Mark 5

The Gerasene Demoniac

1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;4 because 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.5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;7 and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!"8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he *said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many."10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.12  The demons implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them."13 Jesus 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.

14 Their 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.15 They *came to Jesus and *observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened.16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine.17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region.18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him.19 And He did not let him, but He *said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them twhat great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you."20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus *came up, and on seeing Him, *fell at His feet23 and *implored Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live."24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,26 and 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-27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.28 For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I will get well."29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?"31 And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction."

35 While He was still speaking, they *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?"36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.38 They *came to the house of the synagogue official; and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.39 And entering in, He *said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep."40 They 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.41 Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!").42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

Mark 6

Teaching at Nazareth

1 Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him.2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household."5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

6 And He wondered at their unbelief.
And He was going around the villages teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

7 And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;8 and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff-no bread, no bag, no money in their belt-9 but to wear sandals; and He added, "Do not put on two ttunics."10 And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town.11 Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them."12 They went out and preached that men should repent.13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John's Fate Recalled

14 And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him."15 But others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others were saying, " He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old. "16 But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!"

17 For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."19 Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; 20 for Herod 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; but he used to enjoy listening to him.21 A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee;22 and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."23 And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom."24 And she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."25 Immediately 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."26 And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison,28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.29 When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

30 The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.31 And 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 they did not even have time to eat.)32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Fed

33  The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late;36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."37 But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred tdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?"38 And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish."39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.42 They all ate and were satisfied,43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

45 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

47 When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.48 Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, "Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid."51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

53 When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.56 Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

Mark 7

Followers of Tradition

1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem,2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders;4 and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)5 The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?"6 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

7 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

9 He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.10 For Moses said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER'; and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH';11 but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, tgiven to God ),'12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."

The Heart of Man

14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:15 there 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 [tIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.18 And 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,19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" ( Thus He declared all foods clean.)20 And He was saying, "That 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, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

The Syrophoenician Woman

24 Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyret. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.26 Now the woman was a tGentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.27 And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."28 But she answered and *said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs."29 And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter."30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.32 They *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *implored Him to lay His hand on him.33 Jesus 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; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He *said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!"35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.37 They were utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."