The Teaching of the Ancestors

¹Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.

²They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean—that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

³(For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;

⁴nor do they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they follow many other rules which they have received, such as the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds.)

⁵So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, “Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?”

⁶Jesus answered them, “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: ‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.

⁷It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!’

⁸“You put aside God's command and obey human teachings.”

⁹And Jesus continued, “You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.

¹⁰For Moses commanded, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and, ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’

¹¹But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This is Corban’ (which means, it belongs to God),

¹²they are excused from helping their father or mother.

¹³In this way the teaching you pass on to others cancels out the word of God. And there are many other things like this that you do.”

The Things That Make a Person Unclean

¹⁴Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

¹⁵There is nothing that goes into you from the outside which can make you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.”

¹⁶[If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.] (Vulgate/DR Patch)

¹⁷When he left the crowd and went into the house, his disciples asked him to explain this saying.

¹⁸“You are no more intelligent than the others,” Jesus said to them. “Don't you understand? Nothing that goes into you from the outside can really make you unclean,

¹⁹because it does not go into your heart but into your stomach and then goes on out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are fit to be eaten.)

²⁰And he went on to say, “It is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.

²¹For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,

²²commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly—

²³all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean.”

A Woman's Faith

²⁴Then Jesus left and went away to the territory near the city of Tyre. He went into a house and 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 about Jesus and came to him at once and fell at his feet.

²⁶The woman was a Gentile, born in the region of Phoenicia in Syria. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷But Jesus answered, “Let us first feed the children. It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸“Sir,” she answered, “even the dogs under the table eat the children's leftovers!”

²⁹So Jesus said to her, “Because of that answer, go back home, where you will find that the demon has gone out of your daughter!”

³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed; the demon had indeed gone out of her.

Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute

³¹Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre and went on through Sidon to Lake Galilee, going by way of the territory of the Ten Towns.

³²Some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged Jesus to place his hands on him.

³³So Jesus took him off alone, away from the crowd, put his fingers in the man's ears, spat, and touched the man's tongue.

³⁴Then Jesus looked up to heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Open up!”

³⁵At once the man was able to hear, his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble.

³⁶Then Jesus ordered the people not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they told it.

³⁷And all who heard were completely amazed. “How well he does everything!” they exclaimed. “He even causes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!”

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand People

¹Not long afterward another large crowd came together. When the people had nothing left to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said,

²“I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat.

³If I send them home without feeding them, they will faint as they go, because some of them have come a long way.”

⁴His disciples asked him, “Where in this desert can anyone find enough food to feed all these people?”

⁵“How much bread do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven loaves,” they answered.

⁶He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the crowd; and the disciples did so.

⁷They also had a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks for these and told the disciples to distribute them too.

^8-9Everybody ate and had enough—there were about four thousand people. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. Jesus sent the people away

¹⁰and at once got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees Ask for a Miracle

¹¹Some Pharisees came to Jesus and started to argue with him. They wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him.

¹²But Jesus gave a deep groan and said, “Why do the people of this day ask for a miracle? No, I tell you! No such proof will be given to these people!”

¹³He left them, got back into the boat, and started across to the other side of the lake.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod

¹⁴The disciples had forgotten to bring enough bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵“Take care,” Jesus warned them, “and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

¹⁶They started discussing among themselves: “He says this because we don't have any bread.”

¹⁷Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, “Why are you discussing about not having any bread? Don't you know or understand yet? Are your minds so dull?

¹⁸You have eyes—can't you see? You have ears—can't you hear? Don't you remember

¹⁹when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people? How many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?” “Twelve,” they answered.

²⁰“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand people,” asked Jesus, “how many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?” “Seven,” they answered.

²¹“And you still don't understand?” he asked them.

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

²²They came to Bethsaida, where some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.

²³Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. After spitting on the man's eyes, Jesus placed his hands on him and asked him, “Can you see anything?”

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

²⁵Jesus again placed his hands on the man's eyes. This time the man looked intently, his eyesight returned, and he saw everything clearly.

²⁶Jesus then sent him home with the order, “Don't go back into the village.”

Peter's Declaration about Jesus

²⁷Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Tell me, who do people say I am?”

²⁸“Some say that you are John the Baptist,” they answered; “others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of the prophets.”

²⁹“What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰Then Jesus ordered them, “Do not tell anyone about me.”

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

³¹Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life.”

³²He made this very clear to them. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. “Get away from me, Satan,” he said. “Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!”

³⁴Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. “If any of you want to come with me,” he told them, “you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

³⁵For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.

³⁶Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not!

³⁷There is nothing you can give to regain your life.

³⁸If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

The Lord Our Shepherd

¹The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.

²He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.

³He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised.

⁴Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me. Your shepherd's rod and staff protect me.

⁵You prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me; you welcome me as an honored guest and fill my cup to the brim.

⁶I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live.