New Testament Plan

¹He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

²When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands?

³Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him.

⁴Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”

⁵He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief. He was going around the villages teaching.

⁷He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

⁸He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff — no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts,

⁹but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt.

¹⁰He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.

¹¹If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they went out and preached that people should repent.

¹³They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard about it, because Jesus’s name had become well known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵But others said, “He’s Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet, like one of the prophets from long ago.”

¹⁶When Herod heard of it, he said, “John, the one I beheaded, has been raised!”

¹⁷For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her.

¹⁸John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not,

²⁰because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹An opportune time came on his birthday, when Herod gave a banquet for his nobles, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.

²²When Herodias’s own daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.”

²³He promised her with an oath: “Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” “John the Baptist’s head,” she said.

²⁵At once she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter immediately.”

²⁶Although the king was deeply distressed, because of his oaths and the guests he did not want to refuse her.

²⁷The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John’s head. So he went and beheaded him in prison,

²⁸brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When John’s disciples heard about it, they came and removed his corpse and placed it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught.

³¹He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

³²So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,

³³but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

³⁴When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.

³⁶Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷“You give them something to eat,” he responded. They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²Everyone ate and was satisfied.

⁴³They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.

⁴⁴Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.

⁴⁹When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out,

⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

⁵¹Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded,

⁵²because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to shore at Gennesaret and anchored there.

⁵⁴As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized him.

⁵⁵They hurried throughout that region and began to carry the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶Wherever he went, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch just the end of his robe. And everyone who touched it was healed.

¹The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him.

²They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean  — that is, unwashed — hands.

³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders.

⁴When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches. )

⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?”

⁶He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁷ They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.

⁸Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.”

⁹He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition!

¹⁰For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

¹¹But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’” (that is, an offering devoted to God),

¹²“you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.

¹³You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”

¹⁴Summoning the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:

¹⁵Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

¹⁶

¹⁷When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him?

¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean ).

²⁰And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

²¹For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

²²adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

²³All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

²⁴He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice.

²⁵Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at his feet.

²⁶The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸But she replied to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹Again, leaving the region of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.

³²They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.

³³So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, he touched his tongue.

³⁴Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).

³⁵Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly.

³⁶He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.

³⁷They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

¹In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He called the disciples and said to them,

²“I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat.

³If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance.”

⁴His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?”

⁵“How many loaves do you have?” he asked them. “Seven,” they said.

⁶He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. So they served them to the crowd.

⁷They also had a few small fish, and after he had blessed them, he said these were to be served as well.

⁸They ate and were satisfied. Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces.

⁹About four thousand were there. He dismissed them.

¹⁰And he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

¹¹The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him.

¹²Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

¹³Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.

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

¹⁵Then he gave them strict orders: “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

¹⁶They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread.

¹⁷Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Do you have hardened hearts?

¹⁸Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? And do you not remember?

¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told him.

²⁰“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said.

²¹And he said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

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

²³He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

²⁴He looked up and said, “I see people — they look like trees walking.”

²⁵Again Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes. The man looked intently and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly.

²⁶Then he sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

²⁷Jesus went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

²⁸They answered him, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰And he strictly warned them to tell no one about him.

³¹Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days.

³²He spoke openly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”

³⁴Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.

³⁶For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?

³⁷What can anyone give in exchange for his life?

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