Mark 6–7

Rejection at Nazareth

6He ^xwent away from there and came to His hometown, ^yand His disciples ^zfollowed Him. ²When the Sabbath ^acame, He began to teach ^bin the synagogue, ^cand many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom ^dgiven to Him, and how are these miracles ^eperformed by His hands? ³Isn’t this the carpenter, ^fthe son of Mary, ^gand the brother of James, ^hJoses, Judas, ⁱand Simon? And aren’t His sisters here with us?” So they were offended ^jby Him.

⁴Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet ^kis not without honor ^lexcept in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.” ⁵So He was not able to do any miracles ^mnthere, except that He laid His hands on ^oa few sick ^ppeople and healed ^qthem. ⁶And He was amazed ^rat their unbelief. ^s

Commissioning the Twelve

Now He was going around the villages in a circuit, teaching. ^t7He ^usummoned ^vthe Twelve ^wand began to send ^xthem out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean ^yspirits. ^z8He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a walking stick: no bread, no traveling bag, ^ano money in their belts. ⁹They were to wear sandals, but not put on an extra shirt. ^b10Then He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. ¹¹If any place does not welcome ^cyou and people refuse to listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet ^das a testimony ^eagainst them.” ^f

¹²So they went out and preached ^gthat people should repent. ^h13And they were driving out many demons, ⁱanointing ^jmany sick ^kpeople with olive oil, ^land healing them. ^m

John the Baptist Beheaded

¹⁴King ⁿHerod ^oheard of this, because Jesus’ name ^phad become well known. Some ^qsaid, “John the Baptist ^rhas been raised from the dead, ^sand that’s why supernatural powers ^tare at work ^uin him.” ¹⁵But others said, “He’s Elijah.” ^vStill others said, “He’s a prophet ^w—like one of the prophets.” ^x

¹⁶When Herod ^yheard of it, he said, “John, ^zthe one I beheaded, has been raised!” ^a17For ^bHerod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain ^chim in prison on account of Herodias, ^dhis brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. ^e18John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful ^ffor you to have your brother’s wife!” ^g19So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill ^hhim. But she could not, ²⁰because Herod was in awe ⁱof ^jJohn and was protecting him, knowing he was a righteous ^kand holy ^lman. When Herod heard him he would be very disturbed, ^mnyet would hear him gladly. ^o

²¹Now an opportune time came on his birthday, when Herod gave a banquet ^pfor his nobles, ^qmilitary commanders, ^rand the leading men of Galilee. ^s22When Herodias’s own daughter ^tcame in and danced, ^ushe pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³So he swore ^voaths ^wto her: “Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” ^x

²⁴Then she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”

“John the Baptist’s ^yhead!” she said.

²⁵Immediately she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s ^zhead on a platter ^a—right now!”

²⁶Though the king was deeply distressed, ^bbecause of his oaths ^cand the guests ^dhe did not want to refuse ^eher. ²⁷The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John’s head. So he went and beheaded him in prison, ²⁸brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹When his disciples ^fgheard about it, they came and removed his corpse and placed it in a tomb. ^h

Feeding 5,000

³⁰The ⁱapostles ^jgathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and 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 the boat by themselves to a remote place, ³³but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ^k34So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion ^lon them, because they were like sheep ^mwithout a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it was already late, His disciples ⁿapproached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, ^oand it is already late! ³⁶Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷“You give them something to eat,” He responded.

They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii ^pworth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

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

³⁹Then He instructed them to have all the people sit down ^qin groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²Everyone ate and was filled. ^r43Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

Walking on the Water

⁴⁵Immediately ^sHe made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, ^twhile He dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After He said good-bye to them, He went away to the mountain ^uto pray. ^v47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸He saw them being battered ^was they rowed, ^xbecause the wind was against them. Around three in the morning ^yHe came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost ^zand cried out; ⁵⁰for they all saw Him and were terrified. ^aImmediately He spoke with them and said, “Have courage! ^bIt is I. ^cDon’t be afraid.” ^d51Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, ^e52because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened. ^f

Miraculous Healings

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret ^gand beached the boat. ⁵⁴As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him. ⁵⁵They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick ^hon mats to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the tassel ⁱof His robe. ^jAnd everyone who touched it was made well.

The Traditions of the Elders

7The ^kPharisees ^land some of the scribes ^mwho had come from Jerusalem ⁿgathered around Him. ²They observed that some of His disciples were eating their bread with unclean ^o—that is, unwashed—hands. ³(For the Pharisees, in fact all the Jews, will not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, keeping the tradition of the elders. ⁴When they come from the marketplace, ^pthey do not eat unless they have washed. ^qAnd there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, jugs, copper utensils, and dining couches. ^rs) ⁵Then the Pharisees ^tand the scribes ^uasked Him, “Why don’t Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, ^vinstead of eating bread with ritually unclean ^whands?”

⁶He answered them, “Isaiah ^xprophesied ^ycorrectly about you hypocrites, ^zas it is written: ^a

These people honor ^bMe with their lips,

but their heart is far from Me.

⁷They worship Me in vain,

teaching ^cas doctrines ^dthe commands ^eof men. ^fg

⁸Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men.” ^h9He also said to them, “You completely invalidate God’s command in order to maintain ⁱyour tradition! ¹⁰For Moses ^jsaid:

Honor your father and your mother; ^kl and

Whoever speaks evil of father or mother

must be put to death. ^mn

¹¹But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit ^oyou might have received from me is Corban’ ” (that is, a gift ^pcommitted to the temple), ¹²“you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³You revoke God’s word ^qby your tradition that you have handed ^rdown. And you do many other similar things.” ¹⁴Summoning ^sthe crowd again, He told them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ^t15Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. [¹⁶If anyone has ears to hear, he should listen!]” ^u

¹⁷When He went into the house away from the crowd, the disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸And He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach ^vand is eliminated.” ^w(As a result, He made all foods clean. ^xy) ²⁰Then He said, “What comes out of a person—that defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, ^zthefts, murders, ^a22adulteries, ^bgreed, ^cevil actions, deceit, ^dpromiscuity, ^estinginess, ^fblasphemy, ^gpride, ^hand foolishness. ⁱ²³All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

²⁴He got up and departed from ^jthere to the region of Tyre ^kand Sidon. ^lmHe entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but He could not escape notice. ²⁵Instead, immediately after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit ⁿcame and fell at His feet. ^o26Now the woman was Greek, ^pa Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to drive the demon ^qout of her daughter. ²⁷He said to her, “Allow the children to be satisfied first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ^r

²⁸But she replied to Him, “Lord, ^seven the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then He told her, “Because of…