Matthew 15:21–39

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

²¹When Jesus left there, ^eHe withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. ^f22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, ^g“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.” ^h

²³Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples ⁱapproached Him and urged Him, “Send her away because she cries out after us.” ^j

²⁴He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ^k

²⁵But she came, knelt before Him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.” ^l

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table!”

²⁸Then Jesus replied to her, “^•Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment ^mher daughter was cured. ⁿ

Healing Many People

²⁹Moving on from there, ^oJesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. ^pHe went up on a mountain and sat there, ³⁰and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. ³¹So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. ^qAnd they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding 4,000

³²Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, ^r“I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³The disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place ^sto fill such a crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish, and He gave thanks, broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ^t37They all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. ³⁸Now those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children. ³⁹After dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. ^uv