Mark 8–9

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.”

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

^27aAnd Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of ^bCaesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

^28aAnd they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹And He continued asking them, “But who do you say that I am?” ^aPeter ^*answered and ^*said to Him, “You are the ¹Christ.”

³⁰And ^aHe ¹warned them to tell no one about Him.

^31aAnd He began to teach them that ^bthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

³²And He was stating the matter ^aopenly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

³³But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and ^*said, “Get behind Me, ^aSatan! For you are not setting your mind on ¹God’s interests, but man’s.”

Take Up Your Cross

³⁴And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to ¹come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^atake up his cross and follow Me.

³⁵“For ^awhoever wishes to save his ¹life will lose it, but whoever loses his ²life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

³⁶“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

³⁷“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

³⁸“For ^awhoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^bthe Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^ccomes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

CHAPTER 9

The Transfiguration

¹And Jesus was saying to them, “^aTruly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come in power.”

^2aAnd six days later, Jesus ^*took with Him ^bPeter and James and John, and ^*brought them up on a high mountain alone by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;

³and ^aHis garments were shining intensely white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

⁴And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were conversing with Jesus.

⁵And Peter answered and ^*said to Jesus, “^aRabbi, it is good for us to be here; ^blet us make three ¹booths, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁶For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.

⁷Then a cloud ¹formed, overshadowing them, and ^aa voice ²came out of the cloud, “^bThis is My beloved Son, ³listen to Him!”

⁸And all at once when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9aAnd as they were coming down from the mountain, He ^bgave them orders not to recount to anyone what they had seen, ¹until the Son of Man rose from the dead.

¹⁰And they ¹seized upon ²that statement, arguing with one another ³what rising from the dead meant.

¹¹And they began asking Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^aElijah must come first?”

¹²And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of ^athe Son of Man that ^bHe will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³“But I say to you that Elijah has ¹indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”

I Believe, Help My Unbelief

^14aAnd when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^aamazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting Him.

¹⁶And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?”

¹⁷And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;

¹⁸and ¹whenever it seizes him, it ²slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and ³becomes rigid. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

¹⁹And He ^*answered them and ^*said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

²⁰And they brought ¹the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

²²“And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

²³And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^aAll things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

²⁵Now when Jesus saw that ^aa crowd was ¹rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, ²I command you, come out of him and do not enter him ³again.”

²⁶And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he stood up.

²⁸And when He came ^ainto the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁹And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

^30aFrom there they went out and were going through Galilee, and He was not wanting anyone to know about it.

³¹For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “^aThe Son of Man is to be ¹delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise again three days later.”

³²But ^athey ¹did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

^33aAnd they came to Capernaum; and when He ¹was in ^bthe house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

³⁴But they kept silent, for on the way ^athey had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.

³⁵And sitting down, He called the twelve and ^*said to them, “^aIf anyone wants to be first, ¹he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

³⁶And taking a child, He set him ¹before them. And taking him in His arms, He said to them,

³⁷“^aWhoever receives ¹one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Warnings About Discipleship

^38aJohn said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and ^bwe tried to hinder him because he was not following us.”

³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.

⁴⁰“^aFor he who is not against us is ¹for us.

⁴¹“For ^awhoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name because you are of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

⁴²“^aAnd whoever causes one of these ¹little ones who believe to stumble, it ²would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he ³had been cast into the sea.

⁴³“^aAnd if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is…