+ Do not defraud,+ Honor your father and mother.’”+ 20 The man said to him: “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth on.” 21 Jesus looked upon him and felt love for him and said to him: “One thing is missing about you: Go, sell what things you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.”+ 22 But he grew sad at the saying and went off grieved, for he was holding many possessions.+

23 After looking around Jesus said to his disciples: “How difficult a thing it will be for those with money+ to enter into the kingdom of God!”+ 24 But the disciples gave way to surprise+ at his words. In response Jesus again said to them: “Children, how difficult a thing it is to enter into the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”+ 26 They became still more astounded and said to him: “Who, in fact, can be saved?”+ 27 Looking straight at them Jesus said: “With men it is impossible, but not so with God, for all things are possible with God.”+ 28 Peter started to say to him: “Look! We left all things and have been following you.”+ 29 Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news+ 30 who will not get a hundredfold+ now in this period of time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions,+ and in the coming system of things* everlasting life. 31 However, many that are first will be last, and the last first.”+

32 Now they were advancing on the road up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going in front of them, and they felt amazement; but those who followed began to fear. Once again he took the twelve aside and started to tell them these things destined to befall him:+ 33 “Here we are, advancing up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and will deliver him to [men of] the nations,+ 34 and they will make fun of him and will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but three days later he will rise.”+

35 And James and John, the two sons of Zebedee,+ stepped up to him and said to him: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever it is we ask you for.”+ 36 He said to them: “What do YOU want me to do for YOU?” 37 They said to him: “Grant us to sit down, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”+ 38 But Jesus said to them: “YOU do not know what YOU are asking for. Are YOU able to drink the cup which I am drinking, or to be baptized with the baptism* with which I am being baptized?”+ 39 They said to him: “We are able.” At that Jesus said to them: “The cup I am drinking YOU will drink, and with the baptism with which I am being baptized YOU will be baptized.+ 40 However, this sitting down at my right or at my left is not mine to give,+ but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 Well, when the ten others heard about it, they started to be indignant at James and John.+ 42 But Jesus, after calling them to him, said to them: “YOU know that those who appear to be ruling the nations lord it over them and their great ones wield authority over them.+ 43 This is not the way among YOU; but whoever wants to become great among YOU must be YOUR minister,+ 44 and whoever wants to be first among YOU must be the slave of all.+ 45 For even the Son of man came, not to be ministered to,+ but to minister and to give his soul* a ransom+ in exchange for many.”+

46 And they came into Jericho. But as he and his disciples and a considerable crowd were going out of Jericho, Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting beside the road.+ 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he started shouting and saying: “Son of David,+ Jesus, have mercy on me!”+ 48 At this many began sternly telling him to be silent; but he kept shouting that much more: “Son of David, have mercy on me!”+ 49 So Jesus stopped and said: “CALL him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him: “Take courage, get up, he is calling you.”+ 50 Throwing off his outer garment, he leaped to his feet and went to Jesus. 51 And in answer to him Jesus said: “What do you want me to do for you?”+ The blind man said to him: “Rabboni,* let me recover sight.”+ 52 And Jesus said to him: “Go, your faith has made you well.”*+ And immediately he recovered sight,+ and he began to follow him on the road.+

11 Now when they were getting near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany+ at the Mount of Olives, he dispatched two of his disciples+ 2 and told them: “Go into the village that is within sight of YOU, and as soon as YOU pass into it YOU will find a colt tied, on which none of mankind has yet sat; loose it and bring it.+ 3 And if anyone says to YOU, ‘Why are YOU doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and will at once send it off back here.’”+ 4 So they went away and found the colt tied at the door, outside on the side street, and they loosed it.+ 5 But some of those standing there began to say to them: “What are YOU doing loosing the colt?”+ 6 They said to these just as Jesus had said; and they let them go.+

7 And they brought the colt+ to Jesus, and they put their outer garments upon it, and he sat on it.+ 8 Also, many spread their outer garments+ on the road, but others cut down foliage+ from the fields.+ 9 And those going in front and those coming behind kept crying out: “Save, we pray!*+ Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s* name!+ 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!*+ Save, we pray, in the heights above!”* 11 And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and he looked around upon all things, and, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.+

12 The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he became hungry.+ 13 And from a distance he caught sight of a fig tree that had leaves, and he went to see whether he would perhaps find something on it. But, on coming to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs.+ 14 So, in response, he said to it: “Let no one eat fruit from you anymore forever.”+ And his disciples were listening.

15 Now they came to Jerusalem. There he entered into the temple and started to throw out those selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves;+ 16 and he would not let anyone carry a utensil through the temple, 17 but he kept teaching and saying: “Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer+ for all the nations’?+ But YOU have made it a cave of robbers.”+ 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and they began to seek how to destroy him;+ for they were in fear of him, for all the crowd was continually being astounded at his teaching.+

19 And when it became late in the day, they would go out of the city. 20 But when they were passing by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree already withered up from the roots.+ 21 So Peter, remembering it, said to him: “Rabbi, see! the fig tree that you cursed has withered up.”+ 22 And in reply Jesus said to them: “Have faith in God. 23 Truly I say to YOU that whoever tells this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but has faith that what he says is going to occur, he will have it so.+ 24 This is why I tell YOU, All the things YOU pray and ask for have faith that YOU have practically received, and YOU will have them.+ 25 And when YOU stand praying, forgive+ whatever YOU have against anyone; in order that YOUR Father who is in the heavens may also forgive YOU YOUR trespasses.”+ 26* ——

27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the older men came to him+ 28 and began to say to him: “By what authority do you do these things? or who gave you this authority to do these things?”+ 29 Jesus said to them: “I will ask YOU one question. YOU answer me, and I will also tell YOU by what authority I do these things.+ 30 Was the baptism+ by John from heaven or from men? Answer me.”+ 31 So they began to reason among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why is it, therefore, YOU did not believe him?’+ 32 But dare we say, ‘From men’?”—They were in fear of the crowd, for these all held that John had really been a prophet.+ 33 Well, in reply to Jesus they said: “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them: “Neither am I telling YOU by what authority I do these things.”+

12 Also, he started to speak to them with illustrations: “A man planted a vineyard,+ and put a fence around it, and dug a vat for the winepress and erected a tower,+ and let it out to cultivators,+ and traveled abroad.+ 2 Now in due season he sent forth a slave to the cultivators, that he might get some of the fruits of the vineyard from the cultivators.+ 3 But they took him, beat him up and sent him away empty.+ 4 And again he sent forth another slave to them; and that one they struck on the head and dishonored.+ 5 And he sent forth another, and that one they killed; and many others, some of whom they beat up and some of whom they killed. 6 One more he had, a beloved son.+ He sent him forth last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’+ 7 But those cultivators said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.+ Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’+ 8 So they took him and killed him,+ and threw him outside the vineyard.+ 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the cultivators, and will give the vineyard+ to others.+ 10 Did YOU never read this scripture, ‘The stone+ that the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone.+ 11 From Jehovah* this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”+

12 At that they began seeking how to seize him, but they feared the crowd, for they took note that he spoke the illustration with them in mind. So they left him and went away.+

13 Next they sent forth to him some of the Pharisees and of the party followers of Herod,*+ to catch him in his speech.+ 14 On arrival these said to him: “Teacher, we know you are truthful and you do not care for anybody, for you do not look upon men’s outward appearance, but you teach the way of God in line with truth:+ Is it lawful to pay head tax to Caesar* or not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”+ Detecting their hypocrisy, he said to them: “Why do YOU put me to the test? Bring me a denarius* to look at.”+ 16 They brought one. And he said to them: “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to him: “Caesar’s.”+ 17 Jesus then said: “Pay back* Caesar’s things to Caesar,+ but God’s things to God.”+ And they began to marvel at him.+

18 Now Sadducees came to him, who say there is no resurrection, and they put the question to him:+ 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote us that if someone’s brother dies and leaves a wife behind but does not leave a child, his brother+ should take the wife and raise up offspring from her for his brother.+ 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, but when he died he left no offspring.+ 21 And the second took her, but died without leaving offspring; and the third the same way. 22 And the seven did not leave any offspring. Last of all the woman also died.+ 23 In the resurrection to which of them will she be wife? For the seven got her as wife.”+ 24 Jesus said to them: “Is not this why YOU are mistaken, YOUR not knowing either the Scriptures or the power of God?+ 25 For when they rise from the dead, neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but are as angels in the heavens.+ 26 But concerning the dead, that they are raised up, did YOU not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the thornbush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob’?+ 27 He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living. YOU are much mistaken.”+

28 Now one of the scribes that had come up and heard them disputing, knowing that he had answered them in a fine way, asked him: “Which commandment is first of all?”+ 29 Jesus answered: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah* our God is one Jehovah,*+ 30 and you must love Jehovah* your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul* and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.’+ 31 The second is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’+ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to him: “Teacher, you well said in line with truth, ‘He is One, and there is no other than He’;+ 33 and this loving him with one’s whole heart and with one’s whole understanding and with one’s whole strength and this loving one’s neighbor as oneself is worth far more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”+ 34 At this Jesus, discerning he had answered intelligently, said to him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But nobody had the courage anymore to question him.+

35 However, when making a reply, Jesus began to say as he taught in the temple: “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is David’s son?+ 36 By the holy spirit+ David himself said, ‘Jehovah* said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”’+ 37 David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ but how does it come that he is his son?”+

And the great crowd was listening to him with pleasure.+ 38 And in his teaching he went on to say: “Look out for the scribes+ that want to walk around in robes and want greetings in the marketplaces* 39 and front seats in the synagogues and most prominent places at evening meals.+ 40 They are the ones devouring the houses+ of the widows and for a pretext making long prayers; these will receive a heavier judgment.”+

41 And he sat down with the treasury chests+ in view and began observing how the crowd was dropping money* into the treasury chests;* and many rich people were dropping in many coins.+ 42 Now a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins,* which have very little value.*+ Luke21:2; 12:6 43 So he called his disciples to him and said to them: “Truly I say to YOU that this poor widow dropped in more than all those dropping money into the treasury chests;+ 44 for they all dropped in out of their surplus, but she, out of her want, dropped in all of what she had, her whole living.”+

13 As he was going out of the temple one of his disciples said to him: “Teacher, see! what sort of stones and what sort of buildings!”+ 2 However, Jesus said to him: “Do you behold these great buildings?+ By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone+ and not be thrown down.”+

3 And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives with the temple in view, Peter+ and James and John and Andrew began to ask him privately:+ 4 “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are destined to come to a conclusion?”*+ 5 So Jesus started to say to them: “Look out that nobody misleads YOU.+ 6 Many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and will mislead many.+ 7 Moreover, when YOU hear of wars and reports of wars, do not be terrified; [these things] must take place, but the end* is not yet.+

8 “For nation will rise* against nation and kingdom against kingdom,+ there will be earthquakes*+ in one place after another, there will be food shortages.+ These are a beginning of pangs of distress.+

9 “As for YOU, look out for yourselves; people will deliver YOU up to local courts,*+ and YOU will be beaten in synagogues+ and be put on the stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness* to them.+ 10 Also, in all the nations the good news+ has to be preached* first.+ 11 But when they are leading YOU along to deliver YOU up, do not be anxious beforehand about what to speak;+ but whatever is given YOU in that hour, speak this, for YOU are not the ones speaking, but the holy spirit is.+ 12 Furthermore, brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father a child,+ and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death;+ 13 and YOU will be objects of hatred by all people on account of my name.+ But he that has endured to the end*+ is the one that will be saved.+

14 “However, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing+ that causes desolation+ standing where it ought not (let the reader use discernment),+ then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.+ 15 Let the man on the housetop not come down, nor go inside to take anything out of his house;+ 16 and let the man in the field not return to the things behind to pick up his outer garment.+ 17 Woe to the pregnant women and those suckling a baby in those days!+ 18 Keep praying that it may not occur in wintertime;+ 19 for those days will be [days of] a tribulation+ such as has not occurred from [the] beginning of the creation which God created until that time,* and will not occur again.+ 20 In fact, unless Jehovah*+ had cut short the days, no flesh would be saved. But on account of the chosen+ ones whom he has chosen+ he has cut short the days.+

21 “Then, too, if anyone says to YOU, ‘See! Here is the Christ,’ ‘See! There he is,’+ do not believe [it].+ 22 For false Christs and false prophets will arise+ and will give signs and wonders+ to lead astray, if possible, the chosen ones.+ 23 YOU, then, watch+ out; I have told YOU all things beforehand.+

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling out of heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.+ 26 And then they will see the Son of man+ coming* in clouds with great power and glory.+ 27 And then he will send forth the angels and will gather his chosen+ ones together from the four winds, from earth’s extremity to heaven’s extremity.+

28 “Now from the fig tree learn the illustration: Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and puts forth its leaves, YOU know that summer is near.+ 29 Likewise also YOU, when YOU see these things happening, know that he is near, at the doors.+ 30 Truly I say to YOU that this generation* will by no means pass away until all these things happen.+ 31 Heaven+ and earth will pass away, but my words+ will not pass away.+

32 “Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father.+ 33 Keep looking, keep awake,+ for YOU do not know when the appointed time is.+ 34 It is like a man traveling abroad+ that left his house and gave the authority to his slaves, to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep on the watch. 35 Therefore keep on the watch,+ for YOU do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether late in the day* or at midnight* or at cockcrowing* or early in the morning;*+ 36 in order that when he arrives suddenly, he does not find YOU sleeping.+ 37 But what I say to YOU I say to all, Keep on the watch.”+

14 Now the passover+ and the [festival+ of] unfermented cakes was two days later.+ And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by crafty device and kill him;+ 2 for they repeatedly said: “Not at the festival; perhaps there might be an uproar of the people.”+

3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,+ as he was reclining at the meal, a woman came with an alabaster case of perfumed oil, genuine nard, very expensive. Breaking open the alabaster case she began to pour it upon his head.+ 4 At this there were some expressing indignation among themselves: “Why has this waste of the perfumed oil taken place?+ 5 For this perfumed oil could have been sold for upward of three hundred denarii* and been given to the poor!” And they were feeling great displeasure at her.+ 6 But Jesus said: “Let her alone. Why do YOU try to make trouble for her? She did a fine deed toward me.+ 7 For YOU always have the poor+ with YOU, and whenever YOU want to YOU can always do them good, but me YOU do not have always.+ 8 She did what she could; she undertook beforehand to put perfumed oil on my body in view of the burial.+ 9 Truly I say to YOU, Wherever the good news is preached in all the world,+ what this woman did shall also be told as a remembrance of her.”+

10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.+ 11 When they heard it, they rejoiced and promised to give him silver money.+ So he began seeking how to betray him conveniently.+

12 Now on the first day of* unfermented+ cakes, when they customarily sacrificed the passover [victim], his disciples+ said to him: “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the passover?”+ 13 With that he sent forth two of his disciples and said to them: “Go into the city, and a man carrying an earthenware vessel of water will encounter YOU.+ Follow him, 14 and wherever he goes inside say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says: “Where is the guest room for me where I may eat the passover+ with my disciples?”’+ 15 And he will show YOU a large upper room, furnished in preparation; and there prepare for us.”+ 16 So the disciples went out, and they entered the city and found it just as he said to them; and they prepared for the passover.+

17 After evening had fallen he came with the twelve.+ 18 And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU, One of YOU, who is eating+ with me, will betray me.”+ 19 They started to be grieved and to say to him one by one: “It is not I, is it?”+ 20 He said to them: “It is one of the twelve, who is dipping with me into the common bowl.+ 21 True, the Son of man is going away, just as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been finer for that man if he had not been born.”+

22 And as they continued eating, he took a loaf, said a blessing, broke it and gave it to them, and said: “Take it, this means my body.”+ 23 And taking a cup, he offered thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank out of it.+ 24 And he said to them: “This means* my ‘blood+ of the covenant,’+ which is to be poured+ out in behalf of many.+ ■  25 Truly I say to YOU, I shall by no means drink anymore of the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new* in the kingdom of God.”+ 26 Finally, after singing praises,*+ they went out to the Mount of Olives.+

27 And Jesus said to them: “YOU will all be stumbled, because it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd,+ and the sheep will be scattered about.’+ 28 But after I have been raised up I will go ahead of YOU into Galilee.”+ 29 But Peter said to him: “Even if all the others are stumbled, yet I will not be.”+ 30 At that Jesus said to him: “Truly I say to you, You today, yes, this night, before a cock crows twice, even you will disown me three times.”+ 31 But he began to say profusely: “If I have to die with you, I will by no means disown you.” Also, all the others began saying the same thing.+

32 So they came to a spot named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples: “Sit down here while I pray.”+ 33 And he took Peter and James and John+ along with him, and he started to be stunned and to be sorely troubled.+ 34 And he said to them: “My soul is deeply grieved,+ even to death. Stay here and keep on the watch.”+ 35 And going a little way forward he proceeded to fall on the ground and began praying that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.+ 36 And he went on to say: “Abba,* Father,+ all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”+ 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter: “Simon, are you sleeping? Did you not have strength to keep on the watch one hour?+ 38 Men, keep on the watch and praying,+ in order that YOU do not come into temptation. The spirit, of course, is eager, but the flesh is weak.”+ 39 And he went away again and prayed, saying the same word.+ 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down, and so they did not know what to answer him.+ 41 And he came the third time and said to them: “At such a time as this YOU are sleeping and taking YOUR rest! It is enough! The hour has come!+ Look! The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.+ 42 Get up, let us go.+ Look! My betrayer has drawn near.”+

43 And immediately, while he was yet speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the older men.+ 44 Now his betrayer had given them an agreed sign, saying: “Whoever it is I kiss, this is he; take him into custody and lead him away safely.”*+ 45 And he came straight up and approached him and said: “Rabbi!” and kissed+ him very tenderly. 46 So they laid their hands upon him and took him into custody.+ 47 However, a certain one of those standing by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and took his ear off.+ 48 But in response Jesus said to them: “Did YOU come out with swords and clubs as against a robber to arrest me?+ 49 Day after day I was with YOU in the temple teaching,+ and yet YOU did not take me into custody. Nevertheless, it is in order that the Scriptures+ may be fulfilled.”+

50 And they all abandoned+ him and fled.+ 51 But a certain young man wearing a fine linen garment over his naked body began to follow him nearby; and they tried to seize him,+ 52 but he left his linen garment behind and got away naked.*

53 They now led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the older men and the scribes assembled.+ 54 But Peter, from a good distance, followed him+ as far as in the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting together with the house attendants and warming himself before a bright fire. 55 Meantime the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death,+ but they were not finding any.+ 56 Many, indeed, were giving false witness against him,+ but their testimonies were not in agreement.+ 57 Also, certain ones were rising and bearing false witness against him, saying: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will throw down this temple* that was made with hands and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’”+ 59 But neither on these grounds was their testimony in agreement.

60 Finally the high priest rose in their midst and questioned Jesus, saying: “Do you say nothing in reply? What is it these are testifying against you?”+ 61 But he kept silent and made no reply at all.+ Again the high priest began to question him and said to him: “Are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed One?”+ 62 Then Jesus said: “I am; and YOU persons will see the Son of man+ sitting at the right hand+ of power and coming* with the clouds of heaven.”+ 63 At this the high priest ripped his inner garments+ and said: “What further need do we have of witnesses?+ 64 YOU heard the blasphemy.+ What is evident to YOU?” They all condemned him to be liable to death. 65 And some started to spit+ on him and to cover his whole face and hit him with their fists and say to him: “Prophesy!” And, slapping him in the face, the court attendants took him.+

66 Now while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came,+ 67 and, seeing Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said: “You, too, were with the Nazarene, this Jesus.”+ 68 But he denied it, saying: “Neither do I know him nor do I understand* what you are saying,” and he went outside to the vestibule.+ 69 There the servant girl, at the sight of him, started again to say to those standing by: “This is one of them.”+ 70 Again he was denying it. And once more after a little while those standing by began saying to Peter: “Certainly you are one of them, for, in fact, you are a Galilean.”+ 71 But he commenced to curse and swear:+ “I do not know this man of whom YOU speak.”+ 72 And immediately a cock crowed a second time;+ and Peter recalled the saying that Jesus spoke to him: “Before a cock crows twice, you will disown me three times.”+ And he broke down and gave way to weeping.+

15 And immediately at dawn the chief priests with the older men and the scribes, even the whole Sanhedrin, conducted a consultation,+ and they bound Jesus and led him off and handed him over to Pilate.+ 2 So Pilate put the question to him: “Are you the king+ of the Jews?” In answer to him he said: “You yourself say [it].”+ 3 But the chief priests proceeded to accuse him of many things.+ 4 Now Pilate began questioning him again, saying: “Have you no reply to make?+ See how many charges they are bringing against you.”+ 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate began to marvel.+

6 Well, from festival to festival he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they petitioned for.+ 7 At the time there was the so-called Barabbas in bonds with the seditionists, who in their sedition had committed murder.+ 8 So the crowd came on up and started to make petition according to what he used to do for them. 9 Pilate responded to them, saying: “Do YOU want me to release to YOU the king of the Jews?”+ 10 For he was aware that because of envy+ the chief priests had handed him over.+ 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them, instead.+ 12 Again in reply Pilate was saying to them: “What, then, shall I do with him whom YOU call the king+ of the Jews?”+ 13 Once more they cried out: “Impale him!”*+ 14 But Pilate went on to say to them: “Why, what bad thing did he do?” Still they cried out all the more: “Impale him!”+ 15 At that Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,+ released Barabbas to them, and, after having Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be impaled.+

16 The soldiers now led him off into the courtyard, that is, into the governor’s palace; and they called the whole body of troops together,+ 17 and they decked him with purple and braided a crown of thorns and put it on him.+ 18 And they started greeting him: “Good day,+ you King of the Jews!” 19 Also, they would hit him on the head with a reed and spit upon him and, bending their knees, they would do obeisance to him.+ 20 Finally, when they had made fun of him, they stripped him of the purple and put his outer garments upon him. And they led him out to impale him.*+ 21 Also, they impressed into service a passerby, a certain Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, that he should lift up his torture stake.*+

22 So they brought him to the place Golgotha, which means, when translated, Skull Place.*+ 23 Here they tried to give him wine drugged with myrrh,+ but he would not take it.+ 24 And they impaled him and distributed his outer garments+ by casting the lot over them as to who takes what.+ 25 It was now the third hour,*+ and they impaled him. 26 And the inscription of the charge+ against him was written above, “The King of the Jews.”+ 27 Moreover, they impaled two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.+ 28* —— 29 And those going by would speak abusively+ to him, wagging their heads and saying: “Bah! You would-be thrower-down of the temple* and builder of it in three days’ time,+ 30 save yourself by coming down off the torture stake.”+ 31 In like manner also the chief priests were making fun among themselves with the scribes and saying: “Others he saved; himself he cannot save!+ 32 Let the Christ the King of Israel now come down off the torture stake, that we may see and believe.”+ Even those impaled together with him were reproaching him.+

33 When it became the sixth hour* a darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.*+ 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud voice: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”* which means, when translated: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”+ 35 And some of those standing near, on hearing it, began to say: “See! He is calling Elijah.”*+ 36 But a certain one ran, soaked a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and began giving him a drink,+ saying: “LET [him] be! Let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”+ 37 But Jesus let out a loud cry and expired.+ 38 And the curtain+ of the sanctuary* was rent in two from top to bottom.+ 39 Now, when the army officer* that was standing by with him in view saw he had expired under these circumstances, he said: “Certainly this man was God’s Son.”*+

40 There were also women viewing from a distance,+ among them Mary Magdalene as well as Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses,* and Salome,+ 41 who used to accompany him+ and minister to him when he was in Galilee, and many other women who had come up together with him to Jerusalem.+

42 Now as it was already late in the afternoon, and since it was Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 there came Joseph of Arimathea, a reputable member of the Council, who also himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.+ He took courage to go in before Pilate and asked for the body+ of Jesus. 44 But Pilate wondered whether he was already dead, and, summoning the army officer, he asked him whether he had already died. 45 So after making certain from the army officer, he granted the corpse to Joseph.+ 46 Accordingly he bought fine linen and took him down, wrapped him in the fine linen and laid him+ in a tomb+ which was quarried out of a rock-mass; and he rolled a stone up to the door of the memorial tomb.+ 47 But Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses* continued looking at where he had been laid.+

16 So when the sabbath+ had passed, Mary Magdalene,+ and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices in order to come and grease him.+ 2 And very early on the first day+ of the week they came to the memorial tomb, when the sun had risen.+ 3 And they were saying one to another: “Who will roll the stone away from the door of the memorial tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they beheld that the stone had been rolled away, although it was very large.+ 5 When they entered into the memorial tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a white robe, and they were stunned.+ 6 He said to them: “Stop being stunned. YOU are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was impaled.*+ He was raised+ up, he is not here. See! The place where they laid him.+ 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of YOU into Galilee;+ there YOU will see him, just as he told YOU.’”+ 8 So when they came out they fled from the memorial tomb, for trembling and strong emotion were gripping them. And they told nobody anything, for they were in fear.*+

SHORT CONCLUSION

Some late manuscripts and versions contain a short conclusion after Mark 16:8, as follows:

But all the things that had been commanded they related briefly to those around Peter. Further, after these things, Jesus himself sent out through them from the east to the west the holy and incorruptible proclamation of everlasting salvation.

LONG CONCLUSION

Certain ancient manuscripts (ACD) and versions (VgSy^c,p) add the following long conclusion, but which אBSy^sArm omit:

9 After he rose early on the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had expelled seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping. 11 But they, when they heard he had come to life and had been viewed by her, did not believe. 12 Moreover, after these things he appeared in another form to two of them walking along, as they were going into the country; 13 and they came back and reported to the rest. Neither did they believe these. 14 But later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, and he reproached their lack of faith and hardheartedness, because they did not believe those who had beheld him now raised up from the dead. 15 And he said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 He that believes and is baptized will be saved, but he that does not believe will be condemned. 17 Furthermore, these signs will accompany those believing: By the use of my name they will expel demons, they will speak with tongues, 18 and with their hands they will pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly it will not hurt them at all. They will lay their hands upon sick persons, and these will become well.”

19 So, then, the Lord Jesus, after having spoken to them, was taken up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 They, accordingly, went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and backed up the message through the accompanying signs.