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A Woman's Faith

(Matthew 15.21-28)

24 Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. 25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet. 26 The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”[a]

28 The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”

29 Jesus answered, “That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk

31 Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis.[b] 32 Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.

33 After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue. 34 Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!”[c] which means “Open up!” 35 At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.

36 Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

(Matthew 15.32-39)

One day another large crowd gathered around Jesus. They had not brought along anything to eat. So Jesus called his disciples together and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home.”

The disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”

Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread.”[d]

After Jesus told the crowd to sit down, he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He then broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples, who passed them out to the crowd. They also had a few little fish, and after Jesus had blessed these, he told the disciples to pass them around.

8-9 The crowd of about 4,000 people ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

As soon as Jesus had sent the people away, 10 he got into the boat with the disciples and crossed to the territory near Dalmanutha.[e]

Footnotes

  1. 7.27 feed it to dogs: Some Jewish people referred to Gentiles as dogs.
  2. 7.31 the ten cities known as Decapolis: See the note at 5.20.
  3. 7.34 Effatha: This word is in Aramaic, a language spoken in Palestine during the time of Jesus.
  4. 8.5 small loaves of bread: See the note at 6.38.
  5. 8.10 Dalmanutha: The place is unknown.

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