Tradition and Commandment

15 ^(A)Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus ^(B)from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^(C)do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³ And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘^(D)Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^(E)He who speaks evil of father or mother is to ^[a]be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been ^[b]given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother^[c].’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

¹⁰ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ^11 (H)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ^[d]offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “^(I)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(J)they are blind guides ^[e]of the blind. And ^(K)if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵ Peter ^[f]said to Him, “^(L)Explain the parable to us.” ^16 [g]Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ^[h]eliminated? ¹⁸ But ^(M)the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ^19 (N)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ^[i]fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^21 (O)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^(P)Tyre and ^(Q)Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(R)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly ^(S)demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[j]at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(T)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(U)began ^[k]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ And He answered and said, “It is not ^[l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ But she said, “Yes, Lord; ^[m]but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(V)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ^[n]at once.

Healing Crowds

^29 (W)Departing from there, Jesus went along by ^(X)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[o]large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(Y)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ^[p]restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^(Z)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

^32 (AA)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^(AB)I feel compassion for the ^[q]people, because they ^[r]have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the ^[s]people to ^[t]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^(AC)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(AD)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(AE)the boat and came to the region of ^(AF)Magadan.

Pharisees Test Jesus

16 ^(A)The ^(B)Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they ^(C)asked Him to show them a ^[a]sign from heaven. ² But He replied to them, “^[b](D)When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ ^(E)Do you know how to discern the ^[c]appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? ^4 (F)An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a ^[d]sign; and a ^[e]sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵ And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and ^(G)beware of the ^[f]leaven of the ^(H)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “^(I)You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand or remember ^(J)the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? ¹⁰ Or ^(K)the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? ¹¹ How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But ^(L)beware of the ^[g]leaven of the ^(M)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^(N)Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^13 (O)Now when Jesus came into the district of ^(P)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^(Q)the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say ^(R)John the Baptist; and others, ^[h](S)Elijah; but still others, ^[i]Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are ^[j](T)the Christ, ^(U)the Son of ^(V)the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^(W)Simon ^[k]Barjona, because ^(X)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are ^[l](Y)Peter, and upon this ^[m]rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(Z)Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you ^(AA)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(AB)whatever you bind on earth ^[n]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth ^[o]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ^20 (AC)Then He ^[p]warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was ^[q](AD)the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21 (AE)From that time ^[r]Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and ^(AF)suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. ²² Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[s]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[t]happen to You.” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^(AG)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[u]God’s interests, but man’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^(AH)take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵ For ^(AI)whoever wishes to save his ^[v]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[w]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the ^(AJ)Son of Man ^(AK)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(AL)will then ^[x]repay every man according to his ^[y]deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(AM)Son of Man ^(AN)coming in His kingdom.”

The Transfiguration

17 ^(A)Six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter and ^[a]James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴ Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, ^(C)I will make three ^[b]tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, ^(D)a voice out of the cloud said, “^(E)This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell ^[c]face down to the ground and were terrified. ⁷ And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and ^(F)do not be afraid.” ⁸ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

^9 (G)As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “^(H)Tell the vision to no one until ^(I)the Son of Man has ^(J)risen from the dead.” ¹⁰ And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; ¹² but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did ^[d]to him whatever they wished. So also ^(L)the Son of Man is going to suffer ^[e]at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

The Demoniac

^14 (M)When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ¹⁵ “^[f]Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a ^[g](N)lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured ^[h]at once.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, ^(O)if you have faith ^[i]the size of ^(P)a mustard seed, you will say to ^(Q)this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and ^(R)nothing will be impossible to you. ²¹ [^[j](S)But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]

^22 (T)And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be ^[k]delivered into the hands of men; ²³ and ^(U)they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

The Tribute Money

²⁴ When they came to Capernaum, those who collected ^(V)the ^[l]two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay ^(W)the ^[m]two-drachma tax?” ²⁵ He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect ^(X)customs or ^(Y)poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶ When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are ^[n]exempt. ²⁷ However, so that we do not ^[o](Z)offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find ^[p]a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”