Mark 6:45–8:26

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45aImmediately 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.

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

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

⁴⁸Seeing 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 intended to pass by them.

⁴⁹But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed 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 utterly astonished,

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

Healing at Gennesaret

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

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

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

⁵⁶Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just ^atouch ^bthe fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

Chapter 7

Followers of Tradition

^1aThe 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 ^aimpure hands, that is, unwashed.

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

⁴and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they ¹cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the ²washing of ^acups and pitchers and copper pots.)

⁵The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^bimpure 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 precepts of men.’

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

⁹He was also saying to them, “You are experts 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 I have that would help you is ^aCorban (that is to say, ¹given to God),’

¹²you no longer permit 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

¹⁴After 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.

¹⁶“¹If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁷When he had left the crowd and entered ^athe house, ^bHis disciples questioned Him about the parable.

¹⁸And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,

¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ¹is eliminated?” (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, ¹fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

²²deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, ^1aenvy, slander, ²pride and foolishness.

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

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24aJesus got up and went away from there to the region of ^bTyre¹. And when He had entered a house, He wanted 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 ¹Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. 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.

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

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

^33aJesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva;

³⁴and looking up to heaven with a deep ^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 ordered them, the more widely they ^bcontinued to proclaim it.

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

Chapter 8

Four Thousand Fed

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 ¹people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

³“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 ¹people to ²sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to ³serve to them, and they served them to the people.

⁷They also had a few small fish; and ^aafter He had 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.

⁹About 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.

^11aThe Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^bseeking from Him a ¹sign from heaven, ²to test Him.

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

¹³Leaving 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.”

¹⁶They 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 see or understand? Do you have a ¹hardened 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 implored Him to ^btouch him.

²³Taking the blind man by the hand, He ^abrought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and ^blaying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”

²⁴And he ¹looked up and said, “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.”