Bible in 90 Days

Jesus before Caiaphas

⁵⁷ The people who had seized Jesus took him off to Caiaphas the high priest. The scribes and elders had already gathered at his house. ⁵⁸ Peter, however, followed him at some distance, all the way to the high priest’s residence. He went in and sat with the servants, to see how things would work out.

⁵⁹ The high priest and the whole council tried to produce false evidence against Jesus, to frame a capital charge and have him killed. ⁶⁰ But even though they brought in plenty of lying witnesses, they couldn’t find the evidence they wanted. Finally two people came forward ⁶¹ and declared: “This fellow said, ‘I can destroy God’s Temple and build it again in three days!’ ”

⁶² Then the high priest stood up.

“Aren’t you going to answer?” he said to him. “What are these people accusing you of?”

⁶³ But Jesus remained silent.

Then the high priest said to him, “I put you on oath before the living God: tell us if you are the Messiah, God’s son!”

⁶⁴ “You said the words,” replied Jesus. “But let me tell you this: from now on you will see ‘the son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ ”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes. “He’s blasphemed!” he said. “Why do we need any more witnesses? Look—you’ve heard his blasphemy, here and now! ⁶⁶ What’s your verdict?”

“He deserves to die,” they answered.

⁶⁷ Then they spat in his face and hit him. Some of them slapped him, ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy for us, Mr. Messiah! Who was it who hit you?”

Peter’s denial

⁶⁹ Meanwhile, Peter sat outside in the courtyard.

One of the servant-girls came up to him.

“You were with Jesus the Galilean too, weren’t you?” she said.

⁷⁰ He denied it in front of everyone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ He went out to the gateway. Another girl saw him, and said to the people who were there, “This fellow was with Jesus the Nazarene!”

⁷² Once more he denied it, this time swearing, “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³ After a little while the people standing around came up and said to Peter, “You really are one of them! Look—your accent makes it obvious!”

⁷⁴ Then he began to curse and swear, “I don’t know the man!” And then, all at once, the cock crowed.

⁷⁵ And Peter remembered.

He remembered the words Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”

And he went outside and cried like a baby.

The death of Judas

27 When dawn broke, all the chief priests and elders of the people held a council meeting about Jesus, in order to have him put to death. ² They tied him up, took him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³ Meanwhile Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, and was filled with remorse. He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the high priests and elders.

⁴ “I’ve sinned!” he said. “I betrayed an innocent man, and now I’ve got his blood on my hands!”

“See if we care!” they replied. “Deal with it yourself.”

⁵ And he threw down the money in the Temple, and left, and went and hanged himself.

⁶ “Well now,” said the chief priests, picking up the money. “According to the law, we can’t put it into the Temple treasury. It’s the price of someone’s blood.”

⁷ So they had a discussion, and used it to buy the Potter’s Field, as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸ (That’s why that field is called Blood Field, to this day.) ⁹ Then the word that was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet came true:

Jesus and Barabbas before Pilate

¹¹ So Jesus stood in front of the governor.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” the governor asked him.

“If you say so,” replied Jesus.

¹² The chief priests and elders poured out their accusations against him, but he made no answer.

¹³ Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all this evidence they’re bringing against you?”

¹⁴ He gave him no answer, not even a word, which quite astonished the governor.

¹⁵ Now the governor had a custom. At festival time he used to release one prisoner for the crowd, whoever they chose. ¹⁶ Just then they had a famous prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the people were all gathered there, Pilate said to them, “Who do you want me to release for you? Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus the so-called Messiah?” ¹⁸ (He knew that they’d handed him over out of sheer envy.)

¹⁹ While he was presiding in the court, his wife sent a message to him.

“Don’t have anything to do with that man,” she said. “He’s innocent! I’ve had a really bad time today in a dream, all because of him.”

²⁰ The high priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas, and to have Jesus killed. ²¹ So when the governor came back to them again, and asked, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” they said, “Barabbas!”

²² “So what shall I do with Jesus the so-called Messiah?” asked Pilate.

“Let him be crucified!” they all said.

²³ “Why?” asked Pilate. “What’s he done wrong?”

But they shouted all the louder, “Let him be crucified!”

²⁴ Pilate saw that it was no good. In fact, there was a riot brewing. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

“I’m not guilty of this man’s blood,” he said. “It’s your problem.”

²⁵ “Let his blood be on us!” answered all the people. “And on our children!”

²⁶ Then Pilate released Barabbas for them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Jesus mocked and crucified

²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the barracks, and gathered the whole regiment together. ²⁸ They took off his clothes and dressed him up in a scarlet military cloak. ²⁹ They wove a crown out of thorns and stuck it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. Then they knelt down in front of him.

“Greetings, King of the Jews!” they said, making fun of him.

³⁰ They spat on him. Then they took the reed and beat him about the head. ³¹ When they had finished mocking him, they took off the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes again, and led him off to crucify him.

³² As they were going out they found a man from Cyrene, called Simon. They forced him to carry his cross.

³³ When they came to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place, ³⁴ they gave him a drink of wine mixed with bitter herbs. When he tasted it, he refused to drink it.

³⁵ So then they crucified him. They divided up his clothes by casting lots, ³⁶ and they sat down and kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And they placed the written charge above his head: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸ Then they crucified two brigands alongside him, one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus mocked on the cross

³⁹ The people who were going by shouted blasphemies at Jesus. They shook their heads at him.

⁴⁰ “So!” they said. “You were going to destroy the Temple and build it in three days, were you? Save yourself, if you’re God’s son! Come down from the cross!”

⁴¹ The chief priests, too, and the scribes and the elders, mocked him.

⁴² “He rescued others,” they said, “but he can’t rescue himself! All right, so he’s the King of Israel!—well, let him come down from the cross right now, and then we’ll really believe that he is! ⁴³ He trusted in God; let God deliver him now, if he’s so keen on him—after all, he did say he was God’s son!”

⁴⁴ The brigands who were crucified alongside him heaped insults on him as well.

The death of God’s son

⁴⁵ From noon until mid-afternoon there was darkness over the whole land. ⁴⁶ About the middle of the afternoon Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani!”—which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

⁴⁷ Some of the people who were standing there heard it and said, “This fellow’s calling Elijah!”

⁴⁸ One of them ran at once and got a sponge. He filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.

⁴⁹ The others said, “Wait a bit. Let’s see if Elijah is going to come and rescue him!”

⁵⁰ But Jesus shouted out loudly one more time, and then breathed his last gasp.

⁵¹ At that instant the Temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks were split, ⁵² and the tombs burst open. Many bodies of the sleeping holy ones were raised. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection, and went into the holy city, where they appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and the others with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that happened, they were scared out of their wits.

“He really was God’s son!” they said.

⁵⁵ There were several women there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee, helping to look after his needs. ⁵⁶ They included Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

The burial of Jesus

⁵⁷ When evening came, a rich man from Arimathea arrived. He was called Joseph, and he, too, was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. Pilate gave the order that it should be given to him.

⁵⁹ So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰ He laid it in his own new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the doorway of the tomb, and went away.

⁶¹ Mary Magdalene was there, and so was the other Mary. They were sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶² On the next day (that is, the day after Preparation Day), the chief priests and the Pharisees went as a group to Pilate.

⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “when that deceiver was still alive, we recall that he said, ‘After three days, I’ll rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So please give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples might come and steal him away, and then tell the people, ‘He’s been raised from the dead!’ and so the last deception would be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “You can have a guard,” said Pilate; “go and make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and putting a guard on watch.

The resurrection of Jesus

28 Dawn was breaking on the first day of the week; the sabbath was over. Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, had come to look at the tomb, ² when suddenly there was a great earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven. He came to the stone, rolled it away, and sat down on top of it. ³ Looking at him was like looking at lightning, and his clothes were white, like snow. ⁴ The guards trembled with terror at him, and became like corpses themselves.

⁵ “Don’t be afraid,” said the angel to the women. “I know you’re looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here! He’s been raised, as he said he would be! Come and see the place where he was lying— ⁷ and then go at once, and tell his disciples that he’s been raised from the dead, and that he’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. That’s where you’ll see him. There: I’ve told you.”

⁸ The women scurried off quickly away from the tomb, in a mixture of terror and great delight, and went to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly, there was Jesus himself. He met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up to him and took hold of his feet, prostrating themselves in front of him.

¹⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus to them. “Go and tell my brothers that they should go to Galilee. Tell them they’ll see me there.”

The priests and the guards

¹¹ While the women were on their way, some of the soldiers who had been on guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹² They called an emergency meeting with the elders, allotted a substantial sum of money, and gave it to the soldiers.

¹³ “This,” they told them, “is what you are to say: ‘His disciples came in the night, while we were asleep, and stole him away.’ ¹⁴ And if this gets reported to the governor, we’ll explain it to him and make sure you stay out of trouble.”

¹⁵ They took the money and did as they had been instructed. And this story still goes the rounds among the Jews to this day.

The Great Commission

¹⁶ So the eleven disciples went off to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had instructed them to go. ¹⁷ There they saw him, and worshiped him, though some hesitated.

¹⁸ Jesus came towards them and addressed them.

“All authority in heaven and on earth,” he said, “has been given to me! ¹⁹ So you must go and make all the nations into disciples. Baptize them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. ²⁰ Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. And look: I am with you, every single day, to the very end of the age.”

The preaching of John the Baptist

1 This is where the good news starts—the good news of Jesus the Messiah, God’s son.

² Isaiah the prophet put it like this (“Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of me; he will clear the way for you!”):

³ “A shout goes up in the desert: Make way for the Lord! Clear a straight path for him!”

⁴ John the Baptizer appeared in the desert. He was announcing a baptism of repentance, to forgive sins. ⁵ The whole of Judaea, and everyone who lived in Jerusalem, went out to him; they confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the river Jordan. ⁶ John wore camel-hair clothes, with a leather belt round his waist. He used to eat locusts and wild honey.

⁷ “Someone a lot stronger than me is coming close behind,” John used to tell them. “I don’t deserve to squat down and undo his sandals. ⁸ I’ve plunged you in the water; he’s going to plunge you in the holy spirit.”

Jesus’ baptism

⁹ This is how it happened. Around that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the river Jordan. ¹⁰ That very moment, as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens open, and the spirit coming down like a dove onto him. ¹¹ Then there came a voice out of the heavens: “You are my son! You are the one I love! You make me very glad.”

¹² All at once the spirit pushed him out into the desert. ¹³ He was in the desert forty days, and the satan tested him there. He was with the wild beasts, and angels waited on him.

The calling of the disciples

¹⁴ After John’s arrest, Jesus came into Galilee, announcing God’s good news.

¹⁵ “The time is fulfilled!” he said; “God’s kingdom is arriving! Turn back, and believe the good news!”

¹⁶ As he went along beside the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen, and were casting nets into the sea.

¹⁷ “Follow me!” said Jesus to them. “I’ll have you fishing for people!”

¹⁸ Straight away they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ He went on a bit, and saw James, Zebedee’s son, and John his brother. They were in the boat mending their nets, ²⁰ and he called them then and there. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went off after him.

Exorcism and healings

²¹ They went to Capernaum. At once, on the sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught. ²² They were astonished at his teaching. He wasn’t like the legal teachers; he said things on his own authority.

²³ All at once, in their synagogue, there was a man with an unclean spirit.

²⁴ “What business have you got with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” he yelled. “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: you’re God’s Holy One!”

²⁵ “Be quiet!” ordered Jesus. “And come out of him!”

²⁶ The unclean spirit convulsed the man, gave a great shout, and came out of him. ²⁷ Everyone was astonished.

“What’s this?” they started to say to each other. “New teaching—with real authority! He even tells the unclean spirits what to do, and they do it!”

²⁸ Word about Jesus spread at once, all over the surrounding district of Galilee.

²⁹ They came out of the synagogue, and went at once (with James and John) into Simon and Andrew’s house. ³⁰ Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her right away. ³¹ He went in, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she waited on them.

³² When the sun went down and evening came, they brought to Jesus everyone who was ill, including the demon-possessed. ³³ The whole town was gathered around the door. ³⁴ Jesus healed many people suffering from all kinds of diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.

The healing of a man with a skin disease

³⁵ Very early—in the middle of the night, actually—Jesus got up and went out, off to a lonely place, and prayed. ³⁶ Simon, and those with him, followed. ³⁷ When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you!”

³⁸ “Let’s go off to the other towns around here,” Jesus replied, “so that I can tell the news to people there too. That’s why I came out.”

³⁹ So he went into their synagogues, throughout the whole of Galilee, telling the news and casting out demons.

⁴⁰ A man with a virulent skin disease came up to him. He knelt down and begged him, “If you want to, you can make me clean!”

⁴¹ Jesus was deeply moved. He reached out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do want to: be clean!” ⁴² The disease left him at once, and he was clean.

⁴³ Jesus sent him away at once, with this stern warning: ⁴⁴ “Mind you don’t say anything to anyone! Just go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering Moses commanded, to purify yourself and to give them a sign.”

⁴⁵ But the man went out and began to spread the news far and wide. He did this so effectively that Jesus couldn’t any longer go publicly into a town. He stayed out in the open country, and people came to him from all around.

The healing of the paralytic

2 Jesus went back again to Capernaum, where, after a few days, word got round that he was at home. ² A crowd gathered, so that people couldn’t even get near the door as he was telling them the message.

³ A party arrived: four people carrying a paralyzed man, bringing him to Jesus. ⁴ They couldn’t get through to him because of the crowd, so they opened up the roof above where he was. When they had dug through it, they used ropes to let down the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying.

⁵ Jesus saw their faith, and said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”

⁶ “How dare the fellow speak like this?” grumbled some of the legal experts among themselves. ⁷ “It’s blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God?”

⁸ Jesus knew at once, in his spirit, that thoughts like this were in the air. “Why do your hearts tell you to think that?” he asked. ⁹ “Answer me this,” he went on. “Is it easier to say to this cripple, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher, and walk’?

¹⁰ “You want to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins?” He turned to the paralytic. ¹¹ “I tell you,” he said, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” ¹² He got up, picked up the stretcher in a flash, and went out before them all.

Everyone was astonished, and they praised God. “We’ve never seen anything like this!” they said.

The calling of Levi

¹³ Once more Jesus went out beside the sea. All the crowd came to him, and he taught them.

¹⁴ As he went along he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the toll booth. “Follow me!” he said. And he got up and followed him.

¹⁵ That’s how Jesus came to be sitting at home with lots of tax-collectors and sinners. There they were, plenty of them, sitting with Jesus and his disciples; they had become his followers.

¹⁶ When the legal experts from the Pharisees saw him eating with tax-collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “It’s sick people who need the doctor, not healthy ones. I came to call the bad people, not the good ones.”

Questions about fasting

¹⁸ John’s disciples, and the Pharisees’ disciples, were fasting. People came and said to Jesus, “Look here: John’s disciples are fasting, and so are the Pharisees’ disciples; why aren’t yours?”

¹⁹ “How can the wedding guests fast,” Jesus replied, “if the bridegroom is there with them? As long as they’ve got the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast.

²⁰ “Mind you, the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. They’ll fast then all right.

²¹ “No one sews unshrunk cloth onto an old cloak. If they do, the new patch will tear the old cloth, and they’ll end up with a worse hole. ²² Nor does anyone put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and they’ll lose the wine and the skins together. New wine needs fresh skins.”

Teachings on the sabbath

²³ One sabbath, Jesus was walking through the cornfields. His disciples made their way along, plucking corn as they went.

²⁴ “Look here,” said the Pharisees to him, “why are they doing something illegal on the sabbath?”

²⁵ “Haven’t you ever read what David did,” replied Jesus, “when he was in difficulties, and he and his men got hungry? ²⁶ He went into God’s house (this was when Abiathar was high priest), and ate the ‘bread of the presence,’ which only the priests were allowed to eat—and he gave it to the people with him.

²⁷ “The sabbath was made for humans,” he said, “not humans for the sabbath; ²⁸ so the son of man is master even of the sabbath.”

Healing of the man with the withered hand

3 Once more Jesus went to the synagogue. There was a man there with a withered hand. ² People were watching to see if Jesus would heal him on the sabbath, so that they could frame a charge against him.

³ “Stand up,” said Jesus to the man with the withered hand, “and come out here.” And he said to them, ⁴ “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath, or to do evil? To save life or to kill?” They stayed quiet.

⁵ He was deeply upset at their hard-heartedness, and looked round at them angrily. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out—and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out right away and began to plot with the Herodians against Jesus, trying to find a way to destroy him.

The Twelve are appointed

⁷ Jesus went off towards the sea with his disciples, and a large crowd from Galilee followed him. A great company, too, from Judaea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumaea, Transjordan, and the region of Tyre and Sidon, heard what he was doing and came to him.

⁹ There was a real danger that he might be crushed by the crowd, so he told his disciples to get a boat ready for him. ¹⁰ He healed large numbers, and sick people were pushing towards him to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever unclean spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him and yelled out, “You are the son of God!” ¹² He gave them strict orders not to reveal his identity.

¹³ Jesus went up the mountain, and summoned the people he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve (naming them “apostles”) to be with him and to be sent out as heralds, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ In appointing the Twelve, he named Simon “Peter”; ¹⁷ James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John, he named “Boanerges,” which means “sons of thunder.” The others were ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot (the one who handed him over).

Jesus and Beelzebul

²⁰ He went into the house. A crowd gathered again, so that they couldn’t even have a meal. ²¹ When his family heard it, they came to restrain him. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

²² Experts who had come from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! He casts out demons by the prince of demons!”

²³ Jesus summoned them and spoke to them in pictures. “How can the Accuser cast out the Accuser? ²⁴ If a kingdom splits into two factions, it can’t last; ²⁵ if a household splits into two factions, it can’t last. ²⁶ So if the Accuser revolts against himself and splits into two, he can’t last—his time is up! ²⁷ But remember: no one can get into a strong man’s house and steal his property unless first they tie up the strong man; then they can plunder his house.

²⁸ “I’m telling you the truth: people will be forgiven all sins, and all blasphemies of whatever sort. ²⁹ But people who blaspheme the holy spirit will never find forgiveness. They will be guilty of an eternal sin.” ³⁰ That was his response to their claim that he had an unclean spirit.

Jesus’ family

³¹ Jesus’ mother and brothers appeared. They waited outside the house, and sent in a message, asking for him.

³² “Look!” said the crowd sitting around Jesus. “Your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside! They’re searching for you!”

³³ “Who is my mother?” replied Jesus. “Who are my brothers?”

³⁴ He looked around him at the people sitting there in a ring. “Here is my mother!” he said. “Here are my brothers! ³⁵ Anybody who does God’s will is my brother! And my sister! And my mother!”

Parable of the sower

4 Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. A huge crowd gathered; so he got into a boat and stationed himself on the sea, with all the crowd on the shore looking out to sea. ² He taught them lots of things in parables. This is how his teaching went.

³ “Listen!” he said. “Once upon a time there was a sower who went out sowing. ⁴ As he was sowing, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rock, where it didn’t have much soil. There was no depth to the ground, so it shot up at once; ⁶ but when the sun came up it was scorched, and withered away, because it hadn’t got any root. ⁷ Other seed fell in among thorns; the thorns grew up and choked it, and it didn’t give any crop. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil, and gave a harvest, which grew up and increased, and bore a yield, in some cases thirtyfold, in some sixtyfold, and in some a hundredfold.”

⁹ And he added, “If you’ve got ears, then listen!”

¹⁰ When they were alone, the people who were around Jesus, with the Twelve, asked him about the parables.

¹¹ “The mystery of God’s kingdom is given to you,” he replied, “but for the people outside it’s all in parables, ¹² so that ‘they may look and look but never see, and hear and hear but never understand; otherwise they would turn and be forgiven.’

¹³ “Don’t you understand the parable?” he said to them. “How are you going to understand all the parables?

¹⁴ “The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ The ones by the path are people who hear the word, but immediately the Accuser comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them. ¹⁶ The ones sown on the rock are those who hear the word and accept it with excitement, ¹⁷ but don’t have any root in themselves. They are short-term enthusiasts. When the word brings them trouble or hostility they quickly become disillusioned. ¹⁸ The others—the ones sown among thorns—are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the worries of the present age, and the deceit of riches, and desire for other kinds of things, come in and choke the word, so that it produces no fruit. ²⁰ But the ones sown on good soil are the people who hear the word and receive it, and produce fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold.”

A lamp on its stand

²¹ Jesus said to them, “When you bring a lamp into a room, do you put it under a bucket, or under a bed? Of course not! It goes on a lampstand. ²² No: nothing is secret except what’s meant to be revealed, and nothing is covered up except what’s meant to be uncovered. ²³ If you have ears, then listen!

²⁴ “Be careful with what you hear,” he went on. “The scales you use will be used for you, and more so. ²⁵ If you have something, you’ll be given more; but if you have nothing, even what you have will be taken away.”

More seed parables

²⁶ “This is what God’s kingdom is like,” said Jesus. “Once upon a time a man sowed seed on the ground. ²⁷ Every night he went to bed; every day he got up; and the seed sprouted and grew without him knowing how it did it. ²⁸ The ground produces crops by itself: first the stalk, then the ear, then the complete corn in the ear. ²⁹ But when the crop is ready, in goes the sickle at once, because harvest has arrived.

³⁰ “What shall we say God’s kingdom is like?” he said. “What picture shall we give of it? ³¹ It’s like a grain of mustard seed. When it’s sown on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. ³² But when it’s sown, it springs up and becomes the biggest of all shrubs. It grows large branches, so that ‘the birds of the air make their nests’ within its shade.”

³³ He used to tell them a lot of parables like this, speaking the word as much as they were able to hear. ³⁴ He never spoke except in parables. But he explained everything to his own disciples in private.

Jesus calms the storm

³⁵ That day, when it was evening, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.”

³⁶ They left the crowd, and took him with them in the boat he’d been in. There were other boats with him too.

³⁷ A big windstorm blew up. The waves beat on the boat, and it quickly began to fill. ³⁸ Jesus, however, was asleep on a cushion in the stern. They woke him up.

“Teacher!” they said to him, “We’re going down! Don’t you care?”

³⁹ He got up, scolded the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Shut up!”

The wind died, and there was a flat calm. ⁴⁰ Then he said to them, “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”

⁴¹ Great fear stole over them. “Who is this?” they said to each other. “Even the wind and the sea do what he says!”

The healing of the demoniac

5 So they came over the sea to the land of the Gerasenes. ² When they got out of the boat, they were suddenly confronted by a man with an unclean spirit. ³ He was emerging from a graveyard, which was where he lived. Nobody had been able to tie him up, not even with a chain; ⁴ he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he used to tear up the chains and snap the shackles. No one had the strength to tame him. ⁵ On and on, night and day, he used to shout out in the graveyard and on the hillside, and slash himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus a long way away, he ran and threw himself down in front of him.

⁷ “Why you and me, Jesus?” he shouted at the top of his voice. “Why you and me, son of the High God? By God, stop torturing me!”— ⁸ this last, because Jesus was saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of him!”

⁹ “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Legion,” he replied. “That’s my name—there are lots of us!” ¹⁰ And he implored Jesus not to send them out of the country.

¹¹ It so happened that right there, near the hillside, was a sizable herd of pigs. They were grazing.

¹² “Send us to the pigs,” begged the spirits, “so that we can enter them.”

¹³ So Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd rushed down the steep slope into the sea—about two thousand of them!—and were drowned.

¹⁴ The herdsmen fled. They told it in the town, they told it in the countryside, and people came to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus; and there they saw the man who had been demon-possessed, who had had the “legion,” seated, clothed and stone-cold sober. They were afraid. ¹⁶ The people who had seen it all told them what had happened to the man—and to the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to beg Jesus to leave their district.

¹⁸ Jesus was getting back into the boat, when the man asked if he could go with him. ¹⁹ Jesus wouldn’t let him.

“Go back home,” he said. “Go to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you. Tell them how he had pity on you.”

²⁰ He went off, and began to announce in the Ten Towns what Jesus had done for him. Everyone was astonished.

Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding

²¹ Jesus crossed over once more in the boat to the other side. There a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the seashore.

²² One of the synagogue presidents, a man named Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus he fell down at his feet.

²³ “My daughter’s going to die! My daughter’s going to die!” he pleaded. “Please come—lay your hands on her—rescue her and let her live!”

²⁴ Jesus went off with him. A large crowd followed, and pressed in on him.

²⁵ A woman who had had internal bleeding for twelve years heard about Jesus. ²⁶ (She’d had a rough time at the hands of one doctor after another; she’d spent all she had on treatment, and had got worse rather than better.) ²⁷ She came up in the crowd behind him and touched his clothes. ²⁸ “If I can just touch his clothes,” she said to herself, “I’ll be rescued.” ²⁹ At once her flow of blood dried up. She knew, in her body, that her illness was cured.

³⁰ Jesus knew at once, inside himself, that power had gone out of him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see this crowd crushing you,” said the disciples, “and you say ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² He looked round to see who had done it. ³³ The woman came up; she was afraid and trembling, but she knew what had happened to her. She fell down in front of him and told him the whole truth.

³⁴ “My daughter,” Jesus said to her, “your faith has rescued you. Go in peace. Be healed from your illness.”

The raising of Jairus’s daughter

³⁵ As he said this, some people arrived from the synagogue president’s house.

“Your daughter’s dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Jesus overheard the message. “Don’t be afraid!” he said to the synagogue president. “Just believe!”

³⁷ He didn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James and James’s brother John. ³⁸ They arrived at the synagogue president’s house, and saw a commotion, with a lot of weeping and wailing. ³⁹ Jesus went inside.

“Why are you making such a fuss?” he said. “Why all this weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him.

He put them all out. Then he took the child’s father and mother, and his companions, and they went in to where the child was. ⁴¹ He took hold of her hand, and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Time to get up, little girl!” ⁴² At once the girl got up and walked about. (She was twelve years old.) They were astonished out of their wits. ⁴³ Then he commanded them over and over not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

A prophet in his own town

6 Jesus went away from there, and came to his home region. His disciples followed him. ² On the sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. When they heard him, lots of people were astonished.

“Where does he get it all from?” they said. “What’s this wisdom he’s been given? How does he get this kind of power in his hands? ³ Isn’t he the builder, Mary’s son? Isn’t he the brother of James, Joses, Judah and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” They took offense at him.

⁴ “Prophets have honor everywhere,” said Jesus, “except in their own country, their own family, and their own home.”

⁵ He couldn’t do anything remarkable there, except that he laid hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶ Their unbelief dumbfounded him.

He went round the villages, teaching.

The Twelve sent out

⁷ Jesus called the Twelve, and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits. ⁸ These were his instructions: they were not to take anything for the road, just one staff; no bread, no bag, no cash in the belt; ⁹ to wear sandals, and not to wear a second tunic.

¹⁰ “Whenever you go into a house,” he told them, “stay there until you leave the district. ¹¹ If any place doesn’t welcome you, or won’t listen to you, go away and wipe the dust from your feet as evidence against them.”

¹² They went off and announced that people should repent. ¹³ They cast out several demons; and they anointed many sick people with oil, and cured them.

The speculations of Herod

¹⁴ Jesus’ name became well known, and reached the ears of King Herod.

“It’s John the Baptist,” he said, “risen from the dead! That’s why these powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵ Other people said, “It’s Elijah!”

Others said, “He’s a prophet, like one of the old prophets.”

¹⁶ “No,” said Herod when he heard this. “It’s John. I cut off his head, and he’s been raised.”

Herod and John the Baptist

¹⁷ What had happened was this. Herod had married Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ¹⁸ John regularly told Herod it wasn’t right for him to take his brother’s wife; so Herod gave the word, arrested him and tied him up in prison. ¹⁹ Herodias kept up a grudge against him and wanted to kill him, but couldn’t; ²⁰ Herod knew that John was a just and holy man, and he was afraid of him. So he protected him, and used to listen to him regularly. What he heard disturbed him greatly, and yet he enjoyed listening to him.

²¹ And then, one day, the moment came. There was a great party. It was Herod’s birthday, and he gave a feast for his leading retainers, militia officers, and the great and good of Galilee. ²² Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, and Herod and his guests were delighted.

“Tell me what you’d like,” said the king to the girl, “and I’ll give it you!”

²³ He swore to her, over and over again, “Whatever you ask me, I’ll give it you—right up to half my kingdom!”

²⁴ She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she replied.

²⁵ So she went back at once to the king, all eager, and made her request: “I want you to give me, right now, on a dish—the head of John the Baptist!”

²⁶ The king was distraught. But his oaths on the one hand, and his guests on the other, meant he hadn’t the guts to refuse her. ²⁷ So he sent a jailer straight away with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ brought the head on a dish, and gave it to the girl. The girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹ When John’s followers heard about it, they came and took his body, and buried it in a tomb.

The feeding of the five thousand

³⁰ The apostles came back to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. ³¹ “All right,” he said, “it’s time for a break. Come away, just you, and we’ll go somewhere lonely and private.” (Crowds of people were coming and going and they didn’t even have time to eat.)

³² So they went off privately in the boat to a deserted spot. ³³ And . . . crowds saw them going, realized what was happening, hurried on foot from all the towns, and arrived there first. ³⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat he saw the huge crowd, and was deeply sorry for them, because they were like a flock without a shepherd. So he started to teach them many things.

³⁵ It was already getting late when his disciples came to him and said, “Look: there’s nothing here. It’s getting late. ³⁶ Send them away. They need to go off into the countryside and the villages and buy themselves some food.”

³⁷ “Why don’t you give them something?” Jesus replied.

“Are you suggesting,” they asked, “that we should go and spend two hundred dinars and get food for this lot?”

³⁸ “Well,” said Jesus, “how many loaves have you got? Go and see.”

They found out, and said, “Five, and a couple of fish.”

³⁹ Jesus told them to sit everyone down, group by group, on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in companies, by hundreds and by fifties. ⁴¹ Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, looked up to heaven, blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples to give to the crowd. Then he divided the two fish for them all. ⁴² Everyone ate, and had plenty. ⁴³ They picked up the leftovers, and there were twelve baskets of broken pieces, and of the fish.

⁴⁴ The number of men who had eaten was five thousand.

Jesus walks on water

⁴⁵ At once Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and set sail across towards Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ He took his leave of them and went off up the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the shore. ⁴⁸ He saw they were having to work hard at rowing, because the wind was against them; and he came to them, in the small hours of the night, walking on the sea. He intended to go past them, ⁴⁹ but they saw him walking on the sea and thought it was an apparition. They yelled out; ⁵⁰ all of them saw him, and they were scared stiff.

At once he spoke to them.

“Cheer up,” he said, “it’s me. Don’t be afraid.”

⁵¹ He came up to them and got into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were overwhelmed with astonishment. ⁵² They hadn’t understood about the loaves, because their hearts were hardened.

⁵³ They made landfall at Gennesaret, and tied up the boat. ⁵⁴ People recognized Jesus as soon as they got out of the boat, ⁵⁵ and scurried about the whole region to bring sick people on stretchers to wherever they heard that he was. ⁵⁶ And wherever he went, in villages, towns or in the open country, they placed the sick in the market-places and begged him to let them touch even the hem of his garment. And all who touched it were healed.

God’s law and human tradition

7 The Pharisees gathered round Jesus, together with some legal experts from Jerusalem. ² They saw that some of his disciples were eating their food with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands.

³ (The Pharisees, you see—and indeed all the Jews—don’t eat unless they first carefully wash their hands. This is to maintain the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come in from the market, they never eat without washing. There are many other traditions which they observe: washings of cups, pots and bronze dishes.)

⁵ Anyway, the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat their food with unwashed hands?”

⁶ “Isaiah summed you up just right,” Jesus replied. “What hypocrites you are! What he said was this:

⁸ “You abandon God’s commands, and keep human tradition!

⁹ “So,” he went on, “you have a fine way of setting aside God’s command so as to maintain your tradition. ¹⁰ Here’s an example: Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who slanders father or mother should die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If someone says to their father or mother, “What you might get from me—it’s Korban!” ’ (which means, ‘given-to-God’), ¹² you don’t let them do anything else for their father or mother! ¹³ The net result is that you invalidate God’s word through this tradition which you hand on. And there are lots more things like that which you do.”

Clean and unclean

¹⁴ Jesus summoned the crowd again.

“Listen to me, all of you,” he said, “and get this straight. ¹⁵ What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out from inside.”

¹⁷ When they got back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸ “You didn’t get it either?” he asked. “Don’t you see that whatever goes into someone from outside can’t make them unclean? ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into the heart; it only goes into the stomach, and then carries on, out down the drain.” (Result: all foods are clean.)

²⁰ “What makes someone unclean,” he went on, “is what comes out of them. ²¹ Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. ²³ These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.”

The Syrophoenician woman

²⁴ Jesus got up, left that place, and went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he didn’t want anyone to know, but it wasn’t possible for him to remain hidden. ²⁵ On the contrary: news of him at once reached a woman who had a young daughter with an unclean spirit. She came and threw herself down at his feet. ²⁶ She was Greek, a Syrophoenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat what they want,” Jesus replied. “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Well, Master,” she said, “even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop.”

²⁹ “Well said!” replied Jesus. “Off you go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

A deaf and mute man is healed

³¹ Jesus went away from the region of Tyre, through Sidon, round towards the sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Ten Towns. ³² They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and asked that he would lay his hand on him.

³³ Jesus took the man off in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then he looked up to heaven, groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was untied, and he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. ³⁷ They were totally astonished.

“Everything he does is marvelous!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

The feeding of the four thousand

8 Once again, about that time, a large crowd gathered with nothing to eat.

Jesus called the disciples.

² “I’m really sorry for the people,” he said. “They’ve been with me three days now, and they haven’t got anything to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they’ll collapse on the way. Some of them have come from miles off.”

⁴ “Where could you get food for all this lot, out here in the wilderness?” answered his disciples.

⁵ “How many loaves have you got?” he asked. “Seven,” they replied.

⁶ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to share around, and they gave them to the crowd. ⁷ They had a few small fish, which he also blessed and told them to distribute. ⁸ They ate; they were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets of leftover bits. ⁹ There were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

¹⁰ At once Jesus got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanoutha.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

¹¹ The Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Jesus. They were asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him out.

¹² Jesus groaned deeply in his spirit. “Why is this generation looking for a sign?” he said. “I’m telling you the truth: no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ He left them again, got into the boat, and crossed over to the other side.

¹⁴ They had forgotten to get any bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵ “Beware!” said Jesus sternly to them. “Watch out for leaven—the Pharisees’ leaven, and Herod’s leaven too!”

¹⁶ “It must be something to do with us not having any bread,” they said to each other.

¹⁷ “Why are you grumbling about not bringing bread?” said Jesus, who knew what they were thinking. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? Have your hearts gone hard?

“And don’t you remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken bits were left over?”

“Twelve,” they said.

²⁰ “And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many baskets full of bits were left over?”

“Seven,” they replied.

²¹ “You still don’t get it?” he asked.

Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ messiahship

²² They arrived at Bethsaida. A blind man was brought to Jesus, and they begged him to touch him. ²³ He took his hand, led him off outside the village, and put spittle on his eyes. Then he laid his hands on him, and asked, “Can you see anything?”

²⁴ “I can see people,” said the man, peering around, “but they look like trees walking about.”

²⁵ Then Jesus laid his hands on him once more. This time he looked hard, and his sight came back: he could see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him back home.

“Don’t even go into the village,” he said.

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples came to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who are people saying that I am?”

²⁸ “John the Baptist,” they said, “or, some say, Elijah; or, others say, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ “What about you?” asked Jesus. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter spoke up. “You’re the Messiah,” he said.

³⁰ He gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus predicts his death

³¹ Jesus now began to teach them something new.

“There’s big trouble in store for the son of man,” he said. “The elders, the chief priests and the scribes are going to reject him. He will be killed—and after three days he’ll be raised.” ³² He said all this quite explicitly.

At this, Peter took him aside and started to scold him. ³³ But he turned round, saw the disciples, and scolded Peter.

“Get behind me, Accuser!” he said. “You’re thinking human thoughts, not God’s thoughts.”

³⁴ He called the crowd to him, with his disciples. “If any of you want to come the way I’m going,” he said, “you must say ‘no’ to your own selves, pick up your cross, and follow me. ³⁵ Yes: if you want to save your life, you’ll lose it; but if you lose your life because of me and the message you’ll save it. ³⁶ After all, what use is it to win the world and lose your life? ³⁷ What can you give in exchange for your life? ³⁸ If you’re ashamed of me and my words in this cheating and sinning generation, the son of man will be ashamed of you when he ‘comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.’

9 “I’m telling you the truth,” he said; “some people standing here won’t experience death before they see God’s kingdom come in power.”

The transfiguration

² A week later, Jesus took Peter, James and John away by themselves, and went up a high mountain. There he was transformed before their eyes. ³ His clothes shone with a whiteness that no laundry on earth could match. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them, and Moses too, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵ “Teacher,” said Peter as he saw this, “it’s great to be here! Let’s make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!” ⁶ (He didn’t know what to say; they were terrified.)

⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my son, the one I love. Listen to him!”

⁸ Then, quite suddenly, they looked round and saw nobody there anymore, only Jesus with them.

⁹ As they came down the mountain, Jesus instructed them not to talk to anyone about what they had seen, “until,” he said, “the son of man has been raised from the dead.” ¹⁰ They held on to this saying among themselves, puzzling about what this “rising from the dead” might mean.

¹¹ “Why then,” they asked him, “do the legal experts say ‘Elijah must come first’?”

¹² “Elijah does come first,” he replied, “and his job is to put everything straight. But what do you think it means that ‘the son of man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt’? ¹³ Actually, listen to this: Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wanted. That’s what scripture said about him.”