The Good News According to Mark
1:1 ¶ The beginning of the Good News about Jesus
1:2 ¶ It is said in the Prophet Isaiah— | ‘Behold! I send my Messenger before thy face; | He shall prepare thy way.’
3 | ‘The voice of one loudly crying in the desert: “Make ready the way of the Lord, | Make his paths straight.” ’
4 It was in fulfillment of this that John the Baptizer appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism upon repentance for forgiveness of sins.
5 All
6 John wore clothing of camels’ hair, and had a belt of leather round his waist, and lived upon locusts and wild honey;
7 and he made this proclamation—“There is One Coming after me more powerful than I, and I am not fit even to stoop down and undo his shoes.
8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”
1:9 ¶ About that time Jesus came from
10 Just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the sky parting, and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down upon him,
11 while from the sky there came a voice— | “Thou art my Son, my beloved; | In thee I delight.”
13 and he was there in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan, and among wild beasts, while angels attended on him.
15 “The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand; repent, and believe the Good News.”
17 “Come and follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will set you to fish for men.”
18 They left their nets at once, and followed him.
19 Going on a little further, he saw James, Zebediah’s son, and his brother John, who were in the boat mending the nets.
20 Jesus at once called them, and they left their father Zebediah in the boat with the crew, and went after him.
22 the people were greatly struck with his teaching, for he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like the Rabbis.
23 Now just then there was in the Synagogue a man under the power of a wicked spirit, who called out:
24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus rebuked the spirit. “Silence! come out from him,” he said.
26 The wicked spirit threw the man into a fit, and with a loud cry came out from him;
27 and everyone was so amazed at it that people kept asking one another: “What does this mean? Strange teaching this! He gives orders with authority even to the wicked spirits, and they obey him!”
28 And the fame of Jesus
extended at once in all directions, through the whole neighbourhood
of
30 and as Simon’s mother-in-law was lying ill with fever, they at once told Jesus about her.
31 So he went up to her, and grasping her hand, raised her up. The fever left her, and she began waiting upon them.
1:32 ¶ In the evening, after sunset, people kept bringing to Jesus all who were ill, and those who were possessed;
33 and the whole city was gathered round the door.
34 Jesus cured many
who were ill with various diseases, and drove out many evil spirits; he would
not permit the spirits to speak, because they knew him to be the
36 But Simon and his companions hastened after him;
37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 “Let us go away from here,” Jesus said, “into the country towns near, that I may preach in them, too;
indeed, that was my object in coming.”
39 Then he went and
preached in their Synagogues all through
41 Jesus’ heart was moved, and, stretching out his hand, he touched him and said, “I am willing, be healed.”
42 Instantly the leprosy left the man, and he was healed;
43 and then Jesus immediately sent him away with urgent injunctions,
44 saying to him: “Take care not to tell anything to any one; but go and show
yourself to the Priest, and make the offerings in connexion
with your healing, as Moses directed, for a proof of your cure to the people.”
45 The man, however, went away, and began to say so much about it, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town, but stayed outside in lonely places; and people kept coming to him from all parts.
2:1 ¶ Some days later, when Jesus came back to
2 and such numbers of people collected that after a while there was no room for them even round the door; and he began telling them his Message.
3 Presently there came some people bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
4 But being unable to get him near to Jesus, owing to the crowd, they removed the roofing below which Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 When Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the man: “My son, your sins are
forgiven.”
6 But there were some of the Rabbis sitting there, debating with themselves:
7 “Why does this man speak like this? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God himself?”
8 As soon as Jesus
became conscious that they were debating like this with themselves, he said to
them: “Why are you debating with yourselves about this?
9 Which is easier?—to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are
forgiven’? or to say ‘Get up, and take your mat, and walk’?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”—here he addressed the paralyzed man—
11 “To you I say, get up, take your mat, and go home.”
12 The man got up, and immediately took his mat, and went out before them all; at which they were all astonished, and praised God. “We have never seen anything like this!” they said.
14 As he was passing along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus’ son, sitting in the tax-office, and said to him: “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.
16 When the Rabbis belonging to the party of the Pharisees saw that he was eating in the company of such people, they said to his disciples: “Does he eat in the company of tax-gatherers and godless people?”
17 Hearing this,
Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but only those who are ill. I did not come to invite the pious, but the
godless.”
19 Jesus answered: “Is it possible for the bridegroom’s friends to fast, while
he is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they
cannot.
20 A time, however, will come, when the bridegroom will be
parted from them, and they will fast then—when that time comes.
21 No one ever sews a piece of unshrunk
cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it—the new from
the old—and a still worse rent is made.
22 And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins; if he does, the
wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. But new
wine is put into fresh skins.”
24 “Look!” the Pharisees said to him, “why are they doing what it is wrong to do on the Sabbath?”
25 “Have you never read,” Jesus answered, “what David did when he was hard-pressed and hungry, he and
his companions—
26 how he went into the House of God, in the time of Abiathar the High Priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which no one but the priests have a right to eat, besides giving some to his comrades?”
27 Then Jesus added: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath;
28 so the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath.”
3:1 ¶ On another occasion Jesus went into a Synagogue; and there was a man there with his hand withered.
2 The people watched Jesus closely, to see if he would cure the man on the Sabbath, in order to have a charge to bring against him.
3 “Get up and come forward,” Jesus said to the man with the withered hand;
4 while of the people he asked: “Which is right? to do good on the Sabbath, or harm? to save a life, or destroy it?” As they made no reply,
5 Jesus, looking round at them indignantly, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, said to the man: “Stretch out your hand!” The man stretched it out; and his hand had become sound.
3:6 ¶ Immediately on coming out, the Pharisees, in concert with the Herodians, laid a plot against Jesus, with a view to putting him to death.
3:7 ¶ Afterwards
Jesus and his disciples went away to the lake side, followed by great numbers
of people from
8
from
9 So Jesus told his disciples to keep a small boat close by, for fear the crowd should crush him.
10 For he had cured numbers of people, and consequently they kept pressing up to him, that all who were afflicted might touch him.
11 The wicked spirits, too, whenever they caught sight of him, flung themselves at his feet, and called out: “You are the Son of God”!
12 But he repeatedly warned them not to tell anyone about him.
14 and he appointed twelve—whom he also named ‘Apostles’—that he might have them about him, and that he might send them out to preach,
15 giving them also power to drive out evil spirits. So he appointed the Twelve.
16 They were Peter (which was the additional name Jesus gave to Simon),
17 James the son of Zebediah and his brother John (to whom he gave the name of Boanerges, which means the Thunderers),
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,
19a and Judas Iscariot, who was the man that betrayed him.
3:19b ¶ After this Jesus went into a house;
20 and again such a crowd collected that he and those with him could not even get their food.
21 When his relations heard of it, they went to secure him. “He is out of his mind!” they exclaimed.
22 The Rabbis, too,
who had come down from
23 So Jesus called
them to him, and to answer them used an illustration: “How
can Satan drive Satan out?
24 When a kingdom is at variance within itself, it cannot last;
25 and when a household is at variance within itself, it will be
unable to last.
26 So if Satan is in opposition to and at variance with himself, he cannot last; on the contrary he comes to an end.
27 Indeed no one can get into a strong man’s house, and carry
off his goods, without first securing him. Not till then will he plunder his
house.
29 but whoever slanders the holy Spirit
remains unforgiven to the end—yes, and has to answer
for an enduring sin.”
30 This was said in answer to the charge that he had a wicked spirit in him.
32 There was a crowd sitting round him, and they said to him: “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.”
33 “Who is my mother? and my brothers?” was his reply.
34 Then, having
looked round on the people sitting in a circle round him, he said: “Here are my mother and my brothers!
35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother.”
4:1 ¶ Afterwards Jesus began to teach again by the lake side; and since a very great crowd was gathering round him, he got into a boat, and sat in it on the water, while all the people remained upon the shore at the water’s edge.
2 Then he taught them many truths in stories; and in the course of his teaching he said to them:
3 “Listen to me. There was once a man who went out to sow;
4 and presently, as he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path; and the birds came, and ate it up.
5 Some of it, too, fell on rocky ground, where it had not much
soil; and having no depth of soil, it sprang up at once.
6 When the sun rose, it was scorched; and as it had no root, it withered away.
7 Some of the seed fell among thorn-bushes, which shot up, and so completely choked it, that it gave no crop.
8 Some fell into good soil; and shooting up and growing, gave a
crop, yielding thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much.”
9 Then Jesus added: “Let every one who has ears to listen with, listen.”
11 “To you,” answered Jesus, “the
secret of the Kingdom of God has been imparted; but for the people yonder who
are outside it, everything is put in the form of stories,
12 that— | ‘Though they have eyes, they may see without
perceiving; | And though they have ears, they may hear without understanding; |
Lest some day they should turn and be forgiven.’
13 You do not understand this story!” Jesus exclaimed; “then how will you learn the meaning of all the other
stories?
14 What the man sows is the Message.
15 What is meant by the seed falling along the path is
this—where the Message is sown, and as soon as people have heard it, Satan
immediately comes, and carries away the Message that has been sown in them.
16 So, too, with the seed sown on the rocky places. What is
meant is this—when, as soon as people hear the Message, they joyfully accept it
at once;
17 but as they have no root, they stand for only a short time;
consequently when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Message, they
fall away at once.
18 It is otherwise with the seed sown among the thorn-bushes.
What is meant is this—when people have heard the Message,
19 but the anxieties of life, and the snares of wealth, and all
sorts of other ambitions come in, and so completely choke it that nothing comes
of it.
20 Lastly, what is meant by the seed sown on the good ground is
this—when people hear the Message, and welcome it, and produce fruit, either
thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much.”
22 There is indeed nothing kept secret without the prospect of
its being brought to light, and nothing was ever considered a secret but with
the prospect that it would come to light.
23 Let any one who has ears to listen with, listen.
25 For those who retain anything will have more given them;
while those who retain nothing will have even what they had taken away from
them.”
27 and then sleeping at night and getting up by day, while the
seed is shooting up and growing—he does not know how.
28 The ground bears the crop of itself—first the blade, then the
ear, and then the full grain in the ear;
29 but as soon as the crop is ready, the man at once puts in the
sickle because harvest has come.”
31 Perhaps by the growth of a mustard seed. This seed, when sown in the ground, though it is smaller
than any other that is sown,
32 yet, when sown, shoots up, and becomes larger than any herb, and puts out such great branches that even the wild birds can roost in its shelter.”
34 and to them he never spoke except in stories; but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat, other boats also going with him.
37 A great squall began, and the waves kept dashing into the boat, so that she was actually filling.
38 But Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep upon the cushion; and the disciples roused him and said: “Teacher! do not you care that our lives are in danger?”
39 Jesus got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the lake: “Hush! Be still!” Then the wind dropped, and a great calm followed.
40 “Why are you so cowardly?” he exclaimed. “Have you no faith yet?”
41 But they were struck with great awe, and said to one another: “Who can this be that even the wind and the water obey him?”
5:1 ¶ Afterwards they got to the other side of the lake—the country of the Gerasenes;
2 and as soon as Jesus had got out of the boat, he met a man coming out of the tombs, who was under the power of a wicked spirit,
3 and who made his home in the tombs. No one could secure him, even with a chain;
4 for though he had many times been left secured with fetters and chains, he had snapped the chains and shattered the fetters, and no one was able to master him.
5 Night and day alike, he was continually calling out in the tombs and on the hills, and cutting himself with stones.
6 Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran and bent low before him,
7 calling out loudly: “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God’s sake do not torment me!”
8 For Jesus was
saying: “Come out from the man, you wicked spirit.”
9 “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name,” he said, “is Legion, for there are numbers of us”;
10 and he begged Jesus again and again not to send them away out of that country.
11 There was a large drove of pigs there, feeding on the hill side.
12 So the spirits begged Jesus to send them into the pigs, that they might take possession of them;
13 and Jesus gave them leave. They came out, and took possession of the pigs; and the drove, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and were drowned there.
14 On this the herdsmen ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country round; and the people went to see what had happened.
15 When they came to Jesus, they found the possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right senses—the very man who had had the ‘Legion’ in him—and they were awe-struck.
16 Then those who had seen it related to them all that had happened to the possessed man, as well as about the pigs;
17 upon which they began to beg Jesus to leave their district.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the possessed man begged him to let him stay with him.
19 But Jesus refused.
“Go home to your own people,” he said, “and tell them of all that the Lord has been doing for you,
and how he took pity on you.”
20 So the man went, and began to make known in the district of the Ten Towns all that Jesus had done for him; and everyone was astonished.
22 Here one of the Presidents of the Synagogue, whose name was Jair, came up to Jesus, and as soon as he saw him, threw himself at his feet
23 with repeated entreaties. “My little daughter,” he said, “is at the point of death; I beg you to come and place your hands on her, that her life may be saved.”
24 So Jesus set out with him. A great number of people followed Jesus, and kept pressing round him.
25 Meanwhile a woman who for twelve years had suffered from haemorrhage,
26 and had gone through much under many doctors, spending all she had without gaining any relief, but, on the contrary, growing worse,
27 having heard about Jesus, came behind in the crowd, and touched his cloak.
28 “If I can touch even his clothes,” she said, “I shall get well!”
29 Immediately the mischief was stopped, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.
30 Jesus instantly became
conscious that there had been a demand upon his powers, and turning round in
the crowd, said: “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people pressing round you,” exclaimed his disciples, “and yet you say ‘Who touched me’!”
32 But Jesus still kept looking about to see who had done it.
33 Then the woman, in fear and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and threw herself down before him, and told him the whole truth.
34 “My daughter,” he said, “your
own faith has made you well. My blessing go with you; be free from your
complaint.”
36 But Jesus, overhearing
what they were saying, said to the President of the Synagogue: “Do not be afraid; only have faith!”
37 And he allowed no one to accompany him, except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother.
38 Presently they reached the President’s house, where Jesus saw a scene of confusion—people weeping and wailing incessantly.
40 They began laughing at him; but he sent them all out, and then took the child’s father and mother, and his companions, and went in where she was lying.
41 Taking her hand, Jesus said to her: “Taleitha, koum!”—the
meaning of which is ‘Little girl, I am speaking to you,
get up.’
42 The little girl stood up immediately, and began walking about; for she was twelve years old. Directly they saw it, they were utterly astounded;
43 but Jesus repeatedly cautioned them not to let anyone hear of it, and told them to give her something to eat.
6:1 ¶ On leaving that place, Jesus, followed by his disciples, went to his own part of the country.
6:2 ¶ When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the Synagogue; and the people, as they listened, were greatly impressed. “Where did he get all this?” they said, “and what is the meaning of this wisdom that has been given him? and of miracles like these which he is doing?
3 Is not he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters, too, living here among us?” This proved a hindrance to their believing in him;
4 on which Jesus
said: “A Prophet is not without honour,
except in his own country, and among his own relations, and in his own home.”
5 And he could not work any miracle there, except that he placed his hands upon a few invalids, and cured them,
6a wondering at the want of faith shown by the people.
6:6b ¶ Jesus went round the villages, one after another, teaching.
7 Then he called the Twelve to him, and began to send them out two and two, giving them authority over wicked spirits.
8 He directed them to take nothing but a stick for the journey—not even a bit of bread, or a bag, or pence in their pocket;
9 but they were to wear sandals, and not to take a change of clothes to put on.
10 “Whenever you go to stay at a house,” he said, “remain there till you leave that place;
11 and if a place does not welcome you, or listen to you, as you
go out of it shake off the dust that is on the soles of your feet, as a warning
to them.”
12 So they set out, and proclaimed the need of repentance.
13 They drove out many evil spirits, and anointed many invalids with oil, and cured them.
15 Others again said that he was Elijah, and others that he was a Prophet, like one of the great Prophets.
16 But when Herod heard of him, he said: “The man whom I myself beheaded—John—he must be risen from the grave!”
18 For John had told Herod that he had no right to be living with his brother’s wife.
19 So Herodias owed him a grudge, and wanted to put him to death, but was unable to do so,
20 for Herod stood in fear of John, knowing him to be a good, holy man, and protected him. After listening to John, he still remained much perplexed, but yet he found pleasure in listening to him.
21 However a
convenient day came, when Herod, to keep his birthday, gave a dinner to his
high officials, generals, and the foremost men in
22 And when his daughter—that is the daughter of Herodias—came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those who were dining with him. ‘Ask me for whatever you like,’ the King said to the girl, ‘and I will give it to you’;
23 and he swore to her that whatever she asked him for he would give her—up to half his kingdom.
24 The girl went out, and said to her mother ‘What must I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the Baptizer,’ answered her mother.
25 So she went in as quickly as possible to the King, and made her request. ‘I want you,’ she said, ‘to give me directly, on a dish, the head of John the Baptist.’
26 The King felt very sorry; yet, on account of his oaths and of the guests at his table, he did not like to refuse her.
27 So he immediately despatched one of his bodyguard, with orders to bring John’s head. The man went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 and bringing his head on a dish, gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
29 When John’s disciples heard of it, they came and took his body away, and laid it in a tomb.
31 “Come without attracting attention to some lonely spot yourselves,” he said, “and rest a little while”—for there were so many people coming and going that they had no time even to eat.
32 So they set off in their boat for a lonely spot, endeavouring not to attract attention.
33 But many people saw them going and recognised them, and left all the towns and flocked together by land, and got there before them.
34 On getting out of the boat, Jesus saw a great crowd, and his heart was touched at the sight of them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them a great many things.
35 As it was already late, his disciples came up to him, and said: “This is a lonely spot, and it is already late.
36 Send the people away, so that they may go to the farms and villages round and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 “It is for you to give them something to eat,” replied Jesus. “Are we to go and buy twenty pounds worth of bread,” they asked, “to give them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves have you?” he asked; “go, and see.” When they had found out, they told him that they had five, and two fishes.
39 Jesus gave them instructions that the people should all take their seats on the green grass, in parties.
40 So they sat down in groups—in hundreds, and in fifties.
41 Next, taking the five loaves and the two fishes, Jesus looked up to Heaven, and blessed God. After this he broke the loaves into pieces, and proceeded to give them to his disciples for them to set before the people, dividing the two fishes as well among them all.
42 Every one had plenty to eat,
43 and enough pieces were taken away to fill twelve baskets, and some of the fish besides.
44 There were five thousand men who ate the bread.
46 After he had taken leave of them, he went on to the hill to pray.
47 When evening fell, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and Jesus on shore quite alone.
48 Seeing them labouring at the oars—for the wind was against them—about three hours after midnight Jesus came towards them, walking on the water, with the intention of joining them.
49 But when they saw him walking on the water, they thought it was a ghost and cried out,
50 for all of them
saw him, and were terrified. But Jesus at once spoke to them. “Courage!” he said, “it is I;
do not be afraid!”
51 Then he got up into the boat with them, and the wind dropped. The disciples were intensely astonished,
52 for they had not understood about the loaves, as their minds were slow to learn.
54 They had no sooner left her than the people, recognizing Jesus,
55 hurried all over the country-side, and began to carry about upon mats those who were ill, wherever they heard he was.
56 So wherever he came—to villages, or towns, or farms—they would lay their sick in the market-places, and would beg him just to let them touch but the tassel of his cloak; and all who did so were made well.
7:1 ¶ One day the Pharisees and some of the Rabbis who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus.
2 They had noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with their hands ‘defiled,’ by which they meant unwashed.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all Jews, will not eat without first washing their hands up to the elbow, keeping to the traditions of their ancestors.
5 So the Pharisees and Rabbis asked Jesus this question—“How is it that your disciples do not follow the traditions of our ancestors, but eat their food with defiled hands?”
6 His answer was: “It was well said by Isaiah when he prophesied about you
hypocrites, in the words— | ‘This is a people that honours
me with their lips, | While their hearts are far removed from me;
7 | But vainly do they worship me, | For their teaching is only
the commands of men.’
8 For you neglect God’s commandments and cling to the traditions of men.
9 You think it right, do you?,” he exclaimed, “to set aside God’s commandments, in order to keep your own
traditions!
10 For while Moses said ‘Honour thy
father and thy mother,’ and ‘Let him who reviles his father or mother suffer
death,’
11 you say ‘If a man says to his father or mother “Whatever of mine would have been of service to you is Korban” ’ (which means ‘Given to God’)—
12 then you do not let him to do anything further for his father
or mother.
13 In this way you cancel the words of God by your traditions, which you have passed on in your turn; and you do many other things like that.”
15 There is nothing
external to a man, which can defile him by entering him; but the things that
come out from a man are the things that defile him.”
17 When Jesus went indoors, away from the crowd, his disciples began questioning him about this saying.
18 “Have even you so little comprehension as this?” Jesus
exclaimed. “Do you not see that anything external
cannot, by entering a man, defile him,
19 because it does not pass into his heart, but into his stomach, and is afterwards got rid of?”—by which words Jesus pronounced all food equally ‘pure.’
20 “It is what comes out from a man,” he added, “that defiles him,
21 for it is from inside, out of the hearts of men, that all
suggestions of evil come, whether unchastity, theft,
murder, adultery,
22 greed, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander,
haughtiness, or folly;
23 all these wicked things come from inside, and defile a man.”
25 For a woman, whose little daughter had a wicked spirit in her, heard of him immediately, and came and threw herself at his feet—
26 she was a heathen woman, a native of Syrian Phoenicia—and she begged him to drive the evil spirit out of her daughter.
27 “Let the children have enough first,” Jesus answered. “It is not fair to take the children’s food, and throw it to
dogs.”
28 “Yes, Master,” she replied; “even dogs under the table feed on the children’s scraps.”
29 “Since you have said that,” he answered, “you may go. The evil spirit has gone out of your daughter.”
30 The woman went home, and found the child lying on her bed, and the evil spirit gone.
32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and stammered, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd so as not to attract attention, put his fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with saliva.
34 Then, looking up to Heaven, he sighed, and said to the man: “Ephphatha!” which means ‘Open.’
35 The man’s ears were opened, the string of his tongue was freed, and he began talking plainly.
36 Jesus insisted upon their not telling any one; but the more he insisted, the more perseveringly they made it known,
37 and a profound impression was made upon the people. “How well he has done everything!” they said. “He makes even the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”
8:1 ¶ About that time, when there was again a great crowd of people who had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said:
2 “My heart is touched at the sight of all these people, for
they have already been with me three days and they have nothing to eat;
3 and if I send them away to their homes hungry, they will
faint on the road; and some of them are from a long distance.”
4 “Where will it be possible,” rejoined his disciples, “for one to get enough bread for the people to have plenty—here at a lonely place like this?”
5 “How many loaves have you?” he asked. “Seven,” they answered.
6 Jesus then told the crowd to sit down upon the ground. Taking the seven loaves, and giving thanks, he broke them up, and proceeded to give them to his disciples to serve out; and they served them out to the crowd.
7 They had also a few small fish; and after he had blessed them, he told the disciples to serve out these as well.
8 They had plenty to eat—there were about four thousand of them—and seven baskets full of spare broken pieces were taken away.
9 Then Jesus dismissed them.
10 Immediately afterwards, getting into the boat with his disciples, Jesus went to the district of Dalmanutha.
12 At this Jesus
sighed deeply. “Why does the present generation,”
he said, “ask for a sign? Believe me, no sign will be
given it.”
13 So he left them to themselves, and getting into the boat again, went away to the opposite shore.
15 And Jesus gave
them this warning: “Take care to be on the watch
against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
16 They began discussing with one another their being short of bread.
17 Noticing this,
Jesus said to them: “Why are you discussing your being
short of bread? Do not you yet understand or see? Are your minds so slow of
comprehension?
18 Though you have eyes, do you not see? and though you have
ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember,
19 when I broke up the five loaves for the five thousand men, how many baskets filled with broken pieces you took away?” “Twelve,” they said.
20 “And when the seven for the four thousand people, how many baskets did you fill with the broken pieces you took away?” “Seven,” they said.
21 “Do you not see now?” he repeated.
24 The man looked up, and said: “I can make out the people, for, as they walk about, they look to me like trees.”
25 Then Jesus again placed his hands on the man’s eyes; and the man looked hard, and his sight was restored, and he made out everything distinctly.
26 Jesus sent him home, telling him not even to go into the village.
28 “John the Baptist,” they answered, “but others say Elijah, while others say ‘one of the Prophets.’ ”
29 “But you,” he asked, “who do you say I am?” And to this Peter replied:
“You are the
30 At this Jesus impressed on them not to say this about him to anyone.
8:31 ¶ Then he began to explain to them that the Son of Man had much to undergo, and that he must be rejected by the Councillors, Chief Priests, and Rabbis, and be put to death, and rise up again after two days had passed.
32 This statement he made unfalteringly. But Peter drew Jesus to him, and began to remonstrate with him.
33 Turning round, and
seeing his disciples, Jesus remonstrated with Peter. “Out
of my way, Satan!” he exclaimed; “for you look at things not in God’s way but in man’s.”
35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and
whoever, for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, will lose his life will
save it.
36 What good is it to a man to gain the whole world and forfeit
his life?
37 Indeed what could a man give that is of equal value to his
life?
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my teaching, in this
unfaithful and wicked generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when
he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
9:1 Believe me” he added, “some of those who
are standing here will certainly not die, till they have seen the
9:2 ¶ Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them by themselves up a high mountain apart from the rest. Here his appearance underwent a change before their eyes,
3 while his clothes became of a more dazzling white than any bleaching in the world could produce.
4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them; and they were talking with Jesus.
5 “Rabbi,” said Peter, interposing, “it is good to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
6 For he did not know what to say, since they had become greatly alarmed.
7 Then a cloud came down and enveloped them; and from the cloud there came a voice: “This is my Son, my beloved. It is to him you must listen.”
8 And suddenly, on looking round, they saw that there was now no one with them but Jesus alone.
9 As they were going down the mountain side, Jesus cautioned them not to relate what they had seen to a single person, till after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
10 They clung to these words and discussed with one another what this ‘rising from the dead’ meant.
11 “How is it,” they asked Jesus, “that the Rabbis say that Elijah has to come first?”
12 “Elijah indeed does come first,” Jesus answered, “and restore
everything; and does not Scripture speak, with regard to the Son of Man, of his
undergoing much suffering and being utterly despised?
13 Why, not only has Elijah come, I tell you, but people have
treated him just as they pleased, as Scripture says about him.”
15 But directly when they saw Jesus, the people, in great astonishment, all ran up and greeted him.
16 “What are you discussing with them?” Jesus asked.
17 “Teacher,” one of the people in the crowd answered, “I brought my son to see you, as he has a dumb spirit in him;
18 and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, and he is pining away. So I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they failed.”
19 “Faithless generation!” Jesus
exclaimed. “How long must I be with you? how
long must I have patience with you? Bring the boy to me.”
20 So they brought him to Jesus; but when the boy saw him, the spirit at once threw him into a fit; and he fell on the ground, and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. “From his childhood,” he answered;
22 “and it has often thrown him into fire and into water to put an end to his life; but if you can possibly do anything, for pity’s sake help us!”
23 “Why say ‘possibly’?” Jesus
replied. “Everything is possible for one who has
faith.”
24 The boy’s father immediately cried out: “I have faith; help my want of faith!”
25 But when Jesus saw
that a crowd was quickly collecting, he rebuked the wicked spirit: “Deaf and dumb spirit, it is I who command you. Come out from
him and never enter him again.”
26 With a loud cry the spirit threw the boy into fit after fit, and then came out from him. The boy looked like a corpse, so that most of them said that he was dead.
27 But Jesus took his hand, and lifted him; and he stood up.
29 “A spirit of this kind,” he
said, “can only be made to come out by prayer.”
31 for he was explaining to his disciples that the Son of Man was to be betrayed into the hands of his fellow-men, and that they would put him to death, but that, when he had been put to death, he would rise up again after two days.
32 But the disciples did not understand his meaning, and were afraid to question him.
34 But they were silent; for on the way they had been debating with one another which was the greatest.
35 Sitting down,
Jesus called the Twelve and said: “If any one wishes to
be first, he must be the last of all, and be servant of all.”
36 Then Jesus took a little child, and placed it in the middle of them. Folding it in his arms, he said to them:
37 “Any one who, for my sake, welcomes even a little child like
this is welcoming me, and any one who welcomes me is welcoming not me, but him
who made me his Messenger.”
39 “Do not any of you try to stop the man,” Jesus answered, “for there
is no one who will use my name in working a miracle, and yet find it possible
to speak ill of me easily.
40 The man who is not against us is for us.
41 Indeed, if any one gives you a cup of water because you
belong to Christ, believe me, he will certainly get
his recompense.
42 And if any one proves a hindrance to one of these lowly ones
who are learning to believe, it would have been far better for him if he had
been thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck.
45 If your foot proves a hindrance to you, cut it off. It would
be better for you to enter the Life crippled, than to keep both your feet and
be thrown into the Pit.
47 If your eye proves hindrance to you, tear it out. It would
be better for you to enter the
48 where ‘their worm does
not die and the fire is not put out.’
49 For it is by fire that every one will be preserved, just as
salt preserves.
50 Salt is a good thing, but should salt lose its saltness, what will you use to give it strength? You must
have salt in yourselves, and live at peace with one another.”
10:1 ¶ On leaving that place, Jesus went into the district of Judaea on the other side of the
2 Presently some Pharisees came up and asked, by way of testing him, whether a man had a right to divorce his wife.
3 “What direction did Moses give you?” Jesus asked in reply.
4 “Moses,” they said, “permitted us to ‘draw up in writing a notice of separation, and divorce her.’ ”
5 “Moses, owing to your perversity,” Jesus said, “gave you this
direction;
6 but at the beginning of the Creation God ‘made them male and
female.’
7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother,
8 and the man and his wife shall become one’; and hence they
are no longer two but one.
9 What God himself, then, has yoked together, men must not separate.”
10 When they were indoors, the disciples asked him again about this,
11 and he said: “Any one who divorces his wife and marries another woman
becomes an adulterer as regards his first wife;
12 and if the woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she becomes an adulteress.”
14 This vexed Jesus
when he saw it. “Let the children come to me,” he said, “do not hinder
them; for the
15 Believe me, unless a man receives
the
16 So he folded the children in his arms, and placing his hands on them, gave them his blessing.
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus
answered. “There is no one good but one—God
himself.
19 You know the commandments—Do not kill. Do not commit
adultery. Do not steal. Do not say what is false about others. Do not cheat. Honour thy father and thy mother.”
20 “Teacher,” he replied, “I have observed all these from my childhood.”
21 Jesus looked at
him, and his love went out to him. “There is one
thing,” he said, “still wanting in you; go and sell all that you have, and give to the
poor; and you shall have wealth in Heaven; then come and follow me.”
22 But the man’s face clouded at these words, and he went away sad, for he had large possessions.
24 The
disciples were amazed at these words of his. But Jesus repeated the statement. “My children,” he said, “how hard a thing it is to enter the
25 It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter the
26 “Then who can be saved?” they exclaimed in the greatest astonishment.
27 Jesus looked at them, and answered: “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for everything is possible with God.”
29 “Believe me,” said Jesus, “there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or
sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or land, on account of me and on
account of the Good News,
30 but will receive a hundred times as much, even now in the
present—houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and land—though
not without persecutions, and, in the age that is coming, enduring Life.
31 But many who are first now will then be last, and the last
will be first.”
33 “Listen!” he said. “We are going up to
34 who will mock him,
spit upon him, flog him, and put him to death; and after two days have passed
he will rise up again.”
36 “What is it you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 “Grant us this,” they replied, “that we may sit, one on your right, and the other on your left, when you come in glory.”
38 “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup that I am to drink? or receive the baptism that I am to receive?”
39 “Yes,” they answered, “we can.” “You shall indeed drink the cup that I am to drink,” Jesus said, “and receive the
baptism that I am to receive,
40 but as to a seat at my right or at my left—that is not mine
to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been reserved.”
41 On hearing of this, the other ten were at first much annoyed about James and John.
42 But Jesus called
the ten to him, and said: “Those who are regarded as
rulers of the heathen, as you know, lord it over them, and their great men are
their masters.
43 But among you it must not be so. On the contrary, whoever
wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever wishes to take a first place among you must be
at the call of everyone;
45 for even the Son of Man came not be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
47 Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to call out: “Jesus, son of David, take pity on me.”
48 Many of the people repeatedly told him to be quiet; but the man kept calling out all the louder: “Son of David, take pity on me.”
49 Then Jesus stopped. “Call him,” he said. So they called the blind man. “Courage!” they exclaimed. “Get up; he is calling you.”
50 The man threw off his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus said, addressing him. “Great Rabbi,” the blind man answered, “I want to recover my sight.”
52 “You may go,” Jesus said; “your own faith has cured you.” And immediately he recovered his sight, and began to follow Jesus along the road.
11:1 ¶ When they were nearly reaching
2 “Go to the village facing you,” he said; “and as soon as you
get into it, you will find a foal tied up there, on which no one has ever
ridden; unfasten it, and bring it.
3 And if anybody says to you ‘Why are you doing that?’, say
‘The Master requires it’; and he is sure to send it back here at once.”
4 They set off, and they found a foal tied up outside a door in the street; and they untied it.
5 Some of the by-standers asked what they were doing, untying the foal,
6 but the two disciples answered as Jesus had told them; and so they allowed them to go.
7 Then they brought the foal to Jesus, and when they had laid their cloaks upon it, he seated himself on it.
8 Many of the people spread their cloaks on the road, while others strewed boughs which they had cut from the fields;
10 | Blessed is the coming
11 Jesus then entered
13 and noticing a fig tree at a distance in leaf, he went to it to see if by any chance he could find something on it; but, on coming up to it, he found nothing on it but leaves, for it was not the time for figs.
14 So, addressing the tree, he exclaimed: “May no one ever again eat fruit off you!” And his disciples heard what he said.
16 and would not allow any one to carry anything across the Temple Courts.
17 Then he began to
teach. “Does not Scripture say,” he asked, “ ‘My House shall
be called a House of Prayer for all the nations’? You, however, have made it a
den of robbers.”
18 Now the Chief Priests and Rabbis heard this, and were eager to find a means of making away with Jesus; for they were afraid of him, since all the people were greatly struck with his teaching.
19 As soon as evening fell, Jesus and his disciples used to go out of the city.
21 Then Peter recollected what had occurred. “Look, Rabbi,” he exclaimed, “the fig tree which you doomed is withered up!”
22 “Have faith in God!” Jesus
replied.
23 “Believe me,
if any one should say to this hill ‘Up, and hurl yourself into the sea!’,
without a single doubt in his mind, but in the faith that what he says will be
done, it will.
24 And therefore I say to you ‘Have faith that whatever you ask
for in prayer is already granted you, and it will be yours.’
25 And whenever you stand up to pray, forgive any grievance
that you have against any one, that so your Father in Heaven also may forgive
you your offenses.”
28 “What right have you to act as you do?” they said. “Who gave you the right to act in this way?”
29 “I will put one question to you,” Jesus said. “Answer me that,
and then I will tell you what right I have to act as I do.
30 It is about John’s baptism. Was it of divine or of human
origin? Answer me that.”
31 They began arguing together: “If we say ‘divine,’ he will say, ‘Why then did not you believe him?’
32 Yet can we say ‘human’?”—They were afraid, however, of the people, for every one regarded John as undoubtedly a Prophet.
33 So their answer to
Jesus was: “We do not know.” “I too,” replied Jesus, “refuse to
tell you what right I have to act as I do.”
12:1 ¶ Presently
Jesus began to speak to them in stories: “A man once
planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a wine-press, built a tower, and
then let it out to tenants and went abroad.
2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants, to
receive from them a share of the produce of the vintage;
3 but they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away
empty-handed.
4 A second time the owner sent a servant to them; this man as
well they struck about the head, and ill-used.
5 He sent another, but him they killed; and so with many
besides, beating some, and killing others.
6 He had still one left to send—a son whom he dearly loved,
and him he sent to them last of all. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
7 But those tenants said to one another ‘Here is the heir!
Come and let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
8 So they seized him, and killed him, and threw his body
outside the vineyard.
9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put
the tenants to death, and let others have the vineyard.
10 Have you never read this passage of Scripture?— | ‘The very stone which the builders despised
| Has now itself become the corner-stone;
11 | This stone has come from the Lord, | And is marvellous in our eyes.’ ”
14 So they came to him and said: “Teacher, we know that you are an honest man, and are not afraid of anybody, indeed you pay no regard to a man’s position, but honestly teach the Way of God; are we right in paying taxes to the Emperor, or not?
15 Should we pay, or
not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said to them: “Why
are you putting this test to me? Bring me a florin to look at.”
16 “Whose head and title are these?” he asked, when they had brought it. “The Emperor’s,” they said;
17 to which Jesus replied: “What belongs to the Emperor pay to the Emperor, and to God what belongs to God.” They were greatly surprised at him.
19 “Teacher, Moses laid down for us in his writings that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow, but leaving no child, he, as his brother, should marry the widow, and raise up a family for his brother.
20 There were once seven brothers; of whom the eldest took a wife, but died and left no family;
21 and the second took her, and died without family; and so did the third.
22 All the seven died and left no family. The woman herself died after them all.
23 After the resurrection whose wife will she be, all seven brothers having married her?”
24 “Is not the reason of your mistake,” Jesus answered, “your
ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God?
25 When people rise from the dead, there is no marrying or
being married; but in Heaven they live like angels.
26 As to the dead, and the fact that they rise from the grave,
have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how
God spoke to him thus—‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob’?
27 God is not God of dead, but of living, people. You are
greatly mistaken.”
29 “The first one,” Jesus
answered, “is ‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God
is the one Lord;
30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength.’
31 The second is this—‘Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as if he were thyself.’ No greater
commandment than these is to be found.”
32 “Well answered, Teacher!” the Rabbi exclaimed. “It is true, as you say, that ‘there is one God,’ and that ‘there is no other beside him’;
33 and to ‘love him with all one’s heart, and with all one’s understanding, and with all one’s strength’ and to ‘love one’s neighbour as if he were one’s self’ is far beyond all ‘burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ ”
34 Seeing that he had
answered wisely, Jesus said to him: “You are not far
from the
36 David said himself, speaking under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit— | ‘The Lord said to my master: “Sit at my right hand, | Until I put thy enemies beneath thy feet.” ’
37a David himself calls him ‘master,’ so how comes it that he is
his son?”
12:37b ¶ Meanwhile, the great mass of the people were listening to Jesus with delight.
38 In the course of
his teaching, Jesus also said: “Beware of the Rabbis,
who are fond of walking about in long robes, and being greeted in the streets
with respect,
39 and having the best seats in the Synagogues, and places of honour at dinners.
40 They are the men that eat widows out of house and home under
the pretext of saying long prayers. These men will receive the heavier
sentence.”
42 but one poor widow came, and put in two farthings, which make a halfpenny.
43 On this, calling
his disciples to him, Jesus said: “Believe me, this
poor widow has put in more than all the others who were putting money into the
chests;
44 for every one else put in something from what they had to
spare, while she, in her poverty, put in all she possessed—the whole of what
she had to live on.”
13:1 ¶ As Jesus was walking out of the Temple Courts, one of his disciples said to him: “Teacher, look what fine stones and buildings these are!”
2 “You see these great buildings?” Jesus asked. “Not a single stone will be left here upon another, but every one will be thrown down.”
13:3 ¶ When Jesus had
sat down on the
4 to tell them when this would be, and what would be the sign when all this was near its completion.
5 Then Jesus began: “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
6 Many will come taking my name, and saying ‘I am He’; and
will lead many astray.
7 And when you hear of wars and rumours
of wars, do not be alarmed; such things must occur; still the end is not yet
here.
8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
This will be the beginning of the birth-pangs.
9 But look to yourselves; for they will give you up to courts
of law; and you will be taken to Synagogues and beaten; and you will be brought
up for my sake before governors and kings, that you may witness for me to them.
10 But the Good News must first be proclaimed to every nation.
11 Whenever they give you up for trial, do not be anxious
beforehand about what you will say, but say whatever is given you at the
moment; for it is not you who will be speaking, but the holy Spirit.
12 Brother, too, will give brother up to death, and a father
his child; and children will turn against their parents, and have them put to
death;
13 and you will be hated by every one on my account. But the
man that endures to the end will be saved.
14 As soon, however, as you see the desecrating Horror set up
where it should not be” (the reader will see
what is meant) “then those of you who are in
15 and a man on the house-top must not go down, or go in to get
anything out of his house;
16 nor must one who is on his farm turn back to get his cloak.
17 And alas for women that are with child, and for those that
are nursing infants in those days!
18 Pray, too, that it may not occur in winter-time.
19 For those days will be a time of distress, the like of which
has not occurred from the beginning of God’s creation down to the present
time—and never will again.
20 And had not the Lord put a limit to those days, there would
have been no escape for a single person; but for the sake of God’s own chosen
People, he did limit them.
21 At that time if any one says to you ‘Look, here is the
22 for pretended
23 As for yourselves, take care; I have
told you all beforehand.
24 In those days, after that time of distress, the sun will be
darkened, the moon will not give her light,
25 and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the forces
that are in the skies will be convulsed.
26 Then will be seen the Son of Man coming in clouds with great
power and glory;
27 and then he will send the angels, and gather his chosen ones
from the four winds, from one end of the world to the other.
29 and so may you, as soon as you see these things happening,
feel sure that he is at your very doors.
30 Believe me, even the present generation will not pass away
until all this has taken place.
31 Earth and sky will pass away, but my words will not pass
away.
32 But about that day or the hour no one knows—not even the
angels in Heaven, nor yet the Son—but only the Father.
33 Take care and be on the alert; for you do not know when the
time will be.
34 It is like a man going on a journey, who leaves his home,
puts his servants in charge—each having his special duty—and orders the porter
to be on the watch.
35 So be on the watch, for you do not know when the Master of
the house is coming—whether in the evening, at
36 for fear he should come suddenly and find you asleep.
37 And what I say to you I say to all—Be on the watch.”
14:1 ¶ It was now two days before the Festival of the Passover and of Unleavened Bread. The Chief Priests and Rabbis were eager to find a way of arresting Jesus by a stratagem, and putting him to death;
2 for they said that they had better not do so during the Festival, for fear of a riot.
14:3 ¶ When Jesus was
still at
4 Some of those who were present said to one another indignantly: “Why has the perfume been wasted like this?
5 It could have been sold for more than thirty pounds, and the money given to the poor.”
6 “Let her alone,” Jesus said,
as they began finding fault with her, “why are
you interfering with her? This is a beautiful thing that she has done for me.
7 You always have the poor with you, and whenever you like you
can do good to them; but you will not always have me.
8 She has done what she could; she has, in anticipation,
perfumed my body for my burial.
9 And believe me, wherever, in the whole world, the Good News
is proclaimed, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her.”
11 On hearing what he had to say they were glad, and promised to pay him for it. So he began to watch for a way of opportunely betraying Jesus.
13 In reply, Jesus
sent on two of his disciples with these directions: “Go
into the city, and there a man carrying a jug of water will meet you; follow
him;
14 and wherever he goes in, say to the owner of the house, ‘The
Teacher says—Where is the room for me to eat the
Passover in with my disciples?’
15 He will himself show you a large upstairs room ready
prepared; and that is where you are to prepare everything for us.”
16 So the disciples set out, went into the city, and found everything just as Jesus told them; and they got the Passover ready.
18 and when they had
taken their places and were eating, he said solemnly: “It
is one of you who will betray me—one who is eating
with me.”
19 At this they grew sad, and began to ask him, one after another: “It is not I, is it?”
20 “It is one of you Twelve,” Jesus said, “the one beside
me who is dipping his bread into the dish.
21 True, the Son of Man is to go, as Scripture says of him, yet
alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is being betrayed! For that man it
would have been better never to have been born!”
23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my Covenant-blood,” he
said, “which is poured out on behalf of many.
25 Believe me, I shall never again
drink of the juice of the grape, until that day when I shall drink it new in
the
28 But, after I have risen from the grave, I will go before you
into
29 “Even if everyone else falls away,” Peter said, “yet I will not.”
30 “Believe me,” answered Jesus, “you yourself
to-day—yes, this very night—before the cock crows twice, will disown me three
times.”
31 But Peter kept protesting again and again: “Even if I am to die with you, I will never disown you!” They all said the same.
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and began to show signs of great dismay and deep distress of mind.
34 “I am sad at heart,” he
said, “sad even to death; stay here, and watch.”
35 Going on a little further, he threw himself on the ground, and began to pray that, if possible, he might escape his time of trial.
36 “Abba (Father),” he said, “all things are possible to thee; take away this cup from me;
yet, not what I wish, but what thou wishest.”
37
Then he came and found the three Apostles asleep. “Simon,”
he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Had you not
strength to watch for a single hour?
38 Watch and pray,” he said to them all, “so that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit
is eager, but human nature is weak.”
39 Again Jesus went away, and prayed in the same words;
40 and on his return he found them asleep, for their eyes were very weary; and they did not know what to say to him.
41 A third time he
came, and said to them: “Sleep on now, and rest
yourselves. It is over! My time has come. Listen! the
Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of wicked men.
42 Get up, and let us be going. Look! my betrayer is close by.”
44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. “The man that I kiss,” he had said, “will be the one; take him prisoner, and remove him in safe custody.”
45 So as soon as Judas came, he went up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he said, and kissed him.
46 Then the men seized Jesus, and took him prisoner.
47 But one of those who were standing round, drawing his sword, struck a blow at the High Priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.
48 However Jesus
interposed, and said to the men: “Have you come out
with swords and staffs to arrest me as if I were a robber?
49 I have been among you day after day in the Temple Courts
teaching, and yet you did not take me prisoner; but this is in fulfilment of the Scriptures.”
50 At this his friends forsook Jesus, and all took to flight.
51 A young man did indeed follow him, wrapped in a linen sheet. They tried to take him prisoner;
52 but the young man left the sheet in their hands, and ran away without it.
54 Peter, who had followed Jesus at a distance right into the court-yard of the High Priest, was sitting there among the constables, warming himself at the blaze of the fire.
55 Meanwhile the Chief Priests and the whole of the High Council were trying to get evidence against Jesus to warrant his being put to death, but they could not do so;
56 for though there were many who gave false evidence against him, yet their evidence did not agree.
57 Presently some men stood up, and gave this false evidence against him—
58
“We ourselves heard him say, ‘I will myself destroy this
59 Yet not even on that point did their evidence agree.
60 Then the High Priest stood forward, and questioned Jesus. “Have you no answer to make?” he asked. “What have you to say to the evidence which these men are giving against you?”
61 But Jesus remained
silent, and made no answer. A second time the High Priest proceeded to question
him. “Are you,” he asked, “the
62 “I am,” Jesus answered, “and you will all see the Son of Man sitting on the right
hand of the Almighty; and coming in the clouds of the sky.”
63 At this the High Priest tore his vestments. “Why do we want any more witnesses?” he asked.
64 “Did you hear his blasphemy? What is your verdict?” They all voted that he deserved death.
65 Some of those present began to spit at him, and to blind-fold his eyes, and strike him on the head, saying as they did so: “Now play the Prophet!”—even the constables receiving him with blows.
14:66 ¶ While Peter was in the court-yard down below, one of the High Priest’s maidservants came up;
67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “Why, you,” she said, “were with Jesus of Nazareth!”
68 But Peter denied it. “I do not know or understand what you mean,” he replied. Then he went out into the porch;
69 and there the maidservant, on seeing him, again began to say to those standing round: “This is one of them!”
70 But Peter again denied it. Soon afterwards the bystanders again said to him: “There can be no doubt that you are one of them, why, you are a Galilean.”
71 But he began to swear with the most solemn imprecations: “I do not know the man you are speaking about.”
72 Just then, for the second time, a cock crowed, and Peter recollected the words that Jesus had said to him—‘Before a cock has crowed twice, you will disown me three times’; and as he thought of it, his tears began to fall.
15:1 ¶ As soon as it was daylight, the Chief Priests, after holding a consultation with the Councillors and Rabbis—that is to say, the whole High Council—put Jesus in chains, and took him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked him. “It is as you say,” replied Jesus.
3 Then the Chief Priests made a number of charges against him;
4 upon which Pilate questioned Jesus again. “Have you no reply to make?” he asked. “Listen how many charges they are making against you.”
5 Jesus, however, still made no reply at all; at which Pilate was astonished.
6 Now at the Festival, Pilate used to grant the people the release of any one prisoner they might ask for.
7 A man known as Barabbas was in custody, with the rioters who had committed murder during a riot.
8 So when the crowd went up, and began to ask Pilate to follow his usual custom,
9 he answered: “Do you want me to release the ‘King of the Jews’ for you?”
10 For he could see that it was out of jealousy that the Chief Priests had handed Jesus over to him.
11 But the Chief Priests incited the crowd to get Barabbas released instead.
12 Pilate, however, spoke to them again: “What shall I do then with the man you call the ‘King of the Jews’?”
13 Their cry now was: “Crucify him!”
15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after having had Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified.
17 They dressed Jesus in purple, and having twisted a crown of thorns, put it on him,
18 and then began to salute him. “Long life to you, King of the Jews!” they said.
19 Then they kept striking him on the head with a cane, spitting at him, and bowing low to him—going down on their knees;
20a and when they had finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe, and put his own clothes on him.
15:20b ¶ Then they led Jesus out to crucify him;
21 and they compelled
a passer-by—Simeon from
22 They brought Jesus
to
23 There they wanted to give him drugged wine; but Jesus refused it.
24 Then they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots for them to settle what each should take.
25 It was
26 The words of the
charge against him, written up over his head, ran thus—‘THE
27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on the right, and the other on the left.
29 The passers-by,
meanwhile, kept jeering at him, shaking their heads, as they said: “Ah! you who ‘destroy the
30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”
31 Even the Chief Priests, too, kept saying in mockery to each other, while the Rabbis joined in: “He has saved others, but cannot save himself!
32 Let the
34 And, at three, Jesus called out loudly: “Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabacthani?” which
means ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?’
35 Some of those standing round heard this, and said: “Listen! He is calling for Elijah!”
36 Then a man ran, soaked a sponge in common wine, put it on the end of a cane, and offered it to him to drink, saying as he did so: “Wait and let us see if Elijah is coming to take him down.”
37 But Jesus, with a loud cry, expired.
38 The
39 The Roman Officer, who was standing facing Jesus, on seeing the way in which he expired, exclaimed: “This man must indeed have been a Son of God!”
40 There were some women also watching from a distance, among them being Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James the Little and of Joseph, and Salome—
41 all of whom used
to accompany Jesus when he was in
43 a much-respected Councillor, Joseph who belonged to Ramah, who was himself living in expectation of the Kingdom of God, ventured to go in to see Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
44 Pilate, however, was surprised to hear that he was already dead; so he sent for the Officer, and asked if it was really so.
45 On learning the fact from the Officer, he gave Joseph leave to take the corpse.
46 So Joseph, having bought a linen sheet, took Jesus down, wound him in the sheet, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of the rock; and then rolled a stone up against the entrance of the tomb.
16:1 ¶ When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought some spices in order to go and anoint the body of Jesus.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb, after sunrise.
3 They were saying to one another: “Who will roll the stone away for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But, on looking up, they saw that the stone, which was a very large one, had been already rolled back.
5 Going into the tomb, they saw, to their dismay, sitting on their right, a young man in a white robe.
6 But he said to them: “Do not be dismayed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who has been crucified; he has risen from the grave, he is not here! Look! Here is the place where they laid him.
7 Now go, and say to
his disciples and to Peter ‘He is going before you into
8 So they went out, and ran from the tomb, for they were trembling and bewildered; and they did not say a word to any one, in their awe; [But all that had been enjoined on them they reported briefly to Peter and his companions. Afterwards, Jesus himself sent out by them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of enduring Salvation.]
16:9 ¶ [After his rising again, early on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first of all to Mary of Magdala, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits.
10 She went and told the news to those who had been with him and were now in sorrow and tears;
11 yet even they, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe it.
12 Afterwards, altered in appearance, he made himself known to two of them, as they were walking, on their way into the country.
13 They also went and told the rest, but they did not believe even them.
14 Later on, he made himself known to the Eleven themselves as they were at a meal, and reproached them with their want of faith and their perversity, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.
15 Then he said to
them: “Go into all the world,
and proclaim the Good News to all creation.
16 Those who believe it, and are
baptized, will be saved; but those who reject it will be condemned.
17 Moreover these signs will attend those who believe it. By my
name they will drive out evil spirits; they will speak with ‘tongues’;
18 they will take up serpents in their hands; and if they drink
any poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick
people and they will recover.”
19 So then Jesus, the Master, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God.
20 But they set out, and made the proclamation everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Message by the signs which followed.]