Mark 10:13–12:12

Jesus Blesses Little Children

^13aAnd they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; ^afor the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁵“Truly I say to you, ^awhoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

¹⁶And He ^atook them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

The Rich Young Ruler

^17aAs He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and ^bknelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to ^cinherit eternal life?”

¹⁸And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

¹⁹“You know the commandments, ‘^aDo not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”

²⁰And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept ^aall these things from my youth up.”

²¹Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have ^atreasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²²But at these words ¹he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

²³And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “^aHow hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴The disciples ^awere amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵“^aIt is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶They were even more astonished and said to Him, “¹Then who can be saved?”

²⁷Looking at them, Jesus said, “^aWith people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

^28aPeter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.”

²⁹Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, ^athere is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,

³⁰¹but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in ²the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in ^athe age to come, eternal life.

³¹“But ^amany who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Jesus’ Sufferings Foretold

^32aThey were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they ^bwere amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him,

³³saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and ^athe Son of Man will be ¹delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will ²hand Him over to the Gentiles.

³⁴“They will mock Him and ^aspit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.”

^351aJames and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.”

³⁶And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

³⁷They said to Him, “¹Grant that we ^amay sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”

³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^ato drink the cup that I drink, or ^bto be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

³⁹They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink ^ayou shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.

⁴⁰“But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; ^abut it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

^41aHearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with ¹James and John.

⁴²Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them.

⁴³“But it is not this way among you, ^abut whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;

⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.

⁴⁵“For even the Son of Man ^adid not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His ¹life a ransom for many.”

Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

^46aThen they came to Jericho. And ^bas He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the ^aNazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, ^bSon of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “^aSon of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “^aTake courage, stand up! He is calling for you.”

⁵⁰Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus.

⁵¹And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “^1aRabboni, I want to regain my sight!”

⁵²And Jesus said to him, “Go; ^ayour faith has ¹made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

Chapter 11

The Triumphal Entry

^1aAs they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and ^bBethany, near ^cthe Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,

²and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.

³“If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he ¹will send it back here.”

⁴They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it.

⁵Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”

⁶They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.

^7aThey brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it.

⁸And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.

⁹Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

“Hosanna!

^aBlessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;

¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David;

Hosanna ^ain the highest!”

^11aJesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, ^bHe left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

^12aOn the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.

¹³Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

^15aThen they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ¹doves;

¹⁶and He would not permit anyone to carry ¹merchandise through the temple.

¹⁷And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘^aMy house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^bBut you have made it a robbers’ ¹den.”

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and ^abegan seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for ^bthe whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

^19aWhen evening came, ¹they would go out of the city.

^20aAs they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

²¹Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “^aRabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”

²²And Jesus answered saying to them, “^aHave faith in God.

²³“^aTruly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

²⁴“Therefore I say to you, ^aall things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

²⁵“Whenever you ^astand praying, ^bforgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.

²⁶“^1aBut if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷They came again to Jerusalem. ^aAnd as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him,

²⁸and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”

²⁹And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰“Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.”

³¹They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

³²“But ¹shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet.

³³Answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Nor ¹will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Chapter 12

Parable of the Vine-growers

^1aAnd He began to speak to them in parables: “^bA man ^cplanted a vineyard and put a ¹wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to ²vine-growers and went on a journey.

²“At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers.

³“They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴“Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.

⁵“And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.

⁶“He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will…