Mark's Story (24 page)

⁴⁰
And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those
who were
with Him, and entered where the child was lying.
⁴¹
Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
⁴²
Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years
of age.
And they were overcome with great amazement.
⁴³
But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that
something
should be given her to eat.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

6
Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.
²
And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing
Him
were astonished, saying, “Where
did
this Man
get
these things? And what wisdom
is
this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!
³
Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.

⁴
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”
⁵
Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed
them.
⁶
And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

Sending Out the Twelve

⁷
And He called the twelve to
Himself,
and began to send them out two
by
two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.
⁸
He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in
their
money belts—
⁹
but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

¹⁰
Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.
¹¹
And whoever
^a
will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.
^b
Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

¹²
So they went out and preached that
people
should repent.
¹³
And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed
them.

John the Baptist Beheaded

¹⁴
Now King Herod heard
of Him,
for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵
Others said, “It is Elijah.”

And others said, “It is the Prophet, or
^a
like one of the prophets.”

¹⁶
But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!”
¹⁷
For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her.
¹⁸
Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹
Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not;
²⁰
for Herod feared John, knowing that he
was
a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

²¹
Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief
men
of Galilee.
²²
And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give
it
to you.”
²³
He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴
So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?”

And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!”

²⁵
Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶
And the king was exceedingly sorry;
yet,
because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.
²⁷
Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison,
²⁸
brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.
²⁹
When his disciples heard
of it,
they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

Feeding the Five Thousand

³⁰
Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.
³¹
And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
³²
So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

³³
But the multitudes
^a
saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him.
³⁴
And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
³⁵
When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour
is
late.
³⁶
Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread;
^a
for they have nothing to eat.”

³⁷
But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them
something
to eat?”

³⁸
But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹
Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.
⁴⁰
So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.
⁴¹
And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave
them
to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among
them
all.
⁴²
So they all ate and were filled.
⁴³
And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.
⁴⁴
Now those who had eaten the loaves were about
^a
five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

⁴⁵
Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.
⁴⁶
And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
⁴⁷
Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He
was
alone on the land.
⁴⁸
Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
⁴⁹
And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out;
⁵⁰
for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
⁵¹
Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.
⁵²
For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.

Many Touch Him and Are Made Well

⁵³
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there.
⁵⁴
And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,
⁵⁵
ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was.
⁵⁶
Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.

Defilement Comes from Within

7
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.
²
Now when
^a
they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.
³
For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash
their
hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
⁴
When they come
from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold,
like
the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

⁵
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶
He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with
their
lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

⁷
And in vain they worship Me,

Teaching
as
doctrines the commandments of men.’
^a

⁸
For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men
^a
—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

⁹
He said to them, “
All too
well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
¹⁰
For Moses said,
‘Honor your father and your mother’
;
^a
and,
‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
^b
11
But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me
is
Corban”—’ (that is, a gift
to God
),
¹²
then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,
¹³
making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

¹⁴
When He had called all the multitude to
Himself,
He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand:
¹⁵
There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.
¹⁶
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
^a

¹⁷
When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.
¹⁸
So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him,
¹⁹
because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated,
thus
purifying all foods?”
^a
20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.
²¹
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
²²
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
²³
All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

A Gentile Shows Her Faith

²⁴
From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
^a
And He entered a house and wanted no one to know
it,
but He could not be hidden.
²⁵
For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.
²⁶
The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
²⁷
But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw
it
to the little dogs.”