Mark 6-7

Mark 6

¹Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples.

²When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles?

³Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him.

⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor.”

⁵So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them.

⁶And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.

⁷Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits.

⁸He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—

⁹and to wear sandals, but not a second tunic.

¹⁰And He told them, “When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that area.

¹¹If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they set out and preached that the people should repent.

¹³They also drove out many demons and healed many of the sick, anointing them with oil.

¹⁴Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵Others were saying, “He is Elijah,” and still others, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead!”

¹⁷For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married.

¹⁸For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!”

¹⁹So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable,

²⁰because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. When he heard John’s words, he was greatly perplexed; yet he listened to him gladly.

²¹On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.

²²When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.”

²³And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!”

²⁴Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

²⁶The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her.

²⁷So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison.

²⁸The man brought John’s head on a platter and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.

²⁹When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

³⁰Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught.

³¹And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

³²So they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place.

³³But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them.

³⁴When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

³⁵By now the hour was already late. So the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late.

³⁶Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”

³⁸“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²They all ate and were satisfied,

⁴³and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.

⁴⁴And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.

⁴⁵Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶After bidding them farewell, He went up on the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on land.

⁴⁸He could see that the disciples were straining to row, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them,

⁴⁹but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out, thinking He was a ghost—

⁵⁰for they all saw Him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

⁵¹Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded,

⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat.

⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus

⁵⁵and ran through that whole region, carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.

⁵⁶And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

Mark 7

¹Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,

²and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.

³Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.

⁴And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

⁵So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

⁶Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

⁷They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

⁸You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”

⁹He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.

¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

¹¹But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),

¹²he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother.

¹³Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

¹⁴Once again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “All of you, listen to Me and understand:

¹⁵Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”

¹⁷After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

¹⁸“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,

¹⁹because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)

²⁰He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him.

²¹For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

²²greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

²³All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice.

²⁵Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit soon heard about Jesus, and she came and fell at His feet.

²⁶Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷“First let the children have their fill,” He said. “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then Jesus told her, “Because of this answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰And she went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹Then Jesus left the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.

³²Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.

³³So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.

³⁴And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

³⁵Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

³⁷The people were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”