Holman Christian Standard Bible (295 page)

Mark

Rejection at Nazareth

6
He went away from there and came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him.
2
 When 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 given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands?
3
 Isn'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.

4
 Then Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”
5
 So He was not able to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
6
 And He was amazed at their unbelief. 

Commissioning the Twelve

Now He was going around the villages in a circuit, teaching. 
7
 He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over
•unclean
 spirits. 
8
 He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a walking stick: no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts.
9
 They were to wear sandals, but not put on an extra shirt. 
10
 Then He said to them,
“Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.
11
 If any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
 

12
 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 
13
 And they were driving out many demons, anointing many sick people with olive oil, and healing them. 

John the Baptist Beheaded

14
 King 
•Herod
 heard of this, because Jesus' name had become well known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that's why supernatural powers are at work in him.”
15
 But others said, “He's Elijah.” Still others said, “He's a prophet  — like one of the prophets.” 

16
 When Herod heard of it, he said, “John, the one I beheaded, has been raised! ” 
17
 For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 
18
 John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife! ” 
19
 So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not,
20
 because Herod was in awe of John and was protecting him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very disturbed, yet would hear him gladly. 

21
 Now an opportune time came on his birthday, when Herod gave a banquet for his nobles, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee. 
22
 When 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.”
23
 So he swore oaths to her: “Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” 

24
 Then she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for? ”

“John the Baptist's head! ” she said.

25
 Immediately she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist's head on a platter  — right now! ”

26
 Though the king was deeply distressed, because of his oaths and the guests he did not want to refuse her.
27
 The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John's head. So he went and beheaded him in prison,
28
 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.
29
 When his disciples heard about it, they came and removed his corpse and placed it in a tomb. 

Feeding 5,000

30
 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught.
31
 He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest a while.”
For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
32
 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,
33
 but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 
34
 So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things.

35
 When it was already late, His disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late!
36
 Send them away, so 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 200
•denarii
 worth of bread and give them something to eat? ”

38
 And He asked them,
“How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

39
 Then He instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40
 So they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties.
41
 Then He 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.
42
 Everyone ate and was filled. 
43
 Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.
44
 Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

Walking on the Water

45
 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.
46
 After He said good-bye to them, He went away to the mountain to pray. 
47
 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.
48
 He saw them being battered as they rowed, because the wind was against them. Around three in the morning He came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.
49
 When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out;
50
 for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said,
“Have courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.”
 
51
 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, 
52
 because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened. 

Miraculous Healings

53
 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat.
54
 As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.
55
 They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.
56
 Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the
•tassel
 of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.

Mark

The Traditions of the Elders

7
The 
•Pharisees
 and some of the
•scribes
 who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Him.
2
 They observed that some of His disciples were eating their bread with
•unclean
  — that is, unwashed — hands.
3
 (For the Pharisees, in fact all the Jews, will not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, keeping the tradition of the elders.
4
 When 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, jugs, copper utensils, and dining couches.)
5
 Then 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 ritually unclean hands? ”

6
 He answered them,
“Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
 

8
 Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men.”
 
9
 He also said to them,
“You completely invalidate God's command in order to maintain
 
your tradition!
10
 For Moses said:

11
 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is Corban' ”
(that is, a gift committed to the temple),
12
 “you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
13
 You revoke God's word by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”
14
 Summoning the crowd again, He told them,
“Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 
15
 Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. [
16
 If anyone has ears to hear, he should listen! ]”
 

17
 When He went into the house away from the crowd, the disciples asked Him about the parable.
18
 And He said to them,
“Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don't you realize that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him?
19
 For it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated.”
 (As a result, He made all foods
•clean
.)
20
 Then He said,
“What comes out of a person — that defiles him.
21
 For from within, out of people's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 
22
 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess,
 
blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 
23
 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

A Gentile Mother's Faith

24
 He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but He could not escape notice.
25
 Instead, immediately after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at His feet. 
26
 Now the woman was Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27
 He said to her,
“Allow the children to be satisfied first, because it isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
 

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

29
 Then He told her,
“Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30
 When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

Jesus Does Everything Well

31
 Again, leaving the region of Tyre, He went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the
•Decapolis
. 
32
 They brought to Him a deaf man who also had a speech difficulty, and begged Jesus to lay His hand on him.
33
 So He took him away from the crowd privately. After putting His fingers in the man's ears and spitting, He touched his tongue.
34
 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”
 (that is,
“Be opened! ”
).
35
 Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed, and he began to speak clearly. 
36
 Then He ordered them to tell no one, but the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim it.

37
 They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well! He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk! ”

Mark

Feeding 4,000

8
In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He summoned 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.
3
 If I send them home hungry,
 
they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance.”

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