The Death of John the Baptist

¹At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus.

²“He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life,” he told his officials. “That is why he has this power to perform miracles.”

³For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

⁴For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, “It isn't right for you to be married to Herodias!”

⁵Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

⁶On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased

⁷that he promised her, “I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!”

⁸At her mother's suggestion she asked him, “Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!”

⁹The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted.

¹⁰So he had John beheaded in prison.

¹¹The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.

¹²John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

¹³When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, and so they left their towns and followed him by land.

¹⁴Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed their sick.

¹⁵That evening his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶“They don't have to leave,” answered Jesus. “You yourselves give them something to eat!”

¹⁷“All we have here are five loaves and two fish,” they replied.

¹⁸“Then bring them here to me,” Jesus said.

¹⁹He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

²⁰Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over.

²¹The number of men who ate was about five thousand, not counting the women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²²Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away.

²³After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone;

²⁴and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.

²⁵Between three and six o'clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water.

²⁶When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It's a ghost!” they said, and screamed with fear.

²⁷Jesus spoke to them at once. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don't be afraid!”

²⁸Then Peter spoke up. “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

²⁹“Come!” answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus.

³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. “Save me, Lord!” he cried.

³¹At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, “What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?”

³²They both got into the boat, and the wind died down.

³³Then the disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus. “Truly you are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

³⁴They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret,

³⁵where the people recognized Jesus. So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus.

³⁶They begged him to let the sick at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.

The Teaching of the Ancestors

¹Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him,

²“Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!”

³Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching?

⁴For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’

⁵But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’

⁶they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching.

⁷You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!

⁸‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.

⁹It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!’”

The Things That Make a Person Unclean

¹⁰Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand!

¹¹It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean.”

¹²Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

¹³“Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus.

¹⁴“Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

¹⁶Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others.

¹⁷Don't you understand? Anything that goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and then on out of your body.

¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make you ritually unclean.

¹⁹For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.

²⁰These are the things that make you unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should—this doesn't make you unclean.”

A Woman's Faith

²¹Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

²²A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.”

²³But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!”

²⁴Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

²⁵At this the woman came and fell at his feet. “Help me, sir!” she said.

²⁶Jesus answered, “It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷“That's true, sir,” she answered, “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters' table.”

²⁸So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you.” And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹Jesus left there and went along by Lake Galilee. He climbed a hill and sat down.

³⁰Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb, and many other sick people, whom they placed at Jesus' feet; and he healed them.

³¹The people were amazed as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they praised the God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away without feeding them, for they might faint on their way home.”

³³The disciples asked him, “Where will we find enough food in this desert to feed this crowd?”

³⁴“How much bread do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven loaves,” they answered, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵So Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.

³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people.

³⁷They all ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over.

³⁸The number of men who ate was four thousand, not counting the women and children.

³⁹Then Jesus sent the people away, got into a boat, and went to the territory of Magadan.

The Demand for a Miracle

¹Some Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle for them, to show that God approved of him.

²But Jesus answered, “When the sun is setting, you say, ‘We are going to have fine weather, because the sky is red.’

³And early in the morning you say, ‘It is going to rain, because the sky is red and dark.’ You can predict the weather by looking at the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs concerning these times!

⁴How evil and godless are the people of this day! You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of Jonah.” So he left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵When the disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake, they forgot to take any bread.

⁶Jesus said to them, “Take care; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They started discussing among themselves, “He says this because we didn't bring any bread.”

⁸Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, “Why are you discussing among yourselves about not having any bread? What little faith you have!

⁹Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand men? How many baskets did you fill?

¹⁰And what about the seven loaves for the four thousand men? How many baskets did you fill?

¹¹How is it that you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

¹²Then the disciples understood that he was not warning them to guard themselves from the yeast used in bread but from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter's Declaration about Jesus

¹³Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴“Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”

¹⁵“What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷“Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.

¹⁸And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.

¹⁹I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

²⁰Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

²¹From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

²⁵For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.

²⁶Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life.

²⁷For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds.

²⁸I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King.”

The Transfiguration

¹Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone.

²As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white.

³Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.

⁴So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased—listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard the voice, they were so terrified that they threw themselves face downward on the ground.

⁷Jesus came to them and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don't be afraid!”

⁸So they looked up and saw no one there but Jesus.

⁹As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Don't tell anyone about this vision you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from death.”

¹⁰Then the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?”

¹¹“Elijah is indeed coming first,” answered Jesus, “and he will get everything ready.

¹²But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also mistreat the Son of Man.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon

¹⁴When they returned to the crowd, a man came to Jesus, knelt before him,

¹⁵and said, “Sir, have mercy on my son! He is an epileptic and has such terrible attacks that he often falls in the fire or into water.

¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered, “How unbelieving and wrong you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here to me!”

¹⁸Jesus gave a command to the demon, and it went out of the boy, and at that very moment he was healed.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked him, “Why couldn't we drive the demon out?”

²⁰“It was because you do not have enough faith,” answered Jesus. “I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!”

²¹[But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.] (Vulgate/DR Patch)

Jesus Speaks Again about His Death

²²When the disciples all came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be handed over to those

²³who will kill him; but three days later he will be raised to life.” The disciples became very sad.

Payment of the Temple Tax

²⁴When Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

²⁵“Of course,” Peter answered. When Peter went into the house, Jesus spoke up first, “Simon, what is your opinion? Who pays duties or taxes to the kings of this world? The citizens of the country or the foreigners?”

²⁶“The foreigners,” answered Peter. “Well, then,” replied Jesus, “that means that the citizens don't have to pay.

²⁷But we don't want to offend these people. So go to the lake and drop in a line. Pull up the first fish you hook, and in its mouth you will find a coin worth enough for my Temple tax and yours. Take it and pay them our taxes.”

⁹No one who tells lies in court can escape punishment; he is doomed.

¹⁰Fools should not live in luxury, and slaves should not rule over noblemen.

¹¹If you are sensible, you will control your temper. When someone wrongs you, it is a great virtue to ignore it.

¹²The king's anger is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like welcome rain.