The Gospel of Mark

Mark 1

¹The beginning of the hopeful news of Yeshua the Anointed, the Son of God.

²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will clear your road.

³A voice crying out in the wilderness:
Ready the road for God, make his pathways straight.

⁴So John came, the one immersing in the wilderness, proclaiming an immersion of turning around for the release of errors.

⁵And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem. They were immersed by him in the Jordan River, confessing their errors.

⁶John went clothed in camel's hair, a leather belt girded around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷And this is what he proclaimed: "One stronger than I is coming after me. I am not fit to bend down and loosen the strap of his sandals.

⁸I have immersed you in water, but he will immerse you in the Sacred Ruha."

Ruha: breath-wind-spirit.

⁹In those days Yeshua came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was immersed in the Jordan by John.

¹⁰And right away, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn open and Ruha coming down on him like a dove.

¹¹And a voice came out of the heavens: "You are my Son, the beloved. In you I am well pleased."

¹²And at once he was led by Ruha into the place of leading, the wilderness.

¹³He was there forty days, tested by the adversary. He was among the wild animals, and the angels were caring for him.

¹⁴After John was handed over, Yeshua came into Galilee, proclaiming the hopeful news of God.

¹⁵"The time has come," he said, "and the reign of God has drawn near. Turn around, and trust into the hopeful news."

¹⁶As he passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

¹⁷"Come, follow me," Yeshua said to them, "and I will make you fishers of people."

¹⁸And right away they left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in their boat mending the nets.

²⁰At once he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him.

²¹They went into Capernaum, and on the sabbath he went straight into the gathering and taught.

²²They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one who has authority, and not as the scribes.

²³Just then, in their gathering, there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out:

²⁴"What do you want with us, Yeshua of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the one set apart by God."

²⁵Yeshua rebuked him: "Be silent, and come out of him."

²⁶The unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions, gave a great shriek, and came out of him.

²⁷They were all so amazed that they argued among themselves: "What is this? A new teaching, with authority. He even commands the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

²⁸And the report of him went out right away, everywhere, through the whole region around Galilee.

²⁹Leaving the gathering, they went straight to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

³⁰Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and right away they told him about her.

³¹He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, when the sun had set, they brought him all who were sick and those troubled by evil spirits.

³³The whole town was gathered at the door.

³⁴He healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases, and he drove out many evil spirits. He would not let the evil spirits speak, because they knew him.

³⁵Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

³⁶Simon and those with him went hunting for him.

³⁷When they found him, they told him: "Everyone is looking for you."

³⁸"Let us go somewhere else," he said, "to the neighboring villages, so I can proclaim there too. That is why I have come."

³⁹So he went through all Galilee, proclaiming in their gatherings and driving out the evil spirits.

⁴⁰A man with leprosy came to him, begging him. He fell on his knees and said: "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

⁴¹Moved to the depths with compassion, Yeshua reached out his hand and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean."

⁴²And right away the leprosy left him, and he was clean.

⁴³Yeshua sent him off at once, with a stern warning:

⁴⁴"See that you say nothing to anyone. Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

⁴⁵But the man went out and began to proclaim it freely, spreading the word, so that Yeshua could no longer go openly into a town. He stayed outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Mark 2

¹A few days later he came back to Capernaum, and word spread that he was home.

²So many gathered that there was no more room, not even at the door, and he was speaking the word to them.

³Some men came carrying a paralyzed man to him, four of them lifting him.

⁴They couldn't get him close because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above Yeshua, dug through it, and lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

⁵When Yeshua saw their trust, he said to the paralyzed man, "Child, your errors are released."

⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, turning it over in their hearts:

⁷"Why does this man talk like this? He's blaspheming. Who can release errors but God alone?"

⁸At once Yeshua knew in his spirit that they were reasoning this way, and he said to them, "Why are you turning this over in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your errors are released,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat, and walk'?

¹⁰But so you will know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to release errors." He said to the paralyzed man,

¹¹"I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home."

¹²And the man got up, took his mat right away, and walked out in front of them all, so that they were all astonished and gave honor to God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and the whole crowd kept coming to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴As he was passing by, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said. And Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵Later, while Yeshua was reclining at the table in Levi's house, many tax collectors and those who miss the mark were reclining with him and his students. There were many, and they were following him.

¹⁶When the scribes of the Pharisees saw him eating with those who miss the mark and the tax collectors, they said to his students, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and those who miss the mark?"

¹⁷Yeshua heard it and said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call those doing what is right, but those who miss the mark."

¹⁸John's students and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, "Why do John's students and the students of the Pharisees fast, but your students do not?"

¹⁹Yeshua said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old coat. If he does, the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.

²²And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine bursts the skins, and both the wine and the skins are lost. No. New wine goes into fresh wineskins."

²³One sabbath he was passing through the grainfields, and his students began to make their way, pulling heads of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what isn't allowed on the sabbath?"

²⁵He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and the men with him,

²⁶how he went into the house of God, in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and gave some to the men with him?"

²⁷And he said to them, "The sabbath came to be for the sake of the human, not the human for the sake of the sabbath.

²⁸So the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath."

Mark 3

¹He went into the gathering again, and a man was there with a withered hand.

²They were watching him closely, to see if he would heal the man on the sabbath, so they could bring a charge against him.

³He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up, come into the middle."

⁴Then he said to them, "Is it allowed on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to make a self live or to kill?" But they kept silent.

⁵He looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was made whole again.

⁶The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

⁷Yeshua withdrew with his students toward the sea, and a great many followed from Galilee and from Judea,

⁸and from Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and from around Tyre and Sidon, a great many, hearing all he was doing, came to him.

⁹So he told his students to keep a small boat ready for him, because of the crowd, so they would not press in on him.

¹⁰For he had healed so many that all who had afflictions were pushing forward to touch him.

¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God!"

¹²But he warned them sharply not to make him known.

¹³He went up the mountain and called the ones he wanted, and they came to him.

¹⁴He appointed twelve, to be with him and to be sent out to proclaim,

¹⁵and to have authority to drive out the evil spirits.

¹⁶He appointed the Twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;

¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to them he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder;

¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananean,

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also handed him over.

²⁰Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat bread.

²¹When his own family heard it, they went out to take hold of him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind."

²²And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "Beelzebul is in him," and, "By the ruler of the evil spirits he drives out the evil spirits."

²³So he called them to him and spoke to them in parables: "How can the adversary drive out the adversary?

²⁴If a reign is divided against itself, that reign cannot stand.

²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

²⁶So if the adversary has risen against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come.

²⁷But no one can go into a strong man's house and carry off his goods unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder the house.

²⁸Amen, I tell you, every error will be released for the children of men, and every slander they speak.

²⁹But whoever slanders the Sacred Ruha will never be released, not in any age, but is guilty of an error beyond time."

³⁰He said this because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

³¹Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to him, calling him.

³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you."

³³He answered them, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"

³⁴And looking around at those seated in a circle about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.

³⁵Whoever does the unfolding will of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother."

Mark 4

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a great crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there on the water, while the whole crowd stayed on the shore at the edge of the sea.

²He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

³"Listen. A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once, because the soil was shallow.

⁶But when the sun rose it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered.

⁷Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it gave no fruit.

⁸And some fell on good soil. It came up and grew and bore fruit: thirty times, sixty times, a hundred times over."

⁹And he said: "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."

¹⁰When he was alone, those around him, with the Twelve, asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them: "To you the secret of the reign of God has been given. But to those outside, everything comes in parables,

¹²so that they may look and look, and never see, and listen and listen, and never understand, or they might turn around and be released."

¹³Then he said to them: "Don't you understand this parable? How, then, will you understand any of the parables?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: as soon as they hear it, the adversary comes at once and takes away the word sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they welcome it right away with joy,

¹⁷but they have no root in themselves and last only a while. Then, when trouble or hunting comes because of the word, they fall away immediately.

¹⁸And others are the ones sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word,

¹⁹but the worries of this age, and the lie of riches, and craving for everything else come in and choke the word, and it bears no fruit.

²⁰And these are the ones sown on good soil: they hear the word and welcome it and bear fruit: thirty times, sixty times, a hundred times over."

²¹And he said to them: "Does a lamp come in to be put under a measuring basket, or under the bed? Isn't it to be set on the lampstand?

²²For nothing is hidden that will not be brought to light, and nothing is concealed that will not come out into the open.

²³If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear."

²⁴And he said to them: "Pay attention to what you hear. The measure you give will be measured back to you, and more will be added to you.

²⁵For whoever has, more will be given; and whoever has not, even what he has will be taken from him."

²⁶And he said: "The reign of God is like this. A man scatters seed on the ground.

²⁷Night and day, whether he sleeps or rises, the seed sprouts and grows, he does not know how.

²⁸All on its own the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

²⁹And as soon as the grain is ready, he sends in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

³⁰And he said: "How can we picture the reign of God? What parable can we set it in?

³¹It is like a mustard seed. When it is sown on the ground, it is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth,

³²yet once it is sown, it comes up and becomes the largest of all the garden plants, and puts out branches so big that the birds of heaven can nest in its shade."

³³With many parables like these he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear.

³⁴He did not speak to them without a parable, but in private he explained everything to his own students.

³⁵That day, when evening came, he said to them: "Let us cross over to the other side."

³⁶Leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him.

³⁷A great windstorm rose up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling.

³⁸He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. They woke him and said to him: "Teacher, don't you care that we're going under?"

³⁹He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: "Quiet. Be still." And the wind dropped, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰Then he said to them: "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no trust?"

⁴¹And they were filled with great fear, and said to one another: "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

Mark 5

¹They crossed to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.

²As Yeshua stepped out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit met him right away, coming from the tombs.

³He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

⁴Many times he had been bound with shackles and chains, but he tore the chains apart and broke the shackles to pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

⁵Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

⁶When he saw Yeshua from far off, he ran and fell down before him,

⁷and he shouted with a loud voice, "What do you want with me, Yeshua, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, by God, do not torment me!"

⁸For Yeshua was saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit."

⁹Then Yeshua asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion is my name," he said, "because we are many."

¹⁰And he begged Yeshua again and again not to send them out of the country.

¹¹A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside.

¹²The spirits begged him, "Send us into the pigs. Let us go into them."

¹³Yeshua let them, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they drowned in the sea.

¹⁴The herdsmen ran off and told it in the town and in the countryside, and the people came out to see what had happened.

¹⁵They came to Yeshua and saw the man who had been troubled by evil spirits sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the same man the Legion had held, and they were afraid.

¹⁶Those who had seen it told them what had happened to the man who had been troubled by evil spirits, and about the pigs.

¹⁷Then they began to beg Yeshua to leave their region.

¹⁸As Yeshua was getting into the boat, the man who had been freed from the evil spirits begged to stay with him.

¹⁹But Yeshua would not let him. "Go home to your own people," he said, "and tell them how much God has done for you, and how he showed you mercy."

²⁰So the man went off and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Yeshua had done for him, and everyone was amazed.

²¹When Yeshua had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was beside the sea.

²²One of the leaders of the gathering came, a man named Jairus. When he saw Yeshua, he fell at his feet

²³and pleaded with him again and again. "My little daughter is at the point of death," he said. "Come and lay your hands on her, so she may be made well and live."

²⁴So Yeshua went with him, and a large crowd followed, pressing in on him.

²⁵And there was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.

²⁶She had suffered much under many doctors and spent everything she had, and it did her no good. Instead she grew worse.

²⁷She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.

²⁸For she kept saying, "If I just touch his clothes, I will live."

²⁹At once the flow of her blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

³⁰Right away Yeshua knew in himself that power had gone out from him, and he turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

³¹His students said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you, and you ask, 'Who touched me?'"

³²But Yeshua kept looking around to see who had done it.

³³Then the woman, afraid and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

³⁴And he said to her, "Daughter, your trust has made you well. Go in wholeness, and stay healed of your affliction."

³⁵While Yeshua was still speaking, some came from the house of the leader of the gathering. "Your daughter has died," they said. "Why trouble the teacher any further?"

³⁶But Yeshua overheard what they said, and he told the leader of the gathering, "Don't be afraid. Only keep trusting."

³⁷And he let no one come with him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.

³⁸They came to the house of the leader of the gathering, and Yeshua saw the uproar: people weeping and wailing loudly.

³⁹He went in and said to them, "Why all this uproar and weeping? The child has not died. She is sleeping."

⁴⁰And they laughed at him. But Yeshua put them all out, took the child's father and mother and those with him, and went in to where the child was.

⁴¹He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha, qumi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up."

⁴²At once the little girl stood up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And right away they were beside themselves with great amazement.

⁴³Then Yeshua gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and he told them to give her something to eat.

Mark 6

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

²When the sabbath came, he began to teach in the gathering. Many who heard him were astonished. "Where did this man get all this?" they said. "What is this wisdom given to him? And these works of power done through his hands?

³Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And aren't his sisters here with us?" And they stumbled over him.

⁴Yeshua said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his own relatives, and in his own house."

⁵And he could do no work of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few who were sick and healed them.

⁶And he was amazed at their lack of trust. Then he went around the villages, teaching.

⁷He called the Twelve to him and began to send them out two by two, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

⁸He told them to take nothing for the road except a staff: no bread, no bag, no copper in their belts,

⁹but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

¹⁰And he said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.

¹¹And any place that will not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave, shake the dust off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them."

¹²So they went out and proclaimed that people should turn around.

¹³They drove out many evil spirits, and they rubbed oil on many who were sick and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard about it, for Yeshua's name had become known. Some were saying, "John the Immerser has been raised from the dead, and that is why these powers are at work in him."

¹⁵Others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."

¹⁶But when Herod heard it, he said, "John, the one I beheaded, he has been raised."

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent and seized John and bound 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 allowed for you to have your brother's wife."

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

²⁰for Herod feared John, knowing he was a man who was right and set-apart, and he kept him safe. When Herod listened to John, he was deeply unsettled, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹The chance came on Herod's birthday, when he gave a banquet for his nobles and his commanders and the leading men of Galilee.

²²The daughter of Herodias came in and danced, and she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you."

²³And he swore to her, "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?" And she said, "The head of John the Immerser."

²⁵At once she hurried in to the king and made her request. "I want you to give me, right now, on a platter, the head of John the Immerser," she said.

²⁶The king was deeply grieved, but because of his oaths and his guests, he would not break his word to her.

²⁷Right away the king sent a guard and ordered him to bring John's head. The man went and beheaded him in the prison,

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

²⁹When John's students heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰Those he had sent gathered around Yeshua and told him all they had done and all they had taught.

³¹He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a little." For many were coming and going, and they had no chance even to eat.

³²So they went off in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

³³But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and from all the towns they ran there on foot and got there ahead of them.

³⁴When he came ashore, he saw a large crowd, and his heart went out to them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it was already late, his students came to him and said, "This place is deserted, and it's already late.

³⁶Send them away, so they can go to the farms and villages around here and buy themselves something to eat."

³⁷But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?"

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

³⁹Then he ordered them to have everyone sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they reclined in rows of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and spoke the blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to his students to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²They all ate and were filled.

⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces, and of the fish.

⁴⁴Those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

⁴⁵Just then he made his students get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, toward Bethsaida, while he sent the crowd away.

⁴⁶And after saying goodbye to them, he went up the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸He saw them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea, and he meant to pass by them.

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

⁵⁰for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke with them. "Take heart," he said. "It is I. Don't be afraid."

⁵¹He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind dropped. And they were utterly beside themselves,

⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored there.

⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized him

⁵⁵and ran through that whole region and began to carry the sick on their mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or towns or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were healed.

Mark 7

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

²They saw that some of his students were eating bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed.

³For the Pharisees and all the Judeans, holding to the tradition of the elders, do not eat unless they wash their hands carefully.

⁴And when they come from the market, they do not eat unless they immerse themselves. They hold to many other washings too: cups, pitchers, copper pots, and dining couches.

⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why don't your students walk by the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat bread with defiled hands?"

⁶He said to them, "Isaiah said it well when he prophesied about you actors. As it is written,

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart stays far from me.

⁷They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the rules of men.

⁸You let go of the command of God and hold to the tradition of men."

⁹And he said to them, "How well you set aside the command of God to keep your own tradition!

¹⁰For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, Whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.

¹¹But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have had from me is Qorban,' that is, a gift to God,

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

¹³And so you cancel the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do many things like this."

¹⁴Again he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

¹⁵Nothing outside a person can defile him by going into him. It is what comes out of a person that defiles him."

¹⁷When he had gone indoors, away from the crowd, his students asked him about the riddle.

¹⁸He said to them, "Are you also without understanding? Don't you see that nothing going into a person from outside can defile him?

¹⁹It doesn't go into his heart but into his belly, and then passes on out." So he made all foods clean.

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

²¹For from within, out of the heart of a person, come bad thoughts: sexual immorality, theft, murder,

²²adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lust, an envious eye, slander, pride, folly.

²³All these wrongs come from within, and they defile a person."

²⁴He got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. He went into a house and wanted no one to know, but he could not stay hidden.

²⁵Right away a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, and she came and fell at his feet.

²⁶The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept begging him to drive the evil spirit out of her daughter.

²⁷He said to her, "Let the children be fed first. It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

²⁸But she answered him, "Master, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

²⁹And he said to her, "For saying this, go. The evil spirit has left your daughter."

³⁰She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the evil spirit gone.

³¹Then he left the region of Tyre again and came by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the heart of the Decapolis.

³²They brought him a man who was deaf and could barely speak, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

³³He took him aside from the crowd, alone. He put his fingers into the man's ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.

³⁴Then he looked up to heaven, groaned deep, and said to him, "Ethpatah," which means, "Be opened."

³⁵And at once his ears were opened, the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

³⁶Yeshua ordered them to tell no one. But the more he ordered them, the more they kept spreading the word.

³⁷They were beyond astonished, saying, "He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the speechless speak."

Mark 8

¹In those days the crowd was large again and had nothing to eat, so he called his students and said to them,

²"My heart goes out to this crowd. They have stayed with me three days now, and they have nothing to eat.

³If I send them home hungry, they'll give out on the way, and some of them have come from far off."

⁴His students answered him, "Where could anyone find enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?"

⁵He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" "Seven," they said.

⁶He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them, and kept giving them to his students to set before the people, and they set them before the crowd.

⁷They also had a few small fish, and he blessed them and said to set these before the people too.

⁸They ate and were filled, and they gathered up the leftover pieces: seven baskets full.

⁹There were about four thousand of them. Then he sent them away.

¹⁰At once he got into the boat with his students and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹The Pharisees came out and began to argue with him. To test him, they kept demanding a sign from heaven.

¹²He groaned deeply within himself and said, "Why does this generation demand a sign? Amen, I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation."

¹³And he left them, got back into the boat, and crossed to the other side.

¹⁴Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵He warned them, "Watch out, keep your eyes open for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

¹⁶And they kept talking it over with one another, saying they had no bread.

¹⁷He knew it and said to them, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Don't you see yet? Don't you understand? Are your hearts hardened?

¹⁸You have eyes, don't you see? You have ears, don't you hear? Don't you remember?

¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets of pieces did you gather?" "Twelve," they told him.

²⁰"And the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets of pieces did you gather?" "Seven," they said.

²¹And he said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

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

²³He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then he spat on his eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked him, "Do you see anything?"

²⁴The man looked up and said, "I see people. They look like trees walking around."

²⁵Then he laid his hands on the man's eyes again, and the man looked hard, and his sight came back, and he saw everything clearly.

²⁶Yeshua sent him home, saying, "Don't even go into the village."

²⁷Yeshua and his students went out to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his students, "Who do people say I am?"

²⁸They answered him, "John the Immerser; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."

²⁹"But you," he asked them, "who do you say I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Anointed One."

³⁰And he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

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

³²He said this openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But he turned, looked at his students, and rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, adversary," he said. "Your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men."

³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his students and said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

³⁵For whoever wants to keep his life alive will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the hopeful news will make it live.

³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

³⁷What could a man give in exchange for his life?

³⁸Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful generation that misses the mark, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in the majesty of his Father with the sacred angels."

Mark 9

¹And he said to them, "Amen, I tell you, some standing here will not taste death until they see the reign of God come in power."

²Six days later, Yeshua took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, alone. And there he was transformed before them.

³His clothes became dazzling, whiter than any launderer on earth could ever bleach them.

⁴And Elijah appeared to them, with Moses, and they were talking with Yeshua.

⁵Peter spoke up and said to Yeshua, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

⁷Then a cloud came and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud:
"This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him."

⁸And all at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, only Yeshua.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰So they held on to the word, asking each other what rising from the dead could mean.

¹¹And they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

¹²He told them, "Elijah does come first, and he restores everything. So why is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be treated with scorn?

¹³But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, just as it is written of him."

¹⁴When they came back to the other students, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵And right away, when the whole crowd saw him, they were astonished, and ran up to greet him.

¹⁶He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"

¹⁷One of the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son. He has a spirit that takes his speech.

¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and goes stiff. I asked your students to drive it out, but they could not."

¹⁹He answered them, "You faithless generation, how long must I be with you? How long must I bear with you? Bring him to me."

²⁰So they brought the boy to him. And the moment the spirit saw Yeshua, it convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and rolled about, foaming.

²¹Yeshua asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He said, "Since he was a child.

²²Many times it has thrown him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us."

²³Yeshua said to him, "'If you can'? Everything is possible for the one who trusts."

²⁴At once the boy's father cried out, "I trust. Help my lack of trust!"

²⁵When Yeshua saw the crowd rushing in, he rebuked the unclean spirit. "You spirit of muteness and deafness," he said, "I command you: come out of him, and never enter him again."

²⁶It shrieked and convulsed him violently and came out. And the boy was like a corpse, so that many said, "He is dead."

²⁷But Yeshua took him by the hand and lifted him, and he stood up.

²⁸When he had gone indoors, his students asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

²⁹He told them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer."

³⁰They left there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know,

³¹for he was teaching his students. He told them, "The Son of Man is being handed over into human hands, and they will kill him, and once he is killed, after three days he will rise."

³²But they did not understand what he meant, and they were afraid to ask him.

³³They came to Capernaum. And once he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?"

³⁴But they kept silent, for on the road they had argued with each other about who was greatest.

³⁵He sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

³⁶Then he took a little child and stood him in their midst, and folding the child in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷"Whoever welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the One who sent me."

³⁸John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out evil spirits in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn't following us."

³⁹But Yeshua said, "Don't stop him. No one who works a wonder in my name can soon afterward speak badly of me.

⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us.

⁴¹And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to the Anointed, amen, I tell you, he will not lose his reward."

⁴²"And whoever causes one of these little ones who trust into me to stumble, better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.

⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. Better to enter into life maimed than to keep both hands and go off into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.

Gehenna: the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, a place of fire and refuse.

⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. Better to enter into life lame than to keep both feet and be thrown into Gehenna.

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. Better to enter the reign of God with one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into Gehenna,

⁴⁸where their worm never dies and the fire is never put out,

⁴⁹for everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good. But if the salt loses its saltness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and live in wholeness with one another."

Mark 10

¹He left there and went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan, and again the crowds gathered to him, and again, as was his custom, he taught them.

²Some Pharisees came and tested him, asking whether a man is allowed to send his wife away.

³He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"

⁴They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."

⁵Yeshua said to them, "He wrote you this command because your hearts are hard.

⁶But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

⁷For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹What God has joined together, then, let no one separate."

¹⁰Back in the house, the students asked him about this again.

¹¹He said to them, "Whoever sends his wife away and marries another commits adultery against her.

¹²And if she sends her husband away and marries another, she commits adultery."

¹³People were bringing little children to him so he might touch them, but the students rebuked them.

¹⁴When Yeshua saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me. Don't stop them. The reign of God belongs to ones like these.

¹⁵Amen, I tell you: whoever does not welcome the reign of God like a little child will never enter it."

¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and spoke good over them.

¹⁷As he was setting out on the road, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit life of hidden time?"

¹⁸Yeshua said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

¹⁹You know the commands: Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother."

²⁰He said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept since I was young."

²¹Yeshua looked at him and loved him, and he said, "One thing you lack. Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

²²At this word his face fell, and he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³Yeshua looked around and said to his students, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the reign of God."

²⁴The students were stunned at his words. But Yeshua said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the reign of God.

²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the reign of God."

²⁶They were astonished beyond measure, saying to one another, "Then who can live?"

²⁷Yeshua looked at them and said, "For people it is impossible, but not for God. For God, everything is possible."

²⁸Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."

²⁹Yeshua said, "Amen, I tell you: there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the hopeful news

³⁰who will not receive a hundred times as much, now in this present time: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with being hunted, and in the age to come, life of hidden time.

³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

³²They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Yeshua was walking ahead of them. They were amazed, and those following were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was about to happen to him.

³³"Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the outsiders.

³⁴They will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise."

³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

³⁶He said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

³⁷They said to him, "Grant that we may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your majesty."

³⁸Yeshua said to them, "You don't know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I drink, or be immersed with the immersion I am immersed with?"

³⁹They said to him, "We can." Yeshua said to them, "The cup I drink you will drink, and with the immersion I am immersed with you will be immersed.

⁴⁰But to sit at my right or my left is not mine to give. It belongs to those for whom it has been prepared."

⁴¹When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

⁴²Yeshua called them to him and said, "You know that those regarded as rulers of the outsiders dominate them, and their great ones throw their weight around.

⁴³It is not so among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first among you must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

⁴⁶They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his students and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Yeshua the Nazarene, he began to cry out, "Son of David, Yeshua, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁸Many rebuked him, telling him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁹Yeshua stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, telling him, "Take heart. Get up. He is calling you."

⁵⁰Throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Yeshua.

⁵¹Yeshua answered him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "Rabbuni, let me see again."

⁵²Yeshua said to him, "Go. Your trust has made you well." And at once he saw again and followed him on the road.

Mark 11

¹As they came near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his students ahead,

²telling them, "Go into the village across from you. Right away, as you enter it, you'll find a colt tied there, one no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it.

³And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Master needs it, and he'll send it back here right away.'"

⁴So they went and found a colt tied at a doorway, outside on the street, and they untied it.

⁵Some of those standing there asked them, "What are you doing, untying that colt?"

⁶They answered just as Yeshua had told them, and the people let them go.

⁷They brought the colt to Yeshua and threw their cloaks over it, and he sat on it.

⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches they had cut from the fields.

⁹And those going ahead and those following kept shouting, "Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God!

¹⁰Blessed is the coming reign of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!"

¹¹And he went into Jerusalem, into the temple. He looked around at everything, and since the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

¹²The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he was hungry.

¹³From far off he saw a fig tree in leaf, and he went to see if he could find anything on it. But when he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴So he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his students were listening.

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple and began to drive out those buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves,

¹⁶and he would not let anyone carry anything through the temple.

¹⁷And he was teaching them, saying, "Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers."

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard this and looked for a way to destroy him, for they were afraid of him, since the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

¹⁹And when evening came, they went out of the city.

²⁰Early in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

²¹Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered."

²²Yeshua answered them, "Have trust in God.

²³Amen, I tell you: whoever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and is not divided in his heart but trusts that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

²⁴So I tell you: whatever you pray for, trust that you have received it, and it will be yours.

²⁵And whenever you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, release it, so that your Father in the heavens may release you from your wrongs."

²⁷They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him.

²⁸"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you the authority to do them?"

²⁹Yeshua said to them, "I'll ask you one thing. Answer me, and I'll tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰John's immersion, was it from heaven, or from people? Answer me."

³¹They argued it over among themselves: "If we say, 'From heaven,' he'll say, 'Then why didn't you trust him?'

³²But if we say, 'From people'…" They were afraid of the crowd, for they all held that John truly was a prophet.

³³So they answered Yeshua, "We don't know." And Yeshua said to them, "Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Mark 12

¹Then he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug out a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away.

²When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

³But they seized the slave, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴Again he sent them another slave. That one they struck on the head and shamed.

⁵And he sent another, and that one they killed. He sent many others: some they beat, and some they killed.

⁶He had one left to send, a beloved son. Last of all he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

⁷But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

⁸So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰Have you never read this Scripture:
the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

¹¹This came from God,
and it is a wonder in our eyes."

¹²They were looking for a way to seize him, but they were afraid of the crowd, for they knew he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

¹³Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him, to trap him in his own words.

¹⁴They came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and that you don't bend for anyone, because you show no partiality but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar, or not? Should we pay, or should we not?"

¹⁵But he saw through their pretense. "Why are you testing me?" he said. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."

¹⁶They brought one, and he asked them, "Whose image is this, and whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they told him.

¹⁷Then Yeshua said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

¹⁸Then the Sadducees came to him, the ones who say there is no rising, and they put a question to him:

¹⁹"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁰There were seven brothers. The first married a wife, and when he died he left no offspring.

²¹The second married her, and he died leaving no offspring; and the third the same.

²²None of the seven left offspring. Last of all, the woman died too.

²³In the rising, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her."

²⁴Yeshua said to them, "Isn't this why you are wandering off, because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God?

²⁵When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the messengers in the heavens.

²⁶And about the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, at the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken."

²⁸Then one of the scribes came up. He had heard them debating, and seeing that Yeshua had answered them well, he asked him, "Which command is the first of all?"

²⁹Yeshua answered, "The first is this: 'Listen, Israel: our God is one.

³⁰Love your God with all your heart, with all your self, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other command greater than these."

³²"Well said, Teacher," the scribe told him. "You have spoken the truth: God is one, and there is no other besides him.

³³And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, this is far more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."

³⁴When Yeshua saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the reign of God." And after that no one dared to question him any further.

³⁵As Yeshua was teaching in the temple, he asked, "How can the scribes say that the Anointed One is the son of David?

³⁶David himself, in the Sacred Ruha, said:

God said to my master:

Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet.

³⁷David himself calls him master. So how can he be his son?" And the great crowd listened to him gladly.

³⁸In his teaching he said, "Watch out for the scribes. They love to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted in the marketplaces,

³⁹and to have the front seats in the gatherings and the places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁰They devour the houses of widows, and for show they make long prayers. These will receive a heavier judgment."

⁴¹Then he sat down across from the treasury and watched the crowd putting their money in. Many rich people put in large amounts.

⁴²Then a poor widow came and put in two small coins, worth only a penny.

⁴³He called his students to him and said, "Amen, I tell you: this poor widow has put in more than all the others who gave to the treasury.

⁴⁴For they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her need, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

Mark 13

¹As he was leaving the temple, one of his students said to him, "Teacher, look, what stones, what buildings!"

²And Yeshua said to him, "You see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another. Every one will be thrown down."

³And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, facing the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

⁴"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when all this is about to come to an end?"

⁵And Yeshua began to tell them, "Watch out that no one leads you astray.

⁶Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am,' and they will lead many astray.

⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is not yet.

⁸Nation will rise against nation, and reign against reign. There will be earthquakes from place to place, there will be famines. These are the beginning of the birth-pains.

⁹But you, watch out for yourselves. They will hand you over to the councils, and in the gatherings you will be beaten, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them.

¹⁰And first the hopeful news must be proclaimed to all the nations.

¹¹And when they lead you away and hand you over, don't worry beforehand what you will say. Whatever is given you in that hour, say that, for it is not you who speak, but the Sacred Ruha.

¹²Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against their parents and put them to death.

¹³And you will be hated by everyone for my name's sake. But the one who holds out to the end, he will live.

¹⁴When you see the desolating horror standing where it must not stand, let the reader understand, then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.

¹⁵Whoever is on the roof, let him not come down or go in to take anything out of his house.

¹⁶And whoever is in the field, let him not go back for his cloak.

¹⁷How hard it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for those nursing!

¹⁸Pray that it does not happen in winter.

¹⁹For those days will bring such suffering as has not been from the beginning of creation, which God made, until now, and never will be again.

²⁰And if God had not cut short those days, no flesh would live. But for the sake of the chosen, the ones he chose, he has cut the days short.

²¹And then, if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Anointed One,' or, 'Look, there he is,' do not trust it.

²²For false anointed ones and false prophets will rise up and give signs and wonders, to lead astray, if they can, even the chosen.

²³But you, watch out. I have told you everything beforehand.

²⁴But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,

²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and majesty.

²⁷And then he will send out the angels and gather his chosen from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

²⁸Learn the lesson of the fig tree. As soon as its branch turns tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹So also, when you see these things happening, you know that he is near, right at the doors.

³⁰Amen, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.

³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³²But about that day or hour no one knows, not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

³³Stay alert. Stay awake. For you do not know when the time is.

³⁴It is like a man away on a journey, who left his house and gave his slaves charge, to each his work, and told the doorkeeper to keep watch.

³⁵So keep watch, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn,

³⁶so that he does not come suddenly and find you sleeping.

³⁷And what I say to you, I say to everyone: keep watch."

Mark 14

¹The Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes kept looking for a way to seize him by some trick and kill him.

²"But not during the festival," they said, "or the people will riot."

³While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came in as he reclined at the table. She had an alabaster jar of perfume, pure nard, very costly. She broke the jar and poured it over his head.

⁴Some were there, indignant among themselves. "Why has this perfume been wasted?

⁵It could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they scolded her harshly.

⁶But Yeshua said, "Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.

⁷You always have the poor with you, and whenever you want you can do good for them, but you will not always have me.

⁸She did what she could. She has anointed my body ahead of time, for burial.

⁹Amen, I tell you: wherever this hopeful news is proclaimed, in all the world, what she has done will be told too, in memory of her."

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them.

¹¹When they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him silver. So he watched for the right moment to hand him over.

¹²On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his students said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

¹³So he sent two of his students and told them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

¹⁴Wherever he goes in, tell the owner of the house, 'The teacher says: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my students?'

¹⁵And he will show you a large upstairs room, furnished and ready. Prepare for us there."

¹⁶The students went out and came into the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸And while they were reclining and eating, Yeshua said, "Amen, I tell you: one of you will hand me over, one who is eating with me."

¹⁹They began to grieve and to say to him, one after another, "Surely not I?"

²⁰He said to them, "It is one of the Twelve, one dipping his bread into the bowl with me.

²¹The Son of Man goes, as it is written of him. But how terrible for the man who hands the Son of Man over! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born."

²²While they were eating, he took bread, and after he blessed it he broke it and gave it to them and said, "Take it. This is my body."

²³Then he took a cup, and after he gave thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many.

²⁵Amen, I tell you: I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day I drink it new in the reign of God."

²⁶And when they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷Then Yeshua said to them, "You will all fall away, for it is written:

I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

²⁸But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

²⁹Peter said to him, "Even if everyone else falls away, I will not."

³⁰Yeshua told him, "Amen, I tell you: today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."

³¹But Peter kept insisting, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you." And they all said the same.

³²Then they came to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his students, "Sit here while I pray."

³³He took Peter and James and John along with him, and he began to be shaken and deeply troubled.

³⁴He said to them, "My grief is crushing me, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch."

³⁵Going on a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

³⁶"Abba, Father," he said, "all things are possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

³⁷Then he came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? You couldn't keep watch for one hour?

³⁸Keep watch and pray, so that you don't come into the trial. Ruha is willing, but the flesh is weak."

³⁹Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

⁴⁰When he came back, again he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And they did not know what to answer him.

⁴¹He came a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough. The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is handed over into the hands of those who miss the mark.

⁴²Get up, let's go. Look, the one handing me over is here."

⁴³Right then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him came a crowd carrying swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

⁴⁴The one handing him over had given them a sign: "The one I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away under guard."

⁴⁵He came up and went straight to Yeshua. "Rabbi," he said, and kissed him.

⁴⁶Then they laid their hands on him and seized him.

⁴⁷But one of those standing there drew his sword, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸Yeshua said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to take me, as if I were a bandit?

⁴⁹Day after day I was with you in the temple, teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled."

⁵⁰Then they all deserted him and ran.

⁵¹A young man was following him, with nothing on but a linen cloth. They seized him,

⁵²but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.

⁵³They led Yeshua away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered.

⁵⁴Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. He sat with the guards, warming himself at the fire.

⁵⁵The chief priests and the whole council kept looking for testimony against Yeshua, so they could put him to death, and they found none.

⁵⁶Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimonies did not agree.

⁵⁷Then some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,

⁵⁸"We heard him say, 'I will tear down this temple made by hands, and in three days I will build another, not made by hands.'"

⁵⁹Yet even on this their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰Then the high priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Yeshua. "Have you no answer?" he said. "What is this they testify against you?"

⁶¹But he stayed silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest questioned him. "Are you the Anointed One," he said, "the Son of the Blessed?"

⁶²"I am," said Yeshua. "And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."

⁶³The high priest tore his robes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he said.

⁶⁴"You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.

⁶⁵Then some began to spit on him. They covered his face and struck him with their fists. "Prophesy!" they said. And the guards took him and beat him.

⁶⁶While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by.

⁶⁷When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him. "You too were with the Nazarene, with Yeshua," she said.

⁶⁸But he denied it. "I don't know him, and I don't understand what you're talking about," he said. Then he went out to the gateway, and a rooster crowed.

⁶⁹The servant girl saw him there and began again to say to those standing around, "This man is one of them."

⁷⁰Again he denied it. A little later, those standing there said to Peter again, "You really are one of them. You're a Galilean."

⁷¹Then he began to curse and to swear, "I don't know this man you're talking about."

⁷²Just then, a second time, a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word Yeshua had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.

Mark 15

¹Right away, at dawn, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes and the whole council, reached their decision. They bound Yeshua, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

²Pilate questioned him. "Are you the king of the Jews?" "You say so," he answered.

³And the chief priests accused him of many things.

⁴Again Pilate questioned him. "Have you no answer at all? Look how many charges they bring against you."

⁵But Yeshua answered nothing more, so that Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner, whomever they asked for.

⁷A man called Barabbas was in chains with the rebels, men who had done murder in the uprising.

⁸The crowd came up and began to ask him to do what he always did for them.

⁹Pilate answered them. "Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?"

¹⁰For he knew it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.

¹²Again Pilate spoke to them. "Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?"

¹³And they shouted back, "Crucify him!"

¹⁴"Why? What wrong has he done?" Pilate said. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

¹⁵So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them. And Yeshua he had flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶The soldiers led him away into the courtyard, that is, the governor's headquarters, and they called together the whole company.

¹⁷They dressed him in purple, twisted together a crown of thorns, and set it on him.

¹⁸And they began to salute him. "Hail, king of the Jews!"

¹⁹They struck his head with a reed, spat on him, and knelt down before him in mockery.

²⁰And when they had mocked him, they stripped off the purple, put his own clothes back on him, and led him out to crucify him.

²¹A man was passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, and they forced him to carry his cross.

²²They brought him to the place called Gulgulta, which means Place of the Skull.

²³They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it.

²⁴And they crucified him. They divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots for them, to decide who would take what.

²⁵It was the third hour when they crucified him.

²⁶The written charge against him read: The king of the Jews.

²⁷And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁹Those passing by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads. "Aha! You who would tear down the temple and build it in three days,

³⁰rescue yourself, and come down from the cross!"

³¹In the same way the chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves. "He made others live, but he can't make himself live.

³²Let the Anointed One, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, so we can see and trust." And the men crucified with him taunted him too.

³³When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.

³⁴And at the ninth hour Yeshua cried out in a loud voice, "Elahi, Elahi, lema shevaqtani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

³⁵Some of those standing there heard it and said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

³⁶Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. "Wait," he said. "Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down."

³⁷But Yeshua, with a loud cry, breathed his last.

³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

³⁹When the centurion standing across from him saw how he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."

⁴⁰Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.

⁴¹When he was in Galilee these women had followed him and cared for him. And many others had come up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²Evening had already come, and it was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the sabbath.

⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was himself waiting for the reign of God, gathered his courage, went in to Pilate, and asked for the body of Yeshua.

⁴⁴Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him whether Yeshua had died some time ago.

⁴⁵And when he learned it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

⁴⁶Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

⁴⁷And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.

Mark 16

¹When the sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so they could come and anoint him.

²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb.

³And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll the stone away from the door of the tomb for us?"

⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had already been rolled back, and it was very large.

⁵Going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, dressed in a white robe, and they were terrified.

⁶"Don't be terrified," he said to them. "You're looking for Yeshua the Nazarene, the one who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

⁷Now go, tell his students and Peter, 'He's going ahead of you into Galilee. There you'll see him, just as he told you.'"

⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹Early on the first day of the week, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits.

¹⁰She went and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.

¹¹But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not trust it.

¹²After this he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking along, on their way into the country.

¹³They went back and told the rest, but they would not trust them either.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their lack of trust and their hard hearts, because they had not trusted those who saw him after he was raised.

¹⁵And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the hopeful news to all creation.

¹⁶Whoever trusts and is immersed will live, but whoever does not trust will be condemned.

¹⁷And these signs will follow those who trust: in my name they will drive out evil spirits; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink anything deadly it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be well."

¹⁹So then, after the Master Yeshua had spoken with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

²⁰And they went out and proclaimed everywhere, while the Master worked with them, confirming the word by the signs that followed.