Mark 7–8

Obey God’s Law

7When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. ²They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t washed them. ³(The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. ⁴And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots. ⁿ)

⁵The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?”

⁶Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote,

‘These people show honor to me with words,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁷Their worship of me is worthless.

The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’

⁸You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings.” ⁿ

⁹Then Jesus said to them, “You cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own teachings. ¹⁰Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ ⁿ and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’ ^{n 11}But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ ¹²You no longer let that person use that money for his father or his mother. ¹³By your own rules, which you teach people, you are rejecting what God said. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. ¹⁶Let those with ears use them and listen.” ⁿ

¹⁷When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. ¹⁸Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. ¹⁹It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.)

²⁰And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. ²¹All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, ²²greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. ²³All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.”

Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre. ⁿ When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. ²⁵A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard that he was there. So she quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”

²⁸But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

³¹Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns. ^{n 32}While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk plainly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.

³³Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) ³⁵Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.

³⁶Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. ³⁷They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk he makes able to speak.”

More than Four Thousand People Fed

8Another time there was a great crowd with Jesus that had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his followers and said, ²“I feel sorry for these people, because they have already been with me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way. Some of them live a long way from here.”

⁴Jesus’ followers answered, “How can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”

⁵Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

They answered, “Seven.”

⁶Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, and divided the bread. He gave the pieces to his followers to give to the people, and they did so. ⁷The followers also had a few small fish. After Jesus gave thanks for the fish, he told his followers to give them to the people also. ⁸All the people ate and were satisfied. Then his followers filled seven baskets with the leftover pieces of food. ⁹There were about four thousand people who ate. After they had eaten, Jesus sent them home. ¹⁰Then right away he got into a boat with his followers and went to the area of Dalmanutha.

The Leaders Ask for a Miracle

¹¹The Pharisees came to Jesus and began to ask him questions. Hoping to trap him, they asked Jesus for a miracle from God. ¹²Jesus sighed deeply and said, “Why do you people ask for a miracle as a sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to you.” ¹³Then Jesus left the Pharisees and went in the boat to the other side of the lake.

Guard Against Wrong Teachings

¹⁴His followers had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat; they had forgotten to bring more. ¹⁵Jesus warned them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

¹⁶His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we have no bread.”

¹⁷Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your minds closed? ¹⁸You have eyes, but you don’t really see. You have ears, but you don’t really listen. Remember when ¹⁹I divided five loaves of bread for the five thousand? How many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Twelve.”

²⁰“And when I divided seven loaves of bread for the four thousand, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man

²²Jesus and his followers came to Bethsaida. There some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch the man. ²³So Jesus took the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village. Then he spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on the man and asked, “Can you see now?”

²⁴The man looked up and said, “Yes, I see people, but they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵Again Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then the man opened his eyes wide and they were healed, and he was able to see everything clearly. ²⁶Jesus told him to go home, saying, “Don’t go into the town.” ⁿ

Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ

²⁷Jesus and his followers went to the towns around Caesarea Philippi. While they were traveling, Jesus asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

²⁸They answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah, ⁿ and others say you are one of the prophets.”

²⁹Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

³⁰Jesus warned his followers not to tell anyone who he was.

³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and that he would be rejected by the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law. He told them that the Son of Man must be killed and then rise from the dead after three days. ³²Jesus told them plainly what would happen. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to tell him not to talk like that. ³³But Jesus turned and looked at his followers. Then he told Peter not to talk that way. He said, “Go away from me, Satan! ⁿ You don’t care about the things of God, but only about things people think are important.”

³⁴Then Jesus called the crowd to him, along with his followers. He said, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me. ³⁵Those who want to save their lives will give up true life. But those who give up their lives for me and for the Good News will have true life. ³⁶It is worthless to have the whole world if they lose their souls. ³⁷They could never pay enough to buy back their souls. ³⁸The people who live now are living in a sinful and evil time. If people are ashamed of me and my teaching, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes with his Father’s glory and with the holy angels.”