Day 8 of 30

¹In those days, when there was a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to himself, and said to them,

²"I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.

³If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come a long way."

⁴His disciples answered him, "From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?"

⁵He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven."

⁶He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves. Having given thanks, he broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve, and they served the multitude.

⁷They had a few small fish. Having blessed them, he said to serve these also.

⁸They ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

⁹Now they were about four thousand. Then he sent them away.

¹⁰Immediately he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.

¹²He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation."

¹³He left them, and again entering into a boat, departed to the other side.

¹⁴Now they forgot to take bread; and they did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

¹⁵He warned them, saying, "Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

¹⁶They reasoned with one another, saying, "It's because we have no bread."

¹⁷He, perceiving it, said to them, "Why do you reason that it's because you have no bread? Do you not perceive yet, neither understand? Are your hearts hardened?

¹⁸Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember?

¹⁹When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They told him, "Twelve."

²⁰"When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They told him, "Seven."

²¹He asked them, "Do you not yet understand?"

²²He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him, and begged him to touch him.

²³He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything.

²⁴He looked up, and said, "I see men; they look like trees walking."

²⁵Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He made him look up, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly.

²⁶He sent him away to his house, saying, "Do not enter into the village."

²⁷Jesus went out, with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?"

²⁸They answered him, "John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others: one of the prophets."

²⁹He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."

³⁰He commanded them that they should tell no one about him.

³¹He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

³²He spoke to them openly. Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

³³But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men."

³⁴He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it.

³⁶For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

³⁷Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

³⁸For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

¹He said to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power."

²After six days Jesus took with him Peter, Jacob, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.

³His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

⁴Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁶For he did not know what to say, for they became very afraid.

⁷A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

⁸Suddenly looking around, they saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only.

⁹As they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the "rising from the dead" meant.

¹¹They asked him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

¹²He told them, "Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised?

¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him."

¹⁴Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them.

¹⁵Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him greeted him.

¹⁶He asked them, "What are you asking them?"

¹⁷One of the multitude answered him, and said, "Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit;

¹⁸and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and wastes away. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren't able."

¹⁹He answered him, "Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me."

²⁰They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.

²¹He asked his father, "How long has it been since this has come to him?" He said, "From childhood.

²²Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us."

²³Jesus said to him, "'If you can?' All things are possible to him who believes."

²⁴Immediately the father of the child exclaimed, "I believe. Help my unbelief!"

²⁵When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, "You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!"

²⁶Having screamed, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, "He is dead."

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose.

²⁸And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could not we cast it out?"

²⁹And he said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer [and fasting]. "

³⁰They went out from there, and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it.

³¹For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, "The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise again."

³²But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

³³He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing on the way?"

³⁴But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.

³⁵He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all."

³⁶He took a little child, and set him in the midst of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷"Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, does not receive me, but him who sent me."

³⁸John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he does not follow us."

³⁹But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us.

⁴¹For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to the Messiah, truly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

⁴²Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he was thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.

⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [

⁴⁴where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]

⁴⁵If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into hell. [

⁴⁶where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]

⁴⁷If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell,

⁴⁸'where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

¹He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.

²Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

³He answered, "What did Moses command you?"

⁴They said, "Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her."

⁵But Jesus said, "For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

⁶But from the beginning of the creation, he made them male and female.

⁷For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

¹⁰In the house, the disciples asked him again about the same matter.

¹¹He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.

¹²If she herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery."

¹³They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, "Allow the little children to come to me! Do not forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it."

¹⁶And he took them in his arms, laying his hands on them, and blessed them.

¹⁷As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"

¹⁸Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one-God.

¹⁹You know the commandments: 'Do not murder,' 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not give false testimony,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and mother.'"

²⁰And he said to him, "Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth."

²¹Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross."

²²But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.

²³Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, "How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!"

²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, "Children, how hard is it to enter into the Kingdom of God!

²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."

²⁶They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, "Then who can be saved?"

²⁷Jesus, looking at them, said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God."

²⁸Peter began to tell him, "Behold, we have left everything, and have followed you."

²⁹Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,

³⁰but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

³¹But many who are first will be last; and the last first."

³²They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.

³³"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles.

³⁴They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. After three days he will rise again."

³⁵Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask."

³⁶He said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

³⁷They said to him, "Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory."

³⁸But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

³⁹They said to him, "We are able." Jesus said to them, "You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;

⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared."

⁴¹When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant towards Jacob and John.

⁴²Jesus summoned them, and said to them, "You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

⁴³But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.

⁴⁴Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.

⁴⁵For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

⁴⁶They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁸Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, "You son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁹Jesus stood still, and said, "Call him." They called the blind man, saying to him, "Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!"

⁵⁰He, casting away his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.

⁵¹Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "Rabboni, that I may see again."

⁵²Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight, and followed himon the road.

¹When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

²and said to them, "Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has yet sat. Untie him, and bring him.

³If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs him;' and immediately he will send him back here."

⁴They went away, and found a colt tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him.

⁵Some of those who stood there asked them, "What are you doing, untying the young donkey?"

⁶They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.

⁷They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it.

⁸Many spread their garments on the way, and others cut down branches from the trees.

⁹Those who went in front, and those who followed, shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰Blessed is the kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!"

¹¹And he entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹²The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.

¹³Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴Jesus told it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" and his disciples heard it.

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and he entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves.

¹⁶He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.

¹⁷He taught, saying to them, "Is not it written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?' But you have made it a den of robbers!"

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.

¹⁹When evening came, he went out of the city.

²⁰As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.

²¹Peter, remembering, said to him, "Teacher, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away."

²²Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.

²³Truly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; it will be done for him.

²⁴Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.

²⁵Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions."

²⁶No text for this verse number in this edition.

²⁷They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him,

²⁸and they began saying to him, "By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things?"

²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰The baptism of John-was it from heaven, or from man? Answer me."

³¹They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we should say, 'From heaven;' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

³²If we should say, 'From man'"-they feared the crowd, for all held John to really be a prophet.

³³They answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know." Jesus said to them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things."

¹He began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went on a journey.

²When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard.

³They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty.

⁴Again, he sent another servant to them; and they wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.

⁵And he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some.

⁶He had one left, a beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

⁷But those farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

⁸They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.

⁹What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰Haven't you even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner.

¹¹This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

¹²They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away.

¹³They sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.

¹⁴When they had come, they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and do not defer to anyone; for you are not partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

¹⁵Shall we give, or shall we not give?" But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it."

¹⁶They brought it. He said to them, "Whose is this image and inscription?" They said to him, "Caesar's."

¹⁷And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." They marveled greatly at him.

¹⁸There came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. They asked him, saying,

¹⁹"Teacher, Moses wrote to us, 'If a man's brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take the wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.'

²⁰There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring.

²¹The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise;

²²and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died.

²³In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife."

²⁴Jesus said to them, "Is not this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God?

²⁵For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

²⁶But about the dead, that they are raised; have not you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken."

²⁸And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the greatest of all?"

²⁹Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:

³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

³¹The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

³²The scribe said to him, "Truly, Teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he,

³³and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." No one dared ask him any question after that.

³⁵Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?

³⁶David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'

³⁷David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?" The common people heard him gladly.

³⁸In his teaching he said to them, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces,

³⁹and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts:

⁴⁰those who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."

⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.

⁴²A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin.

⁴³He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury,

⁴⁴for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."