Mark

¹ Here is the beginning of the triumphant message of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.

² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your path, ³ the voice of someone calling out in the wilderness, ‘Get the Lord’s path ready, make God's much-traveled roads straight.”

⁴ It came to be that John the Submerser was in the Wilderness and announcing a submersion of transformation of the mind for dismissal of deviations. ⁵ All the residents of Jerusalem and the whole region of Judea were traveling out to him and being submersed by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged aloud their deviations. ⁶ John was clothed with camel hair and a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ He would announce, “Someone more powerful than me is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. ⁸ I submersed you in water, but he will submerse you in the Sacred Life-breath.

⁹ It came to be that in those days Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee came and was submersed in the Jordan by John. ¹⁰ Straightaway, as he was coming up from the water, he saw the heavens separating and the Life-breath coming down to him like a dove. ¹¹ A voice came from the heavens: “You are my beloved son; I am delighted with you.” ¹² The Life-breath drove him straightaway out into the Wilderness. ¹³ He was in the Wilderness 40 days being tested by the Adversary. He was with wild animals, and the messengers served him.

¹⁴ Then, after John was handed over, Jesus went to Galilee announcing the triumphant message of God, ¹⁵ saying, “The moment is right, and God’s Reign is near. Transform your minds and place your trust in the triumphant message.”

¹⁶ While passing by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simeon and Andrew, Simeon’s brother, casting a net into the sea (they were fishers). ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of people!” ¹⁸ They left their nets straightaway and followed him. ¹⁹ Going onward a little, he saw Jacob, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in their boat repairing their nets. ²⁰ Straightaway, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers and went away following him.

²¹ They traveled to Capernaum, and as soon as it was Shabbat, Jesus went into the synagogue and began teaching. ²² The people were shocked at his teaching because he was teaching them like someone with authority and not like the Bible scholars. ²³ Straightaway, there was a person in their synagogue with an unclean spirit-breath, and he cried out, ²⁴ “What is there between us and you, Jesus the Nazarene? Did you come to destroy us? I have seen who you are: the one designated for sacred purposes by God!”

²⁵ Then, Jesus reprimanded him, “Shut your mouth, and get out of him!” ²⁶ After verbally tearing him apart and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit-breath went out of him.

²⁷ Everyone was astounded so that they asked each other, “What is this! A new teaching based on authority, and he commands unclean spirit-breaths, and they listen to him!” ²⁸ Then the story about him spread straightaway all throughout the whole region around Galilee.

²⁹ Straightaway, after they left the synagogue, they went to Simeon and Andrew’s house with Jacob and John. ³⁰ Simeon’s mother-in-law was lying there sick with a fever, and straightaway, they spoke with him about her. ³¹ Going to her and holding her hand, he raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³² After evening came, when the sun was set, people began bringing to him everyone who had illnesses and who were haunted by demons. ³³ The whole city was gathered at the door. ³⁴ He healed many who were sick with various illnesses, and he drove out many demons. He would not allow the demons to speak because they had understood him.

³⁵ After waking up early in the morning while it was still very dark, Jesus went away to a secluded place and began praying there. ³⁶ Simeon and those with him followed after him, ³⁷ and when they found him, they told him, “Everyone is looking for you.”

³⁸ He told them, “Let’s go somewhere else, to the neighboring towns, so I can announce it there too. That’s the reason I came.” ³⁹ Then, he went and announced it in their synagogues and drove out demons throughout all Galilee.

⁴⁰ Someone with leprosy came to him, pleading with him and falling to their knees, and they said to him, “If you want to, you are able to cleanse me.”

⁴¹ Jesus angrily reached out his hand and held onto him and said to him, “I want to. Be cleansed!” ⁴² Straightaway, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³ Warning him seriously, Jesus sent him off straightaway. ⁴⁴ “Be careful not to say anything to anyone,” he told him, “but go show yourself to the priest and bring what Moses assigned for your cleansing as evidence for them.” ⁴⁵ Nevertheless, after the person left, he began to announce it repeatedly and spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer enter any town openly but was out in remote places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

¹ After Jesus went back into Capernaum some days later, it was heard that he was at home. ² So many people gathered that it was no longer possible to make room, not even by the door, and he discussed the message with them. ³ People came who were bringing a person who was paralyzed to him, four people carrying him. ⁴ Since they weren’t able to bring him because of the crowd, they demolished the roof where Jesus was, and after digging through it, they lowered the cot on which the person who was paralyzed was lying. ⁵ When Jesus saw their trustful faithfulness, he said to the person who was paralyzed, “Child, your deviations are dismissed.”

⁶ Some of the Bible scholars were sitting there and talking it over in their minds: ⁷ “Why does this person speak that way? He is being disrespectful! Who is able to dismiss deviations except God alone?”

⁸ Jesus, knowing straightaway with his life-breath that they were talking it over this way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you talking over these things in your minds? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the person who is paralyzed, ‘Your deviations are dismissed,’ or to say, ‘Get up and take your cot and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may understand that the Son of Humanity has authority to dismiss deviations in the land—” then he said to the person who was paralyzed, ¹¹ “—To you, I say, ‘Get up, take your cot, and go home!’” ¹² He got up, straightaway taking his cot, and went out in front of everyone so that everyone was amazed and praised God, saying “We’ve never seen anything like this!”

¹³ Jesus went out again by the sea, and the whole crowd went with him, and he taught them. ¹⁴ Passing by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” Standing up, he followed him.

¹⁵ It came to be that Jesus was reclining in Levi’s home, and many tax collectors and people who deviated were reclining together with Jesus and his students. You see, many people were there and were following him.

¹⁶ When the Bible scholars among the Pharisees saw him eating with people who deviated and tax collectors, they said to his students, “Why is he eating with tax collectors and deviators?”

¹⁷ Hearing it, Jesus said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor, but those who are sick do. I didn’t come to call people who are just but, rather, people who deviate.”

¹⁸ John’s students and the Pharisees would fast regularly, and they came and said to Jesus, “Why is it that John’s students and the Pharisee’s students fast, but your students don’t fast?”

¹⁹ “The groom’s wedding guests can’t fast while the groom is with them, can they?” Jesus answered. “As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast. ²⁰ However, days are coming when the groom will be taken from them, and then that is when they will fast. ²¹ No one sews an unshrunk patch of cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. ²² Also, no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine bursts the wineskin, and the wine and the wineskin are ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

²³ It came to be that Jesus was traveling through the edges of the crop fields, and his students began to make their way while picking the heads of wheat. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look! Why are they doing what is not permitted on Shabbat?”

²⁵ “Have you never read,” he said to them, “what David did when had the need and he and those with him were hungry— ²⁶ how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and he ate the Bread of the Presence, which is not permitted to eat except for the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Then he continued, “Shabbat came into being for the sake of humanity and not humanity for the sake of Shabbat. ²⁸ In that case, the Son of Humanity is lord even of Shabbat.”

¹ He went into the synagogue again, and a person who had an atrophied hand was there. ² The Pharisees were watching Jesus to see whether he would heal the person on Shabbat.

³ He said to the person who had an atrophied hand, “Stand in the middle.”

⁴ He said to the Pharisees, “Is it allowed on Shabbat to do something beneficial or to do something harmful, to save a life or to kill?” However, they remained silent.

⁵ After looking around at them with anger, being grieved by their heartlessness, he said to the person, “Reach out your hand.” The person reached out, and his hand was restored.

⁶ Straightaway after leaving, the Pharisees met with the Herodians to plan how they could destroy him.

⁷ Jesus went back to the sea with his students, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. Also, from Judea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumea, the area east of the Jordan River, and around Tyre and Sidon, a large crowd came to him when they heard about all the things he did. ⁹ He told his students to have a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not trample him. ¹⁰ You see, he healed many people, so whoever had afflictions threw themselves at him so they might hold onto him. ¹¹ Also, whenever unclean spirit-breaths noticed him, they threw themselves down in front of him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² and he reprimanded them repeatedly not to make him conspicuous.

¹³ Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they went to him. ¹⁴ He designated twelve that he named as emissaries, so they would be with him and so he could send them to be heralds ¹⁵ and to have authority to drive out demons. ¹⁶ He conferred the name ‘Peter’ to Simeon, ¹⁷ and he conferred the name ‘Boanerges’ (which means ‘Sons of Thunder’) to the Jacob who was Zebedee’s son and to John who was Jacob’s brother. ¹⁸ He also designated Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, the Jacob who was Alphaeus’ son, Thaddaeus, the Simeon who was zealous, ¹⁹ and Judah “The Man of Kerioth” who is the one who handed him over.

²⁰ Jesus went home, and again a crowd gathered, resulting in them not being able to eat their food. ²¹ When his family heard, they went out and grabbed him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The Bible scholars who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul!” and “He drives out demons with the leader of demons!”

²³ After calling them over, he spoke to them with parables: “How is the Adversary able to drive out the Adversary? ²⁴ If a regime is divided against itself, that regime won’t be able to stand. ²⁵ If a dynasty is divided against itself, that dynasty won’t be able to stand. ²⁶ And if the Adversary has stood up against himself and divided, he is not able to stand but has met his end. ²⁷ However, no one is able to go into the house of someone strong to rob their belongings unless they first tie up the strong one and then rob the house. ²⁸ Honestly, I’m telling you that all acts of deviation will be dismissed for the children of humanity, even slanderous accusations if they make slanderous accusations, ²⁹ but whoever makes a slanderous accusation against the Sacred Life-breath will not receive dismissal throughout the Age, but is liable for an act of agelong deviation ³⁰ (because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit-breath’).”

³¹ Jesus’ mother and siblings came, and while they stood outside, they sent someone to him to call him. ³² A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside looking for you.”

³³ He answered, “Who are my mother and my siblings?” ³⁴ Then, after looking around at the people sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and siblings! ³⁵ You see, whoever does what God wants is my brother and my sister and my mother.”

¹ Jesus began to teach again by the sea, and such a big crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, and the whole crowd was on the shore by the sea. ² He began teaching them with many parables, and in his teaching, he said to them, ³ “Listen! Look, the person who plants seed went out to plant seed. ⁴ It came to be that during the planting, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up straightaway because of not having deep soil. ⁶ When the sun came up, it was scorched, and because of not having roots, it withered. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thornbushes, and the thornbushes grew and choked it, and it didn’t produce any crop. ⁸ And other seed fell in the fertile soil and produced a crop, growing and flourishing and one was bearing 30, and one was bearing 60, and one was bearing 100.” ⁹ Then he said, “Whoever has ears to hear should hear!”

¹⁰ When he came to be alone, those around him, along with the Twelve, began to ask him about the parables.

¹¹ “The mystery of God’s reign has been shared with you, but for those who are outside, it comes to be that everything is with parables, ¹² ‘so those who see might see and not recognize, and those who hear might hear and not put it together; otherwise, they might turn back, and it would be dismissed for them.’”

¹³ “Do you not understand this parable?” he said to them. “How will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The one who plants seed plants the Message. ¹⁵ These are the ones along the path: Where the message is planted and whenever people hear it, the Adversary comes straightaway and plucks away the message that was planted among them. ¹⁶ These are the ones planted on the rocky ground: When people hear the message and straightaway accept it with joy, ¹⁷ but they don’t have roots among themselves, so they are temporary. Then, when there comes to be oppression or persecution because of the message, they are tripped up straightaway. ¹⁸ Others are the ones planted among the thornbushes: These are the ones who heard the message, ¹⁹ and the worries of the Age and the deception of wealth and desires regarding everything else creep in and choke out the message and it comes to produce no crop. ²⁰ And these are the ones planted on the fertile soil: These ones hear the message and embrace it and bear crops, one bearing 30, one bearing 60, and one bearing 100.”

²¹ He also said to them, “A lamp isn’t brought so that it can be put under a container or under a cot, is it? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand? ²² You see, nothing is hidden except for the purpose of it being made clearly visible, and it doesn’t come to be concealed unless to be brought into the light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, they should hear!”

²⁴ He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. The measurement you use to measure will be used to measure you, and it will be set beside you for comparison. ²⁵ Whoever gets it, it will be given to them, and whoever does not get it, even what they do get will be plucked away from them.

²⁶ He also said, “This is what God’s reign is like: It’s as if a person were to sprinkle seed on the ground, ²⁷ go to sleep, and get up, night and day, and the seed were to sprout and grow, while they don’t understand it. ²⁸ The soil independently bears a crop, first the grass, then the head, then the ripe grain in the head. ²⁹ When the crop is ready, they send the sickle straightaway because the harvest has arrived.”

³⁰ He also said, “How might we make a comparison with God’s reign? Or, with what parable might we explain it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which when it is planted in the ground, it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground, ³² and when planted, it grows up and becomes bigger than all the garden plants and makes big branches, so the birds of the heavens are able to nest in its shade.”

³³ With many parables like these, he kept speaking the message to them, as long as they were able to listen. ³⁴ He kept speaking to them only in parables, but among his own students, he explained everything.

³⁵ That day, when it came to be evening, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” ³⁶ After leaving the crowd, they took him in the boat as he was, and other boats were with him. ³⁷ It came to be that a large and highly windy storm developed, and the waves were crashing into the boat, so that the boat was already getting full. ³⁸ He was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, doesn’t it matter to you that we’ll be killed?”

³⁹ After getting up, he reprimanded the wind and told the sea, “Be quiet! Shut your mouth!” and the wind calmed down, and it became completely still. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Don’t you have trust yet?”

⁴¹ They were terrified and said to each other, “So, who is this? Because even the wind and the sea listen to him!”

¹ They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. ² Straightaway after Jesus got out of the boat, a person from among the tombs with an unclean spirit-breath confronted him. ³ He had his home among the tombs. No one could tie him up anymore, not even with chains, ⁴ because he had often been tied up with chains and shackles, and the chains had been torn apart, and the shackles been broken to pieces by him. No one was strong enough to restrain him. ⁵ All night and day, he would cry out and hack at himself with stones among the tombs and in the mountains. ⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down to him.

⁷ He cried out with a loud voice, “What is there between me and you, Jesus, Son of the Highest God? Please, swear to me by God that you won’t torture me! ⁸ (You see, Jesus had said to him, “Get out of this person, unclean spirit-breath!”)

⁹ Jesus demanded of him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he said, “because we are many.” ¹⁰ He begged Jesus many times not to send them out of the region.

¹¹ There on the hillside was a large herd of pigs being fed. ¹² He begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs, so we can go in among them,” ¹³ and Jesus gave them permission. After getting out, the unclean spirit-breaths went in among the pigs, and the herd suddenly rushed down the slope into the sea, and all-in-all about 2,000 were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ The people who had been feeding them ran away and spread the news in the town and the surrounding countryside, and people came to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the person who had been haunted by demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind—the person who had the “Legion”—and they were afraid. ¹⁶ The people who had seen what had happened with the person who had been haunted by demons told them about it and about the pigs. ¹⁷ They began to beg Jesus to go away from their area.

¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the person who had been haunted by demons begged him to be able to go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not allow it, and instead, he said to him, “Go to your home, to your family, and tell them about everything the Lord has done for you and that he has shown loving faithfulness to you. ²⁰ The person went away and began to announce in the Decapolis everything Jesus did for him, and everyone was amazed.

²¹ After Jesus crossed in the boat back to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, while he was at the shore. ²² One of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came to him, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He begged Jesus repeatedly, “My young daughter is about to die. If you were to come and place your hands on her to restore her, she would live,” ²⁴ and Jesus went with him.

The large crowd followed him and pressed in around him. ²⁵ A woman was there who had a hemorrhage for 12 years ²⁶ and had suffered many times under the care of many doctors and had spent everything she had, and nothing had helped her, but instead, she had gotten worse. ²⁷ After she heard about Jesus, she came behind him among the crowd, and grasped his clothing. ²⁸ That’s because she was saying to herself, “If only I grasp his clothing, I’ll be restored.” ²⁹ Straightaway, the source of her blood stopped bleeding, and she knew in her body that she had been cured of the torture.

³⁰ Straightaway, Jesus knew within himself that his power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and started saying, “Who grasped my clothing?”

³¹ “You see the crowd pressing in around you,” his students said to him, “but you’re saying, ‘Who grasped me?” ³² but he kept looking around to see who had done it.

³³ Then, the woman, who was afraid and trembling and had realized what happened to her, came and threw herself down in front of him and told him the whole truth.

³⁴ “Daughter,” he said to her, “Your trust has restored you. Go in peace and be whole, distant from your torture.”

³⁵ While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s home, saying, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ However, Jesus, refusing to listen to what was being said, told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust. ³⁷ He didn’t let anyone follow along with them except Peter, Jacob, and Jacob’s brother, John. ³⁸ They went to the synagogue leader’s house, and Jesus surveyed the uproar and many people weeping and wailing in mourning.

³⁹ After he went inside, he said to them, “Why are you in an uproar and weeping? The child has not died but is sleeping.” ⁴⁰ They began to mock him, but he drove everyone out. He brought along the child’s father and mother and the people who were with him, and he went into the room where the child was. ⁴¹ He held the child’s hand in his and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which is translated, “Little girl, I tell you, get up.” ⁴² Straightaway, the girl stood up and began walking around (she was twelve years old). Straightaway, the mother and father were deliriously ecstatic. ⁴³ Jesus strongly warned them that no one should know about it, and he told them to give her something to eat.

¹ Jesus left that place and went to his hometown, and his students followed him. ² When it came to be Shabbat, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many people who were listening were shocked and said, “Where did he get these things? What is this wisdom that was given to him, and what are these kinds of powerful acts that have come to be from his hands? ³ Isn’t this the carpenter, Miriam’s son, and Jacob, Joses, Judah, and Simeon’s brother? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” and they were tripped up by him.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not disregarded except in their own hometown, among their own family, and in their own home.” ⁵ He wasn’t able to do any powerful acts there, except he healed a few people who were sick, placing his hands on them. ⁶ He was dismayed because of their mistrustfulness, and he went around in the surrounding villages teaching.

⁷ He called the Twelve over and began to send them two-by-two, and he gave them authority over unclean spirit-breaths, ⁸ and informed them that they would be carrying nothing for the road except a single staff—no food, no pack, no money in their belts— ⁹ wearing sandals but not wearing two tunics.

¹⁰ “Wherever you go into a house,” he said to them, “Stay there until you leave the area. ¹¹ Whenever a place does not welcome you or listen to you, after you’ve gone from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a report against them.” ¹² After going out, they made public announcements so that people would transform their minds. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many people who were sick with olive oil and healed them.

¹⁴ King Herod heard about it since Jesus’ name had come to be well known. Some people were saying, “John the Submerser has been raised from among the dead, and that’s why powerful acts are at work in connection with him.” ¹⁵ Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the Prophets.” ¹⁶ When Herod heard about it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!”

¹⁷ You see, Herod himself sent people who seized John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philipp’s wife, because Herod took her as his wife. ¹⁸ John had told Herod repeatedly, “It isn’t in accordance with Torah for you to possess your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ However, Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she was not able to do so ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John, understanding that he was a man of justice and designated for sacred purposes, and he had been protecting him. Whenever he had listened to John, Herod had been at a loss, but he was open to listening to him.

²¹ The opportune day came when Herod hosted a feast on his birthday for his courtiers, military commanders, and the leaders of Galilee. ²² When his and Herodias’ daughter entered and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. 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 me for, I will give it to you—up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ After going out to her mother, she said, “What should I ask for?”

“The head of John the Submerser,” said her mother.

²⁵ Dutifully, going straightaway back inside to the king, she made her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Submerser on a platter right now.” ²⁶ Though the king was grieved, he did not want to refuse her request because of the oath and the guests. ²⁷ Straightaway, the king sent an executioner to bring his John’s head. The executioner left and beheaded John 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 After hearing about it, John’s students came and took his body and put it in a tomb.

³⁰ The emissaries were gathered around Jesus, and he informed them about everything he had done and taught.

³¹ “Come with me” he said to them, “Just you on your own, to a remote place, and rest a little while.” (You see, many people were coming and going, and there was no opportunity to eat.) ³² So, they went away on their own to a remote place in the boat. ³³ Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them. ³⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw the large crowd and felt compassion for them because they were like sheep who didn’t have a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it had already been several hours, his students came to him saying, “This place is remote, and it’s already been several hours. ³⁶ Send them away so they can go into the area around here and the towns and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

“Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” they said.

³⁸ “How many loaves of bread do you have?” he said to them. “Go and see.”

After finding out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹ He directed everyone to sit in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They reclined, group by group, in hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ After taking the five loaves of bread and the two fish, he looked up to the heavens, spoke praise and broke the bread in pieces. He gave them to the students to hand out to the people. He also divided the two fish for everyone. ⁴² Everyone ate and was satisfied, ⁴³ and they picked up 12 baskets full of the leftover bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men who ate the bread.

⁴⁵ Straightaway, Jesus had his students get into the boat and travel ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ After he dismissed them, he left for the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ He had seen them straining with the oars because the wind was against them, and around the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea because he wanted to catch up with them.

⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought he was an apparition, and they screamed ⁵⁰ because they all saw him and were horrified.

However, he spoke to them straightaway, and said, “Take heart! It’s me! Don’t be scared!” ⁵¹ He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind calmed. They were overwhelmingly stunned among themselves. ⁵² You see, they had not made the connections about the loaves of bread, and instead, their hearts were numb.

⁵³ When they crossed to the other side, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus straightaway ⁵⁵ and ran around that whole region and began to bring the sick, carrying them on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Wherever he traveled—to towns or cities or countryside, into the marketplaces—they would present the sick and plead with him just to hold onto the tassel of his clothing, and whoever held it was restored.

¹ The Pharisees and some of the Bible scholars who came from Jerusalem gathered near him. ² They saw that some of his students ate their bread with unconsecrated hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (You see, the Pharisees and all the Judeans do not eat without washing their hands with a fist, continuing to hold to what was passed down from the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat without submersing themselves. There are many other things they have also accepted continuing to hold to: submersions of cups and pitchers and pots and dining couches.) ⁵ When the Pharisees and the Bible scholars saw it, they confronted him, “Why don’t your students walk according to what was passed down by the elders, but instead they eat their bread with unconsecrated hands?”

⁶ He told them, “It is just as Isaiah prophesied about you pretenders, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart holds itself far from me. ⁷ They act reverently toward me pointlessly, teaching teachings that are human directives.’ ⁸ While dismissing God’s direction, you hold to what was passed down by humans.

⁹ He also said to them, “You thoroughly disregard God’s direction so that you may establish something of your own to pass down. ¹⁰ You see, Moses said, ‘Treat your father and mother as having value,’ and ‘Whoever speaks abusively against a father or mother should end in death.’ ¹¹ Nevertheless, you say that if a person says to a father or mother, ‘Whatever would have been helpful from me is korban (which means a “gift” intended to be given to God),’ ¹² then you no longer allow them to do anything for the father or mother, ¹³ overriding what God has said with the tradition that you pass down. And you do many things just like this.”

¹⁴ After calling to the crowd again, he said to them, “Everyone, listen to me and make the connections! ¹⁵ There is nothing from outside a person that when it goes into them it is able to make them unconsecrated; instead, the things that come out of the person are what make the person unconsecrated.

¹⁷  When Jesus went into the house away from the crowd, his students began asking him about the parable.

¹⁸ “Are you unable to put it together, like them, too?” he said to them. “Do you not understand that nothing that goes into a person from outside is able to make them unconsecrated ¹⁹ since it does not go into their heart but into their stomach instead, and then it goes out into the latrine?” (All foods are clean!)

²⁰ “What goes out from a person,” he said, “That is what makes the person unconsecrated. ²¹ You see, from inside—from people’s hearts—go out harmful deliberations, sexual exploitation, theft, murder, ²² marital infidelity, greed, actions that cause others hardship, fraud, lack of restraint, pursuing oppressive gain, speaking disrespectfully, thinking of oneself as above others, and carelessness. ²³ All these harmful things go out from the inside and make the person unconsecrated.”

²⁴ After he got up, he went away from there to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know when he went inside a house there, but it wasn’t possible to keep it hidden. ²⁵ In fact, a woman heard about him straightaway whose daughter had an unclean spirit-breath, and she came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ He said to her, “Allow the children to be satisfied first since it is not kind to take the children’s food and throw it to the pet dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “Even the pet dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ “Because of this conversation, go,” he said to her. “The demon has come out of your daughter.” ³⁰ After leaving and going to her home, she found the child sprawled on the bed, and the demon had come out.

³¹ After Jesus came out again from the region of Tyre, he went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of Decapolis. ³² People carried to him someone who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they pleaded with him to place his hand on him. ³³ After taking him aside by himself, away from the crowd, Jesus poked his fingers into the person’s ears, and after spitting, he held his fingers to the person’s tongue. ³⁴ After looking up to the heavens, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha” (which means, “Be opened up”).

³⁵ Straightaway, the person’s ears were opened, and his tongue loosened up, and he spoke clearly. ³⁶ He instructed them clearly not to tell anyone, but as much as he was telling them clearly not to, they announced it even that much more. ³⁷ People were beyond shocked, saying, “He has made everything well! He even makes people who are deaf hear and people who can’t speak speak!”

¹ During that time, when there was another large crowd that didn’t have anything to eat, after calling the students over to him, Jesus said to them, ² “I feel compassion for the crowd because they’ve already stayed with me three days, and they don’t have anything to eat. ³ If I send them away to their homes hungry, they will collapse on the road; some of them have come from far away.”

⁴ His students responded, “Where would someone be able to get enough bread to satisfy these people in this wilderness?”

⁵ “How many loaves of bread do you have?” he asked them.

“Seven,” they said.

⁶ He sent the message among the crowd to sit on the ground. Then, after taking the seven loaves of bread and giving thanks, he broke them and gave them to his students to pass out, and they passed them out among the crowd.

⁷ They also had a few small fish. After speaking praise for those, he told them also to pass them out. ⁸ The people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven basketfuls of leftover pieces of food. ⁹ There were about 4,000 men. Then he sent them on their way.

¹⁰ Straightaway, after getting in the boat with his students, he went to the districts of Dalmanutha.

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to debate with him, looking for a sign from the heavens from him, putting him to the test.

¹² After drawing a sigh deep in his breath, he said, “Why is this group looking for a sign? Honestly, I’m telling you, no sign will be given to this group,” ¹³ and he left them, getting back in the boat and going to the other side.

¹⁴ They forgot to bring bread, and they didn’t have any with them in the boat—except for one loaf. ¹⁵ Jesus explicitly expressed to them, saying, “Watch out! Keep away from the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

¹⁶ They started debating with each other about not having bread, ¹⁷ and when Jesus realized it, he said to them, “Why are you debating about not having bread? Don’t you realize it yet, or haven’t you put it together? Do you have hearts that have become numb? ¹⁸ Since you have eyes, don’t you see, and since you have ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember ¹⁹ when I broke the five loaves of bread for the five thousand how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?”

“Twelve,” they said to him.

²⁰ “When I broke the seven loaves of bread for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”

“Seven,” they told him.

²¹ And he said to them, “Are you still not putting it together?”

²² They went to Bethsaida, and people brought someone who was blind to Jesus, and they requested for him to hold onto the person. ²³ Jesus held the hand of the person who was blind and led him out of the village. After spitting on the person’s eyes and placing his hands on him, Jesus asked him, “What do you see?”

²⁴ Regaining his vision, he said, “I see people that look like trees walking around.”

²⁵ Then, Jesus again placed his hands on the person’s eyes, and the person looked, and he was fully restored and was able to see everything completely clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

²⁷ Jesus and his students went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and while they were on the road, he asked his students, “Who do people say that I am?”

²⁸ “John the Submerser,” they said, “and others say Elijah, and others say one of the prophets.”

²⁹ “But,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered. “You are the Messiah,” he said to him. ³⁰ Jesus emphasized to them that they shouldn’t say that about him to anyone.

³¹ Jesus began to teach them that it is necessary for the Son of Humanity to endure many things and be rejected by the elders, the lead priests, and the Bible scholars and to be killed and to rise up again after three days. ³² He began to speak this message openly.

Peter took him aside and began to criticize him. ³³ However, after turning and looking at his students, he criticized Peter.

“You’re out of line, Adversary!” he said, “because you are not thinking the way God thinks, but the way humans think instead.”

³⁴ After calling to the crowd along with his students, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow in line with me, they should refuse themselves, pick up their cross, and follow me. ³⁵ You see, whoever wants to preserve their very being will lose it, but whoever loses their very being because of me and because of the triumphant message will preserve it. ³⁶ How does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and injure his very being? ³⁷ What could someone give in exchange for their very being? ³⁸ Whoever is ashamed of me and my discussions among this easily seduced and deviating group, the Son of Humanity will also be ashamed of them when he comes with his Father’s praise accompanied by the sacred messengers.”

¹ He said to them, “Honestly, I’m telling you that some of the people standing here will certainly not experience death until they see God’s Reign having arrived powerfully.”

² Six days later, Jesus brought Peter, Jacob, and John along and led them up the high mountain privately. He transformed right in front of them, ³ and his clothes became shining bright white, so much that no launderer in the land could whiten them that much. ⁴ Elijah was seen by them, along with Moses; they were speaking with Jesus.

⁵ In response, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s precious for us to be here, and we could set up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. ⁶ (You see, he hadn’t known how to respond because they were terrified.)

⁷ A cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him!” ⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone else but Jesus with them.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain, he directed them not to tell anyone about the things they had seen until after the Son of Humanity reawakened from among the dead. ¹⁰ They kept the conversation to themselves, deliberating about what to reawaken from among the dead meant.

¹¹ They asked Jesus, “Why do the Bible scholars say that it is necessary for Elijah to come first?”

¹² So he answered, “Elijah, coming first, actually restores everything. And how is it written about the Son of Humanity that he will endure many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ However, I’m telling you that Elijah has actually already come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just like it is written about him.”

¹⁴ When they came to the rest of the students, they saw a large crowd around them and Bible scholars deliberating with them. ¹⁵ Straightaway, when they saw him, the whole crowd was awestruck, and running to him, they began to greet him.

¹⁶ He challenged them, “What are you debating with them?”

¹⁷ Someone from the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son who has a speechless spirit-breath. ¹⁸ Whenever it takes hold, it makes him collapse, and he foams and grinds his teeth and is curled up. I spoke to your students so they would drive it out, but they weren’t able.”

¹⁹ Jesus responded to them, “What a faithless group! How much longer will I be with you? How much longer will I support you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰ They brought the son to him. When the spirit-breath perceived Jesus, straightaway it contracted his body, and after he fell on the ground, he began rolling around and foaming.

²¹ “How long has it been since this started?” Jesus asked his father.

“Since he was young,” he said.

²² “It often even threw him into a fire and into the water to kill him, but if you are able, have compassion for us and help us!”

²³ Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ Everything is within the ability of the one who trusts faithfully.”

²⁴ Straightaway, the child’s father cried out, “I trust! Help my mistrust!”

²⁵ Seeing that a crowd was growing quickly, Jesus commanded the unclean spirit-breath, “Speechless and deaf spirit-breath, I order you! Get out of him and never go back into him!”

²⁶ After crying out and many convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, so that many people were saying that he died. ²⁷ However, after taking hold of his hand, Jesus helped him get up, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Jesus went inside the house, his students asked him privately, “Why weren’t we able to drive it out?”

²⁹ “No one is able to drive out this kind except with prayer,” he said.

³⁰ After they left that place, they began to pass through Galilee, but Jesus did not want anyone to know. ³¹ You see, he began teaching his students and telling them that the Son of Humanity would be handed over into the hands of humans, they would kill him, and the one who was killed would reawaken after three days. ³² They didn’t understand the statement, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

³³ They came into Capernaum. Once he was at home, Jesus asked them, “What were you debating on the road?” ³⁴ However, they were silent since they had debated with each other on the road who was the most important.

³⁵ After sitting down, he called the Twelve and told them, “If anyone wants to be first, they will be last of all and enslaved to all.”

³⁶ He had a small child stand among them, and holding him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever includes one of these small children as my representative includes me, and whoever includes me doesn’t include me but rather the one who sent me.”

³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we were trying to stop him because he doesn’t follow us.”

³⁹ But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. You see, no one who does a powerful act in my name will also be able quickly to speak badly about me. ⁴⁰ Whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ Honestly, I’m telling you, whoever gives you a drink of water in my name because you are the Messiah’s certainly won’t lose their repayment.

⁴² “Whoever trips up one of these little ones who place their trust in me, it would be preferable for them if a huge millstone were tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand trips you up, cut it off; it would be preferable for you to join in life disabled than to have two hands and go away to the Hinnom Valley, to the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵  If your foot trips you up, cut it off. It would be preferable to join in life missing a foot than to have two feet and to be thrown into the Hinnom Valley. ⁴⁷  If your eye trips you up, throw it away; it would be preferable to join in God’s reign with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the Hinnom Valley, ⁴⁸ where their maggot does not die, and the fire is not put out. ⁴⁹ You see, everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is desirable, but if the salt becomes saltless, how would you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and make peace among each other.”

¹ After standing up, Jesus went to the region of Judea and across the Jordan, and again, crowds traveled to gather where he was, and he taught them, as had been his custom. ² The Pharisees came and asked him if it were allowed for a husband to send away his wife, putting him to the test.

³ “How did Moses direct you?” he answered them.

⁴ “Moses,” they said, “instructed to write a scroll of abandonment and send her away.”

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “He wrote this direction to you for your compassionless hearts. ⁶ However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them—male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For the sake of this, a person will leave behind their father and mother, ⁸ and the two will be one family.’ So then, they are no longer two but rather one family. ⁹ Therefore, a person should not divide what God joined together.”

¹⁰ When in the house again, the students asked him about this. ¹¹ He told them, “Whoever sends away his wife and marries another commits marital infidelity against her. ¹² (And if after sending away her husband, she marries another, she commits marital infidelity.)”

¹³ People were bringing children to him for him to touch, but the students scolded them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw that, he was indignant and told them, “Let the children come to me, and don’t prevent them. You see, God’s Reign is for ones like these. ¹⁵ Honestly, I’m telling you, whoever does not embrace God’s Reign like a child absolutely won’t join in it.” ¹⁶ Then taking them in his arms and placing his hands on them, he spoke well-wishes over them.

¹⁷ As Jesus was leaving toward the road, someone ran to him and fell to their knees and pleaded, “Selfless Teacher, what should I do so that I may inherit agelong life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me selfless?” Jesus said to him. “No one is selfless except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the directions: do not murder, do not commit marital infidelity, do not steal, do not perjure against people, do not defraud people, value your father and mother.”

²⁰ “Teacher,” the person said to him, “I have observed all these things since my youth.”

²¹ As Jesus looked at him, he loved him and said to him, “One thing holds you back. Go, sell as much as you have, and give it to those who are in poverty, and then you will have what God values. Then come here and follow after me.” ²² But the person was saddened by what he said and went away grieving because he had many possessions.

²³ Looking around, Jesus said to his students, “How difficult it is for those who have many assets to join in God’s Reign!” ²⁴ The students were shocked at his words.

“Children!” Jesus responded to them again, “How difficult it is to join in God’s Reign! ²⁵ It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a person who is wealthy to join in God’s Reign.”

²⁶ They were incredulous, saying to each other, “Then who has the power to be liberated!”

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “It’s impossible with people, but not with God; you see, everything is possible with God.”

²⁸ Peter started to say to him, “Well, look at us! We’ve let go of everything and followed after you!”

²⁹ Jesus responded, “Honestly, I’m telling you, there’s no one who let go of home or brother or sister or mother or father or child or farmland for my cause and for the cause of triumphant message ³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times as much right now—homes and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farmlands (with persecutions)—and agelong life in the coming age. ³¹ So, many who are first will be last and who are last will be first.”

³² They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was leading them onward, and they were surprised, and those who were following were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that were about to happen to him: ³³ “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Humanity will be handed over to the lead priests and the Bible scholars. They will sentence him to death and hand him over to the Outsiders. ³⁴ They will mock him and spit on him and whip him and kill him, and after three days, he will reawaken.”

³⁵ Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he said.

³⁷ “Give us the right,” they said to him, “to sit with one at your right and one at your left.”

³⁸ “You don’t understand what you’re asking,” Jesus told them. “Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be submersed with the submersion I undergo?”

³⁹ “We are able,” they said.

So Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be submerged with the submersion I undergo, ⁴⁰ but the right to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹ When the other ten heard that, they became indignant with Jacob and John. ⁴² Jesus called them over and told them, “You understand that those who supposedly lead other people groups lord it over them, and the powerful among them impose authority over them. ⁴³ However, that’s not how it is among you. Just the opposite, whoever wants to become important among you will be a servant among you, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you will be enslaved to all. ⁴⁵ You see, the Son of Humanity also came not to be served but to serve and to give his very being as the price of freeing many people from enslavement.”

⁴⁶ They arrived at Jericho, and then as Jesus and his students and quite a crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus—who was blind and requested alms—was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he started shouting out, “Jesus, Son of David, carry out loving-faithfulness for me!” ⁴⁸ Many people scolded him so he would be quiet; however, he shouted even louder, “Son of David, carry out loving-faithfulness for me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

They called the blind person and told him, “Don’t worry! Get up! He is calling you.” ⁵⁰ He flung off his cloak, scrambled up, and went to Jesus.

⁵¹ Jesus responded to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Rabboni,” the blind person said, “for me to see again.”

⁵² “Go,” Jesus told him, “Your trust has restored you.”

Straightaway, the person could see again, and he followed Jesus on the road.

¹ When they got close to Jerusalem, approaching Bethphage and Bethany by the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his students, ² and he told them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and straightaway when you go into it, you’ll find a foal tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it, and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing that?’ say, ‘The lord needs it, and he will send it back here straightaway.’”

⁴ They left and found a foal tied at a door, outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ Some of the people standing there said to them, “What are you doing untying that foal?” ⁶ So they told them just what Jesus told them, and they let them go. ⁷ They brought the foal to Jesus, and they spread their cloaks over it, and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people laid out their cloaks on the road while others laid out leaves they cut from the countryside. ⁹ Both those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

Hoshea na!

Praised be the one who comes representing the LORD!

¹⁰⁠Praised be the coming reign of our ancestor David!

Hoshea na, One who is in the highest places!

¹¹ Jesus went into Jerusalem to the sacred grounds and after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve since it was already late in the evening.

¹² The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ He noticed a leafy fig tree from a distance and went to see what he could find on it. When he got there, he found nothing on it except leaves since it wasn’t the season for figs. ¹⁴ He reacted by saying to it, “May no one eat fruit from you ever again!” and his students heard.

¹⁵ Then they went to Jerusalem, and Jesus went inside the sacred grounds and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the sacred grounds. He threw over the tables that were for the money changers and the seats for the dove sellers, ¹⁶ and he didn’t allow anyone to carry things through the sacred grounds.

¹⁷ He began teaching and saying to them, “Isn’t it written that ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all people groups’? Yet you have turned it into a ‘hideout for robbers’!” ¹⁸ When the lead priests and Bible scholars heard, the started exploring how they could assassinate him because they were afraid of him since the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching. ¹⁹ When evening came, Jesus and his students went outside the city.

²⁰ As they were going by before dawn, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you wished ill upon has withered!”

²² Jesus answered and told them, “Hold onto God’s faithfulness. ²³ Honestly, I’m telling you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea!’ and is not ambivalent but instead faithfully trusts that what they say will happen, it will happen for them. ²⁴ That’s why I tell you, whatever you pray for and request, trust that you will receive it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ When you stand praying, if you are holding something against anyone, let it go, so your divine Father can let your shortfalls go for you.”

²⁷ Then they went back to Jerusalem. While Jesus was walking around the sacred grounds, the lead priests, Bible scholars, and elders came to him ²⁸ and said, “With what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”

²⁹ “I will ask you about one matter,” Jesus replied. “Answer me, and I will tell you with what authority I am doing these things: ³⁰ Was John’s submersion from the heavens or from people? Answer me!”

³¹ They began to deliberate with each other, saying, “If we say ‘from the heavens,’ then he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you trust him?’ ³² However, if we say ‘from people…’” (they were afraid of the crowd since they all said that John was a prophet).

³³ “We don’t know,” they responded to Jesus.

And Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you with what I authority I’m doing these things either.”

¹ Then he began speaking to them in parables: “Someone planted a vineyard, built a fence around it, dug out a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to farmers and left the country. ² In due time, he sent an enslaved worker to the farmers to take the crop of the vineyard from the farmers. ³ They took him, thrashed him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again, he sent another enslaved worker to them, and they beat that one over the head and humiliated him. ⁵ Then, he sent another, and they killed that one. The same with many others, some they thrashed while they killed others. ⁶ He still had one beloved son, and in the end, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will treat my son with respect.’ ⁷ However, those farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir! Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!” ⁸ After taking him, they killed him and tossed him out of the vineyard. ⁹ Therefore, what will the master of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and lease the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this scripture?

The stone the builders rejected,

That’s the one that became the foundation stone.

¹¹⁠It’s from the LORD that this happened,

And it is wonderful in our eyes.

¹² They tried to seize him because they realized he spoke the parable about them, but they were afraid of the crowd, so they let him go and left.

¹³ Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in what he said. ¹⁴ When they arrived, they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are trustworthy and you don’t care about anyone’s approval of you since you don’t pay attention to people’s positions, but you truly teach the path of God. Is it allowed to pay a census tribute to Caesar or not? Should we pay, or should we not pay?”

¹⁵ However, he saw through their pretense and said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it.” ¹⁶ So they brought it, and he said to them, “Whose image is it and whose inscription?”

“Caesar,” they told him.

¹⁷ So Jesus told them, “Pay the things of Caesar to Caesar and the things of God to God,” and they were stumped by him.

¹⁸ Sadducees (who say there is no reawakening) came to him and questioned him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote to us ‘If someone’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife but not a child, then his brother must take on the wife and raise up seed for his brother.’ ²⁰ There were seven brothers, and the first one took a wife and died without leaving a seed. ²¹ Then the second one took her and died without leaving behind a seed, and the third did the same. ²² None of the seven left a seed. After all that, the woman died too. ²³ At the reawakening, when they reawaken, whose wife will she be since all seven had her as a wife?”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this why you are misled, that you don’t understand the scriptures or God’s power? ²⁵ You see, when they reawaken from among the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; instead, they are like divine messengers. ²⁶ However, about the dead being raised, haven’t you read in Moses’ scroll about the bush and how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ God is not for the dead but for the living.

²⁸ One of the Bible scholars had come over and listened to their discussion, and after seeing that Jesus responded to them beautifully, he asked him, “Which direction is most important?”

²⁹ “The most important,” Jesus answered, “is ‘Listen, Israel, the LORD—our God—the LORD is one. ³⁰ Love the LORD your God with your entire heart, with your entire being, with your entire mind, and with your entire strength.’ ³¹ A second is equivalent: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other direction is more important than these.”

³² The Bible scholar said to him, “Teacher, you spoke the truth beautifully that ‘the LORD is one, and there is none other than God.’ ³³ Also, loving God with the entire heart, with the entire understanding, and with the entire strength, and loving the neighbor as oneself is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had responded thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s reign.” No one else was brave enough to question him.

³⁵ When Jesus continued what he was saying as he was teaching in the sacred grounds, he said, “How is it that the Bible scholars say that the meshiah is David’s son? ³⁶ David himself, by means of the Sacred Life-breath, said, ‘The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put those who are hostile to you under your feet.”’ ³⁷ David himself calls him ‘lord,’ so how could he be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with amusement.

³⁸ During his teaching, he said, “Watch out for the Bible scholars who want to walk around in fancy robes, to receive elaborate greetings of respect in the marketplace, ³⁹ the seats reserved for important attendees in synagogues, and seats reserved for important people at the table during dinners. ⁴⁰ They are the ones who devour widows’ property and pretentiously offer lengthy prayers. These people will receive a decision in excess.”

⁴¹ Then, sitting down in front of the donation box, he began to watch how the crowd deposited coins into the donation box. Many wealthy people deposited many coins. ⁴² When one poor widow came, she deposited two lepta, which is equivalent to a quadrans.

⁴³ Jesus called his students over and said to them, “Honestly, I’m telling you, this poor widow deposited more into the offering box than all the others who deposited ⁴⁴ because they all deposited from their excess, but she deposited everything she had from her poverty, the entirety of what she had to live on.”

¹ As he was leaving the sacred grounds, one of his students said to him, “Teacher, look where these stones came from and where these buildings came from!”

² Jesus said to him, “Do you see these grand buildings? There is not a single stone here that will be left upon another, that will not be torn apart.”

³ While he was sitting at the Mount of Olives, across from the sacred grounds, Peter, Jacob, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will the sign be when all these things are going to be completed?”

⁵ So, Jesus began to say to them, “Watch out so no one misleads you. ⁶ Many will come in my name saying, “I am the one,” and they will mislead many people. ⁷ Now, when you hear about battles and rumors of battles, don’t be alarmed. It must happen, but it’s not yet the end. ⁸ You see, people group will rise up against people group, and regime against regime, and upheavals across various places, and there will be famines. These are the beginning of anguish.

⁹ “Watch out for each other. People will hand you over to councils, and you will be thrashed in synagogues and be made to stand before leaders and kings to give them a report on account of me. ¹⁰ First and foremost, it is necessary to announce the triumphant message for all people groups. ¹¹ When they bring you to hand you over, don’t be anxious beforehand about what you should say; rather, say whatever is given to you at that time because you’re not the one speaking but rather the Sacred Life-breath. ¹² Family member will hand over family member to death, even a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and put them to death. ¹³ You will be hated by everyone because of my name. However, whoever endures to the end will be liberated.

¹⁴ “When you see the Devastating Atrocity placed where it must not be placed (may the reader understand), then those in Judea should flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Whoever is on the roof should not go downstairs or go inside to get anything from their house, ¹⁶ and whoever is in the field should not go back to get their cloak. ¹⁷ How hard it will be on women who are pregnant and nursing during that time! ¹⁸ Pray that it will not happen in winter! ¹⁹ You see, oppression will happen in those days as bad as any from the beginning of the creation that God created up till now or will ever happen. ²⁰ If the Lord didn’t cut the time short, there would be nobody left to liberate.

“However, on account of the chosen—the people he chose—he did cut the time short. ²¹ Therefore, if someone says to you, “Look, here is the meshiah! Look, there he is!” don’t trust it. ²² You see, false meshichim and false prophets will arise, and they will provide signs and miracles to mislead the chosen, if possible. ²³ But you, watch out! I have told you everything in advance.

²⁴ Nevertheless, in those days after that oppression,

The Sun will be darkened,

And the Moon will not give its light,

²⁵⁠and the Stars will be falling from the heavens,

And the powers in the heavens will be shaken loose.

²⁶ Then people will see the Son of Humanity coming in the clouds with great power and renown. ²⁷ Then, he will send messengers and will gather together his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest point of the earth to the farthest point of the heavens.

²⁸ Study the parable of the fig tree: when its branch has become tender and sprouted leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that the Son of Humanity is near—at the door. ³⁰ Honestly, I’m telling you that this group absolutely will not pass away until all these things happen. ³¹ The heavens and the land will pass away, but my conversation absolutely will not pass away.

³² As for that day or hour, no one knows except the Father—not even the messengers in the heavens or the son. ³³ Look around! Stay aware! You don’t know when the time is. ³⁴ It’s like how a person traveling abroad who left his house gave to each of his enslaved workers the authority for their work and directed the doorkeeper to stay alert. ³⁵ So, stay alert because you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming—whether in the evening, or midnight, or when the rooster crows or just before dawn— ³⁶ so that when he comes suddenly, he doesn’t find you asleep. ³⁷ What I’m saying to you, I say to everyone: stay alert!

¹ It was two days before Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the lead priests and Bible scholars were looking for a way they could arrest Jesus connivingly and kill him. ² They said, “Not during the feast so there won’t be an uproar among the people.”

³ While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simeon, the one who had leprosy, reclining at a meal, a woman came holding an alabaster jar of expensive ointment perfumed with genuine nard, and after breaking open the jar, she poured it over his head. ⁴ Some of the people who were there expressed indignation to each other, “What was the point of wasting expensive ointment? ⁵ That ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and it been given to people experiencing poverty!” So they confronted her.

⁶ However, Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you harassing her? That was a beautiful thing she did for me. ⁷ You see, you always have people experiencing poverty among you, and you are able to do generous things for them whenever you want, but you don’t always have me. ⁸ She used what she had. She used it to anoint my body as preparation for burial. ⁹ Honestly, I’m telling you, wherever the triumphant message is announced throughout the whole world, what she did will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

¹⁰ Judah, “the Man of Kerioth,” the one who was among the Twelve, went to the lead priests to hand him over to them. ¹¹ When they heard that, they were overjoyed and promised to give him money, and he began looking for an opportunity to hand him over.

¹² On the first day of the feast, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ students said to him, “When we go, where do you want us to prepare to eat the Passover meal?”

¹³ He sent two of his students and told them, “Go into the city, and someone will meet you carrying a water jar; follow them. ¹⁴ Wherever they enter, say to the manager of the house that the teacher says, ‘Where is the guest room for me where I can eat the Passover meal with my students?’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. You can get everything ready for us there. ¹⁶ The students left and went into the city and found it just as he told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁷ When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸ While they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Honestly, I’m telling you that one of you will hand me over, one of you eating with me. ¹⁹ They started getting upset and saying to him, one-by-one, “Certainly not I?”

²⁰ “It’s one of the Twelve,” he told them, “Someone who dips into the bowl with me. ²¹ Although, the Son of Humanity is going just like it is written about him, yet still how hard it will be on that person because of whom the Son of Humanity is handed over! It would be preferable for that person not to have been born.”

²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after speaking praise, he broke it and gave it to the others.

“Take it,” he said. “This is my body.”

²³ Then, taking a cup and, after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴ “This is my blood of the covenant,” he said, “poured out lavishly for the sake of many. ²⁵ Honestly, I’m telling you that I absolutely will not drink anymore from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new during God’s Reign.”

²⁶ After singing praise, they went to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷ “You will all be tripped up,” Jesus told them, “as it is written,

I will strike the shepherd,

And the sheep will be scattered.

²⁸ However, after I’m raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

²⁹ “Even if they are all tripped up,” Peter reacted to him, “I won’t be!”

³⁰ “Honestly,” Jesus said to him, “I’m telling you that today—this very night—before the rooster even crows twice, you will disown me three times.”

³¹ Peter repeatedly insisted, “Even if I bind myself to you to die together, I will absolutely not disown you.” They others also all said the same.

³² Then they went to a place by the name of Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his students, “Sit here until I’ve prayed.” ³³ He brought along Peter, Jacob, and John and began to be terrified and distressed. ³⁴ He told them, “My very being is distressed to the point of death. Stay here and stay alert.”

³⁵ After going a short distance, he sank to the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour would pass him by, ³⁶ and he said, “Abba (‘Father’), all things are possible for you; remove this cup from me. However, not what I want but what you want.”

³⁷ Then he went and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simeon, you’re sleeping? You didn’t have the strength to stay alert for one hour? ³⁸ Stay alert and pray so that you won’t come to trial. Though the Life-breath is willing, the body is fatigued.” ³⁹ After leaving again, he prayed the same thing he had spoken before. ⁴⁰ And again, when he went back, he found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy; they didn’t know what to say. ⁴¹ He went a third time and said, “You’re still sleeping and resting! Enough! It’s time. Look, the Son of Humanity is being handed over into the hands of those who deviate. ⁴² Get up, let’s go. Look, the one handing me over is approaching.”

⁴³ Straightaway, while he was still speaking, Judah showed up—the one who was one of the Twelve—and a crowd armed with swords and clubs was with him, sent by the lead priests, Bible scholars, and elders. ⁴⁴ (The one handing him over had established a signal for them, saying, “The one I kiss is him. Arrest him and take him away securely.”)

⁴⁵ When Judah arrived, straightaway, he went up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him repeatedly. ⁴⁶ The crowd rushed to lay hands on him, and they arrested him. ⁴⁷ Someone who was standing nearby drew their sword and struck the worker enslaved to the high priest and removed his ear.

⁴⁸ Jesus responded and said to them, “Have you come out here with swords and clubs to take me prisoner like you would an insurrectionist? ⁴⁹ Each day, I was with you at the sacred grounds teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. However, the result is that the scriptures are fully lived out.”

⁵⁰ Leaving him, everyone fled. ⁵¹ Some young man followed along with him, wrapped only in a linen cloth, and they seized him, ⁵² but abandoning the cloth, he fled naked.

⁵³ They took Jesus away to the high priest, and all the lead priests, elders, and Bible scholars came together. ⁵⁴ Peter followed him at a distance until he was inside the high priest’s courtyard, where he was sitting with the servants and warming himself by the fire.

⁵⁵ The lead priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus for putting him to death, but they didn’t find any. ⁵⁶ You see, though many people were giving false testimony against him, their testimonies were not consistent. ⁵⁷ Some who stood up were falsely testifying against him, saying, ⁵⁸ “We heard him saying, ‘I will tear apart this temple made with hands, and I will build another one not made with hands in three days.’” ⁵⁹ However, even about this their testimony was not consistent.

⁶⁰ The high priest stood up in the center and demanded of Jesus, “Are you not going to give an answer? What are they testifying against you?” ⁶¹ But he was silent and did not respond to anything.

⁶² Again, the high priest demanded of him, “Are you the meshiah, the son of one who is praised?”

⁶² “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of the sky.”

⁶³ The high priest, tearing his clothes, said, “Do we still need witnesses? ⁶⁴ You heard the disrespect! What is made clear for you?” They all decided against him as being deserving of death.

⁶⁵ Then some people began to spit on him and put a cover over his face and beat him with their fists, saying, “Prophesy!” The attendants held him while they beat him.

⁶⁶ Peter was below in the courtyard when one of the little girls enslaved to the high priest arrived. ⁶⁷ Seeing Peter warming himself, after looking right at him, she said to him, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus.” ⁶⁸ But he denied it, “I don’t know or even understand what you’re saying!” He went outside to the gateway of the courtyard, and a rooster crowed. ⁶⁹ The little girl, seeing him, started to say again to people standing nearby, “This person is one of them.” ⁷⁰ Again, he denied it. A little while later, the people standing nearby again said to Peter, “You really are one of them because you’re also Galilean.” ⁷¹ He began to curse and swear, “I don’t know this person you’re talking about!” ⁷² Straightaway, a rooster crowed a second time. Peter was reminded of what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times,” and after falling to the ground, he wept.

¹ Straightaway, before dawn, after binding Jesus and making a plan, the lead priests, in association with the elders and Bible scholars and the whole Sanhedrin, took him away and handed him over to Pilate.

² Pilate demanded of him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“If you say so,” answered Jesus.

³ The lead priests were making many accusations against him, ⁴ so Pilate again demanded an answer from him.

“Aren’t you responding to anything? Look how many accusations they’re making against you!” ⁵ But Jesus didn’t respond to anything anymore, which surprised Pilate.

⁶ Each year during the feast, Pilate would release one prisoner to the people, whomever they requested. ⁷ Someone called Barabbas was imprisoned in association with the resistance fighters who had murdered someone during an uprising. ⁸ When the crowd came up, they began to request the release like he usually did for them.

⁹ Pilate responded to them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” ¹⁰ (You see, he knew that the lead priests had handed him over on account of spite).

¹¹ The lead priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas for them instead. ¹² Again, Pilate responded, “Then, what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted back.

¹⁴ “Why?” Pilate said to them. “What harm has he done?”

However, they shouted even more, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ So, Pilate, wishing to placate the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed Jesus over to be crucified.

¹⁶ The soldiers led him away inside the courtyard (the one at the Roman headquarters) and called together the whole cohort. ¹⁷ They clothed him in purple, and after braiding one, put a crown of thorns on him. ¹⁸ Then, they began to salute him, “Hello, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ and repeatedly struck him over the head with a staff and spit on him. Then, getting on their knees, they began paying homage to him. ²⁰ After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple and put his clothes on him. Then they led him outside to crucify him.

²¹ The soldiers forced someone passing by, Simeon of Cyrene who was coming in from the fields (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus), to carry Jesus’ cross. ²² They brought him to a place called Golgotha (which is translated as ‘Place of the Skull’). ²³ People offered him wine flavored with myrrh, but he did not take it.

²⁴ The soldiers crucified him and divided his clothing, casting lots for them, to decide who would take what. ²⁵ It was midmorning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The inscription of the accusation against him read, “The king of the Jews.” ²⁷ They also crucified two insurrectionists with him, one on this right and one on his left.

²⁹ People who passed by spoke contemptuously to him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You-who-can-destroy-the-temple-and-build-one-in-three-days, ³⁰ restore yourself, and come down from the cross!”

³¹ Likewise, the lead priests, along with the Bible scholars, were also mocking him to each other, saying, “He restored others, but he can’t restore himself! ³² The anointed king of Israel should come down from the cross now, so we could see and trust him!” Even the people who had been crucified along with him were speaking to him with contempt.

³³ When it came to be midday, it became dark across the whole land until midafternoon. ³⁴ At midafternoon, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

³⁵ When some of the people standing nearby heard it, they said, “Look, he’s calling Elijah!” ³⁶ Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed staff, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let it out! Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down!” ³⁷ Then Jesus, letting out a loud call, let out his life-breath.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was split in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ When the centurion who was standing in front of him saw that that was how he let out his life-breath, he said, “This person really was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰ Some women were also watching from a distance. Among them were Miriam the Tower, Miriam the mother of the younger Jacob and Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they used to follow him and aid him, and many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there.

⁴² Before it came to be evening, since it was the day of preparation (which is the day before Shabbat), ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, who was a well thought of member of the Sanhedrin and who himself was receptive to God’s reign, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised he had already died, and he called for the centurion and inquired from him how long ago he had died. ⁴⁵ When he had learned about it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶ After buying a linen wrap and taking down the body, Joseph wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb that was cut out of the rock, and he rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Miriam the Tower and Miriam mother of Joses saw where it was placed.

¹ When the Shabbat had finished, Miriam the Tower, Miriam the mother of Jacob, and Salome bought fragrant spices to go and anoint him. ² Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb, arriving with the rising of the sun.

³ “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb for us?” they were saying to each other, ⁴ but looking up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away from the entrance.

⁵ When they went into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting to their right, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here. Look, there’s the place where he was laid. ⁷ Rather, go tell his students, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You’ll see him there, just like he told you.”

⁸ Going outside, they ran from the tomb because fear and confusion had taken hold of them, and they didn’t say anything to anyone because they were afraid.

[| ⁹ After he reawakened, very early in the morning on the first day of the week, he was shown first to Miriam the Tower, from whom he had driven out seven demons. ¹⁰ Setting out, Miriam brought the news to those who had come to be with him while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ However, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they didn’t trust it.

¹² Later, he was shown in a different form to two of them who were walking, traveling to the countryside. ¹³ Leaving, those two spread the news to the rest, but they didn’t trust it.

¹⁴ Finally, he was shown to the Eleven themselves while they were eating, and he criticized them for their mistrustfulness and numb hearts because they did not trust the ones who had seen him after he had been raised.

¹⁵ “Go throughout the whole world,” he told them, “Announcing the Triumphant Message to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever trusts it and is submersed will be liberated, but whoever does not trust it will be destined for death. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who trust faithfully: they will drive out demons as my representatives; they will speak in new languages; ¹⁸ and even if they pick up snakes with their hands and drink something poisonous, it certainly won’t injure them; and they will place hands on the sick, and they will be well.”

¹⁹ Then, truly, after speaking to them, Lord Jesus was taken up into the heavens, and he sat at the right hand of God. ²⁰ They went out announcing him everywhere while the Lord worked together with them, also making firm what they said through the accompanying signs. |]