Mark 6:45–8:26

Jesus Walks on the Sea

^45aAnd immediately Jesus made His disciples get into ^bthe boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to ^cBethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.

⁴⁶And after ^abidding them farewell, He left ^bfor the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷And when it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.

⁴⁸And seeing them ¹straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the ^2afourth watch of the night He ^*came to them, walking on the sea; and He was intending to pass by them.

⁴⁹But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and cried out;

⁵⁰for they all saw Him and were ¹terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and ^*said to them, “^aTake courage; it is I, ^bdo not be afraid.”

⁵¹Then He got into ^athe boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were ¹utterly amazed,

⁵²for ^athey ¹had not gained any insight about the loaves, but their ²heart ^bwas hardened.

Many Healed at Gennesaret

^53aAnd when they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.

⁵⁴And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,

⁵⁵and ran about that whole region and began to carry here and there on their mats those who were sick, to ¹the place they heard He was.

⁵⁶And wherever He was entering villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces, and pleading with Him that they might just ^atouch ^bthe fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were being ¹saved from their sicknesses.

CHAPTER 7

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

^1aAnd the Pharisees and some of the scribes ^*gathered around Him when they had come ^bfrom Jerusalem,

²and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^adefiled hands, that is, unwashed.

³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ¹carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^atradition of the elders;

⁴and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ¹wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^acups and pitchers and copper pots.)

⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes ^*asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^bdefiled hands?”

⁶And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘^aThis people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

⁷‘^aBut in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’

⁸“Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^atradition of men.”

⁹And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^atradition.

¹⁰“For Moses said, ‘^aHonor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^bHe who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ¹be put to death’;

¹¹but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^aCorban (that is to say, ¹given to God),’

¹²you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother;

¹³thus invalidating the word of God by your ^atradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:

¹⁵there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

¹⁶¹[“And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷And when He had left the crowd and entered ^athe house, ^bHis disciples were asking Him about the parable.

¹⁸And He ^*said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not ^aperceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,

¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared ^aall foods ^bclean.)

²⁰And He was saying, “^aThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

²¹“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries,

²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, ^1aenvy, slander, ²pride, and foolishness.

²³“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

A Gentile Woman’s Faith

^24aNow Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of ^bTyre¹. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; ²yet He could not escape notice.

²⁵But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.

²⁶Now the woman was a ¹Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ¹good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸But she answered and ^*said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹And He said to her, “Because of this ¹answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰And going back to her home, she found the child ¹lying on the bed, the demon having left.

The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak

^31aAnd again He went out from the region of ^bTyre, and came through Sidon to ^cthe Sea of Galilee, within the region of the ^dDecapolis.

³²And they ^*brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they ^*pleaded with Him to ^alay His hand on him.

^33aAnd Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^bspitting, He touched his tongue;

³⁴and looking up to heaven with a ^asigh, He ^*said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

³⁵And his ears were opened, and the ¹impediment of his tongue ²was removed, and he began speaking plainly.

³⁶And ^aHe gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they ^bcontinued to proclaim it.

³⁷And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

CHAPTER 8

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

¹In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, ^aJesus called His disciples and ^*said to them,

²“^aI feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

³“And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

⁴And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ¹bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”

⁵And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”

⁶And He ^*directed the crowd to ¹sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to ²serve to them, and they served them to the crowd.

⁷And they also had a few small fish; and ^aafter He blessed them, He ordered these to be ¹served as well.

⁸And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^abaskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.

⁹Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away.

¹⁰And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of ^aDalmanutha.

^11aAnd the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^bseeking from Him ¹a sign from heaven, testing Him.

^12aAnd sighing deeply ¹in His spirit, He ^*said, “Why does this generation seek ²a sign? Truly I say to you, ^3bno ⁴sign will be given to this generation.”

¹³And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

¹⁵And He was giving orders to them, saying, “^aWatch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^bHerod.”

¹⁶And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.

¹⁷And Jesus, aware of this, ^*said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? ^aDo you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?

¹⁸“^aHaving eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,

¹⁹when I broke ^athe five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^bbaskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They ^*said to Him, “Twelve.”

²⁰“When I broke ^athe seven for the four thousand, how many large ^bbaskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they ^*said to Him, “Seven.”

²¹And He was saying to them, “^aDo you not yet understand?”

²²And they ^*came to ^aBethsaida. And they ^*brought a blind man to Jesus and ^*pleaded with Him to ^btouch him.

²³And taking the blind man by the hand, He ^abrought him out of the village; and after ^bspitting on his eyes and ^claying His hands on him, He was asking him, “Do you see anything?”

²⁴And he ¹looked up and was saying, “I see men, for ²I see them like trees, walking around.”

²⁵Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.

²⁶And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter ^athe village.”