Mark 5–6

Chapter 5

The Gerasene Demoniac

^1aThey came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.

²When He got out of ^athe boat, immediately a man from the tombs ^bwith an unclean spirit met Him,

³and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;

⁴because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

⁵Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.

⁶Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;

⁷and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “^1aWhat business do we have with each other, Jesus, ^bSon of ^cthe Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

⁸For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is ^aLegion; for we are many.”

¹⁰And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

¹¹Now there was a large herd of swine feeding ¹nearby on the mountain.

¹²The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.”

¹³Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened.

¹⁵They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been ^ademon-possessed sitting down, ^bclothed and ^cin his right mind, the very man who had had the “^dlegion”; and they became frightened.

¹⁶Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the ^ademon-possessed man, and all about the swine.

¹⁷And they began to ^aimplore Him to leave their region.

^18aAs He was getting into the boat, the man who had been ^bdemon-possessed was imploring Him that he might ¹accompany Him.

¹⁹And He did not let him, but He said to him, “^aGo home to your people and report to them ¹what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

²⁰And he went away and began to ^aproclaim in ^bDecapolis ¹what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

^21aWhen Jesus had crossed over again in ^bthe boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He ¹stayed ^cby the seashore.

^22aOne of ^bthe synagogue ¹officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet

²³and implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and ^alay Your hands on her, so that she will ¹get well and live.”

²⁴And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

²⁵A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,

²⁶and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—

²⁷after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His ¹cloak.

²⁸For she ¹thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will ²get well.”

²⁹Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her ^aaffliction.

³⁰Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that ^athe power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”

³¹And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

³²And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.

³³But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.

³⁴And He said to her, “Daughter, ^ayour faith has ¹made you well; ^bgo in peace and be healed of your ^caffliction.”

³⁵While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the ^asynagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?”

³⁶But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the ^asynagogue official, “^bDo not be afraid any longer, only ¹believe.”

³⁷And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except ^aPeter and ¹James and John the brother of James.

³⁸They came to the house of the ^asynagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.

³⁹And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.”

⁴⁰They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.

⁴¹Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, ^aI say to you, get up!”).

⁴²Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.

⁴³And He ^agave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

Chapter 6

Teaching at Nazareth

^1aJesus went out from there and came into ^1bHis hometown; and His disciples followed Him.

²When the Sabbath came, He began ^ato teach in the synagogue; and the ^bmany listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such ¹miracles as these performed by His hands?

³“Is not this ^athe carpenter, ^bthe son of Mary, and brother of ¹James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not ^cHis sisters here with us?” And they took ^doffense at Him.

⁴Jesus said to them, “^aA prophet is not without honor except in ^1bhis hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”

⁵And He could do no ¹miracle there except that He ^alaid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And He wondered at their unbelief.

^aAnd He was going around the villages teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

^7aAnd ^bHe summoned the twelve and began to send them out ^cin pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;

^8aand He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no ¹bag, no money in their belt—

⁹but ¹to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two ²tunics.”

¹⁰And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you ¹leave town.

¹¹“Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ^ashake the dust ¹off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”

^12aThey went out and ¹preached that men should repent.

¹³And they were casting out many demons and ^awere anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

^14aAnd King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^bJohn the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”

¹⁵But others were saying, “He is ^aElijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^ba prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^aHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.

¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod, “^aIt is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

^19aHerodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so;

²⁰for ^aHerod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; ¹but he ²used to enjoy listening to him.

²¹A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday ^agave a banquet for his lords and ¹military commanders and the leading men ^bof Galilee;

²²and when the daughter of ^aHerodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ¹his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

²³And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to ^ahalf of my kingdom.”

²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of ¹his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

²⁷Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison,

²⁸and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

^30aThe ^bapostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.

³¹And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and ^athey did not even have time to eat.)

^32aThey went away in ^bthe boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Fed

³³The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

³⁴When Jesus went ¹ashore, He ^asaw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^bthey were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “¹This place is desolate and it is already quite late;

³⁶send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ¹something to eat.”

³⁷But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^aAnd they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^1bdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹And He commanded them all to ¹sit down by groups on the green grass.…