The Gospel According to Mark, chapters 5 - 9

5       So they came to the other side of the lake, into the country of the Gera-  
     senes.  As he stepped ashore, a man possessed by an unclean spirit came up  
     to him from among the tombs where he had his dwelling.  He could no  
     longer be controlled; even chains were useless; he had often been fettered   
     and chained up, but he had snapped the chains and broken the fetters.  No  
     one was strong enough to master him.  And so, unceasingly, night and day,  
     he would cry aloud among the tombs and on the hill-sides and cut himself  
     with stones.  When he saw Jesus in the distance, he ran and flung himself   
     down before him, shouting loudly, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son  
     of the Most High God?  In God's name do not torment me.'  (For Jesus was  
     already saying to him, 'Out, unclean spirit, come out of this man!") Jesus   
     asked him, 'What is your name?'  'My name is Legion,' he said, 'there are  
     so many of us.'  And he begged hard that Jesus would not send them out  
     of the country.  
        Now there happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hill-side,   
     and the spirits begged him, 'Send us among the pigs and let us go into  
     them.'  He gave them leave; and the unclean spirits came out and went  
     into the pigs; and the herd, of about two thousand, rushed over the edge into   
     the lake and were drowned.   
        The men in charge of them took to their heels and carried the news to the  
     town and country-side; and the people came out see what had happened.     
     They came to Jesus and saw the madman who had been possessed by the  
     legion of devils, sitting there clothed and in his right mind; and they were   
     afraid.  The spectators told them how the madman had been cured and  
     what had happened to the pigs.  Then they begged Jesus to leave the district.  
        As he was stepping into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged  
     to go with him.  Jesus would not allow it, but said to him, 'Go home to  
     your own folk and tell them what the Lord in his mercy has done for you.'  
     The man went off and spread the news in the Ten Towns of all that Jesus  
     had done for him; and they were all amazed.   
        As soon as Jesus had returned by boat to the other shore, a great crowd  
     once more gathered round him.  While he was by the lake-side, the president  
     of one of the synagogues came up, Jairus by name, and when he saw him,  
     threw himself down at his feet and pleaded with him.  'My little daughter',  
     he said, is at death's door.  I beg you to come and lay your hands on her to  
     cure her and save her life.'  So Jesus went with him, accompanied by a great  
     crowd which pressed upon him.    
        Among them was a woman who had suffered from haemorrhages for  
     twelve years; and in spite of long treatment by doctors, on which   
     she had spent all she had, there had been no improvement; on the contrary,  
     she had grown worse.  She had heard what people were saying about Jesus,  
     so she came up from behind in the crowd and touched his cloak; for she said  
     to herself, 'If I even touch his clothes, I shall be cured.'  And there and then   
     the source her haemorrhages dried up and she knew in herself that she   
     was cured of her trouble.  At the same time Jesus, aware that the power had gone  
     out of him, turned round in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched my  
     clothes?'  His disciples said to him, 'You see the crowd pressing upon you  
     and yet you ask, "Who touched me?" '  Meanwhile he was looking round  
     to see who had done it.  And the woman, trembling with fear when she   
     grasped what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him  
     the whole truth.  He said to her, 'My daughter, your faith has cured you.  
     Go in peace, free for ever from this trouble.'    
        While he was still speaking, a message came from the president's house,  
     'Your daughter is dead; why trouble the rabbi further?'  But Jesus, over-  
     hearing the message as it was delivered, said to the president of the syna-  
     gogue, 'Do not be afraid; only have faith.'  After this he allowed no one to  
     accompany him except Peter and James and James's brother John.  They  
     came to the president's house, where he found a great commotion, with  
     loud crying and wailing.  So he went in and said to them, 'Why this crying   
     and commotion?  The child is not dead: she is asleep'; and they only    
     laughed at him.  But after turning all the others out, he took the child's  
     father and mother and his own companions and went in where the child was  
     lying.  Then, taking hold of her hand, he said to her, 'Talitha cum', which  
     means, 'Get up, my child.'  Immediately the girl got up and walked about —   
     she was twelve years old.  At that they were beside themselves with amaze-  
     ment.  He gave them strict orders to let no one hear about it, and told them   
     to give her something to eat.   
6       He left that place and went to his home town accompanied by his  
     disciples.  When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue;  
     and the large congregation who heard him were amazed and said, 'Where    
     does he get it from?', and, 'What wisdom is this that has been given him?',   
     and, 'How does he work such miracles?  Is not this the carpenter, the son  
     of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?  and  
     are not his sisters here with us?'  So they fell foul of him.  Jesus said to them,  
     'A prophet will always be held in honour except in his home town, and  
     among his kinsmen and family.'  He could work no miracle there, except  
     that he put his hands on a few sick people and healed them; and he was   
     taken aback by their want of faith.    

     ON ONE OF HIS TEACHING JOURNEYS round the villages he summoned  
     the Twelve and sent them out in pairs on a mission.  He gave them authority   
     over unclean spirits, and instructed them to take nothing for the journey   
     beyond a stick: no bread, no pack, no money in their belts.  They might wear   
     sandals, but not a second coat.  'When you are admitted to a house', he  
     added, 'stay there until you leave those arts.  At any place where they will  
     not receive you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet as you leave,  
     as a warning to them.'  So they set out and called publicly for repentance.  
     They drove out many devils, and many sick people they anointed with  
     oil and cured.  
        Now King Herod heard of it, for the fame of Jesus had spread; and  
     people were saying, 'John the Baptist has been raised to life, and that is  
     why these miraculous powers are at work in him.'  Others said, 'It is Elijah.'  
     Others again, 'He is a prophet like one of the old prophets.'  But Herod,  
     when he heard of it, said, 'This is John, whom I beheaded, raised from  
     the dead.'   
        For this same Herod had sent and arrested John and put him in prison  
     on account of his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, whom he had married.  
     John had told Herod, 'You have no right to your brother's wife.'  Thus  
     Herodias nursed a grudge against him and would willingly have killed him,  
     but she could not; for Herod went in awe of John, knowing him to be a good  
     and holy man; so he kept him in custody.  He liked to listen to him, although  
     the listening left him greatly perplexed.  
        Herodias found her opportunity when Herod on his birthday gave a  
     banquet to his chief officials and commanders and the leading men of  
     Galilee.  Her daughter came in and danced, and so delighted Herod and  
     his guests that the king said to the girl, 'Ask what you like and I will give it  
     you.'  And he swore an oath to her: 'Whatever you ask I will give you, up  
     to half my kingdom.'  She went out and said to her mother, 'What shall I ask   
     for?'  She replied, 'The head of John the Baptist.'  The girl hastened back   
     at once to the king with her request: 'I want you to give me here and now, on  
     a dish, the head of John the Baptist.'  The king was greatly distressed, but  
     out of regard for his oath and for his guests he could not bring himself to  
     refuse her.  So the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring  
     John's head.  The soldier went off and beheaded him in prison, brought  
     the head on a dish, and gave it to the girl; and she gave it to her mother.   
        When John's disciples heard the news, they came and took his body  
     away and laid it in a tomb.  
        The apostles now rejoined Jesus and reported to him all that they had  
     done and taught.  He said to them, 'Come with me, by yourselves, to some  
     lonely place where you can rest quietly.'  (For they had no leisure even to  
     eat, so many were coming and going.)  Accordingly, they set off privately by  
     boat for a lonely place.  But many saw them leave and recognized them,  
     and came round by land, hurrying from all the towns towards the place,  
     and arrived there first.  When he came ashore, he saw a great crowd; and his  
     heart went out to them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd;  
     and he had much to teach them.  As the day wore on, his disciples came up to  
     him and said, 'This is a lonely place and it is getting very late; send the   
     people off to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves some-   
     thing to eat.'  Give them something to eat yourselves', he answered.  They  
     replied, 'Are we to go and spend 200 denarii on bread to give them a  
     meal?'  'How many loaves have you?' he asked; 'go and see.'  They found  
     out and told him, 'Five, and two fishes also.'  He ordered them to make the  
     people sit down in groups on the green grass, and they sat down in rows,  
     a hundred rows of fifty each.  Then, taking five loaves and two fishes,  
     he looked up to heaven, said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them  
     to the disciples to distribute.  He also divided the two fishes among them.  
     They all ate to their hearts' content; and twelve great basketfuls of scraps  
     were picked up, with what was left of the fish.  Those who ate the loaves  
     numbered five thousand men.  
        As soon as it was over he made his disciples embark across to Bethsaida  
     ahead of him, while he himself sent the people away.  After taking leave of  
     them, he went up the hill-side to pray.  It grew late and the boat was already  
     well out on the water, while he was alone on the land.  Somewhere between   
     three and six in the morning, seeing them labouring at the oars against a  
     head-wind, he came towards them, walking on the lake.  He was going to  
     pass them by; but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought  
     it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified.  But  
     climbed into the boat beside them, and the wind dropped.  At this they were   
     completely dumbfounded, for they had not understood the incident of  
     the loaves; their minds were closed.   
        So they finished the crossing and came to land at Gennasaret, where they  
     made fast.  when they came ashore, he was immediately recognized; and  
     the people scoured the whole country-side and brought the sick on  
     stretchers to any place where he was reported to be.  Wherever he went, to  
     farmsteads, villages, or towns, they laid out the sick in the market-places  
     and begged him to let them simply touch the edge of his cloak; and all who  
     touched him were cured.     

7    A GROUP OF PHARISEES, with some doctors of the law who had come  
     from Jerusalem, met him and noticed that some of his disciples were  
     eating their food with 'defiled' hands — in other words, without washing  
     them.  (For the Pharisees and the Jews in general never eat without washing   
     the hands, in obedience to an old-established tradition; and on coming   
     from the market-place they never eat without first washing.  And there are  
     many other points on which they have a traditional rule to maintain, for   
     example, washing of cups and jugs and copper bowls.)  Accordingly, these  
     Pharisees and lawyers asked him, 'Why do your disciples not conform  
     to the ancient tradition, but eat their food with defiled hands?'  He answered,   
     'Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites in these words:  
     "This people pays me lip-service, but their heart is far from me: their  
     worship of me is in vain, for they teach as doctrines the commandments of   
     men."  You neglect the commandment of God, in order to maintain the   
     tradition of men.'   
        He also said to them, 'How well you set aside the commandment of God  
     in order to maintain your tradition!  Moses said, "Honour your father   
     and your mother", and "The man who curses his father or mother must  
     suffer death." But you hold that if a man says to his father or mother,  
     "Anything of mine which might have been used for your benefit is Cor-  
     ban" ' (meaning, set apart for God), 'he is no longer permitted to do any-  
     thing for his father or mother.  Thus by your own tradition, handed down  
     among you, you make God's word null and void.  And many other things  
     that you do are just like that.'   
        On another occasion he called the people and said to them, 'Listen to  
     me, all of you, and understand this: nothing that goes into a man from  
     outside can defile him; no, it is the things that come out of him that defile  
     a man.'   
        When he had left the people and gone indoors, his disciples questioned  
     him about the parable.  He said to them, 'Are you as dull as the rest?  Do you  
     not see that nothing that goes from outside into a man can defile him,  
     because it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and so passes  
     out into the drain?'  Thus he declared all foods clean.  He went on, 'It is  
     what comes out of a man that defiles him.  For from inside, out of a man's   
     heart, come evil thoughts, acts of fornication, of theft, murder, adultery,  
     ruthless greed, and malice; fraud, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and  
     folly; these evil things all come from inside, and they defile the man.'  
        Then he left that place and went away into the territory of Tyre.  He  
     found a house to stay in, and he would have liked to remain unrecognized,  
     but this was impossible.  Almost at once a woman whose young daughter  
     was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of him, came in, and fell at his   
     feet (She was a Gentile, a Phoenician of Syria by nationality.)  She begged  
     him to drive the spirit out of her daughter.  He said to her, 'Let the children  
     be satisfied first; it is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the  
     dogs.'  'Sir,' she answered, 'even the dogs under the table eat the children's  
     scraps.'  He said to her, 'For saying that, you may go home content; the  
     unclean spirit has gone out of your daughter.'  And when she returned  
     home, she found the child lying in bed; the spirit had left her.   
        On his return journey from Tyrian territory he went by way of Sidon to  
     the Sea of Galilee through the territory of the Ten Towns.  They brought   
     to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, with the  
     request that he would lay his hands on him.  He took the man aside, away  
     from the crowd, put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue.   
     Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, 'Ephphatha',  
     which means 'Be opened.'  With that his ears were opened, and at the same   
     time the impediment was removed and he spoke plainly.  Jesus forbade them  
     to tell anyone; but the more he forbade them, the more they published it.  
     Their astonishment knew no bounds: 'All that he does, he does well,' they  
     said; 'he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'    

8    THERE WAS ANOTHER OCCASION about this time when a huge crowd   
     had collected, and, as they had no food, Jesus called his disciples and  
     said to them, 'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me now  
     for three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them home unfed, they  
     will turn faint on the way; some of them have come from a distance.'  The   
     disciples answered, 'How can anyone provide all these people wit bread  
     in this lonely place?'  'How many loaves have you?' he asked; and they  
     answered, 'Seven.'  So he ordered the people to sit down on the ground;  
     then he took the seven loaves, and, after giving thanks to God, he broke the    
     bread and gave it to his disciples to distribute; and they served it out to the  
     people.  They had a few small fishes, which he blessed and ordered  
     them to distribute.  They all ate to their hearts' content, and seven baskets  
     were filled with the scraps that were left.  The people numbered about four  
     thousand.  Then he dismissed them; and, without delay, got into the boat  
     with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.   
        Then the Pharisees came out and engaged him in discussion.  To test  
     him they asked him for a sign from heaven.  He sighed deeply to himself  
     and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign?  I tell you this: no sign  
     shall be given to this generation.'  With that he left them, re-embarked, and  
     went off to the other side of the lake.   
        Now the had forgotten to take bread with them; they had no more than  
     one loaf in the boat.  He began to warn them: 'Beware,' he said, 'be on your  
     guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and take the leaven of Herod.'  They  
     said among themselves, 'It is because we have no bread.'  Knowing what  
     was in their minds, he asked them, 'Why do you talk about having no  
     bread?  Have you no inkling yet?  Do you still not understand?  Are your  
     minds closed?  You have eyes: can you not see?  You have ears: can you  
     not hear?  Have you forgotten?  When I broke the five loaves among five  
     thousand, how many basketfuls of scrap did you pick up?'  'Twelve',  
     they said.  'And how many when I broke the seven loaves among four    
     thousand?'  They ansewred, 'Seven.'  He said, 'Do you still not under-  
     stand?'   
        They arrived at Bethsaida.  There the people brought a blind man to  
     Jesus and begged him to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand  
     and led him away out of the village.  Then he spat on his eyes, laid his  
     hands upon him, and asked whether he could see anything.  The man's  
     sight began to come back, and he said, 'I see men; they look like trees, but  
     they are walking about.'  Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; he looked   
     hard, and now he was cured so that he saw everything clearly.  Then Jesus  
     sent him home, saying, 'Do not tell anyone in the village.'   

     JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.  
     On the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do you men say I am?' They answered,  
     'Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others one of the prophets.'  
     'And you,' he asked, 'who do you say I am?'  Peter replied: 'You are the  
     Messiah.'  Then he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him;  
     and he began to teach them that the Son of Man had to undergo great   
     sufferings, and to be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and doctors of  
     the law; to be put to death, and to rise again three days afterwards.  He spoke  
     about it plainly.  At this Peter took him by the arm and began to rebuke him.  
     But Jesus turned round, and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter.  'Away  
     with you, Satan,' he said; 'you think as men thinks, not as God thinks.'  
        Then he called the people to him, as well as his disciples, and said to  
     them, 'Anyone who wishes to be a follower of mine must leave self behind;  
     he must take up his cross, and come with me.  Whoever cares for his own  
     safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake and for the   
     Gospel, that man is safe.  What does a man gain by winning the whole world    
     at the cost of his true self?  What can he give to buy that self back?  If anyone  
     is ashamed of me and mine in this wicked and godless age, the Son of Man  
     will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father and of the  
     holy angels.'   
9       He also said, 'I tell you this: there are some of those standing here who  
     will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God already  
     come in power.'   
        Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them  
     up a high mountain where they were alone; and in their presence he was  
     transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white, with a whiteness no  
     bleacher on earth could equal.  They saw Elijah appear, and Moses with   
     him, and there they were, conversing with Jesus.  Then Peter spoke:   
     'Rabbi,' he said, 'how good it is that we are here!  Shall we make three  
     shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?'  (For he did not  
     know what to say; they were so terrified.)  Then a cloud appeared, casting  
     its shadow over them, and out of the cloud came a voice: 'This is my Son,  
     my Beloved; listen to him.'  And now suddenly, when they looked around,  
     there was nobody to be seen but Jesus alone with themselves.    
        On their way down the mountain, he enjoined them not to tell anyone  
     what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  They  
     seized upon those words, and discussed among themselves what this  
     'rising from the dead' could mean.  And they put a question to him: 'Why  
     do our teachers say that Elijah must come first?'  He replied, 'Yes, Elijah  
     does come first to set everything right  Yet how is it that the scriptures  
     say of the Son of Man that he is to endure great sufferings and to be treated  
     with contempt?  However, I tell you, Elijah has already come and they have  
     worked their will upon him, as the scriptures say of him.'  
        When they came back to the disciples they saw a large crowd surrounding   
     them and lawyers arguing with them.  As soon as they saw Jesus the whole  
     crowd were overcome with awe, and they ran forward to welcome him.   
     He asked them, 'What is this argument about?'  A man in the crowd spoke  
     up: 'Master, I brought my son to you.  He is possessed by a spirit which  
     makes him speechless.  Whenever it attacks him, it dashes him to the  
     ground, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes rigid.  I asked  
     your disciples to cast it out, but they failed.'  Jesus answered: 'What an   
     unbelieving and perverse generation!  How long shall I be with you?  How  
     long must I endure you?  Bring him to me.'  So they brought the boy to him;  
     and as soon as the spirit saw him it threw the boy into convulsions, and he  
     fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth.  Jesus asked his  
     father, 'How long has he been like this?'  'From childhood,' he replied;  
     'often it has tried to make an end of him by throwing him into the fire or  
     into water.  But if it is at all possible for you, take pity upon us and help us.'  
     If it is possible!' said Jesus.  'Everything is possible to one who has  
     faith.'  'I have faith,' cried the boy's father; 'help me where faith falls  
     short.'  Jesus saw then that the crowd was closing in upon them, so he  
     rebuked the unclean spirit.  'Deaf and dumb spirit,' he said, 'I command   
     you, come out of him and never go back!'  After crying aloud and racking   
     him fiercely, it came out; and the boy looked like a corpse; in fact, many   
     said, 'He is dead.'  But Jesus took his hand and raised him to his feet, and  
     he stood up.  
        Then Jesus went indoors, and his disciples asked hm privately, 'Why  
     could we not cast it out?'  He said, 'There is no means of casting out this  
     sort but prayer.'   

     THEY NOW LEFT that district and made a journey through Galilee.  Jesus  
     wished it to be kept secret; for he was teaching his disciples, and telling  
     them, 'The Son of Man is now to be given up into the power of men, and  
     they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.'  
     But they did not understand what he said, and were afraid to ask.   
        So they came to Capernaum; and when he was indoors, he asked them,  
     'What were you arguing about on the way?'  They were silent, because on  
     the way they had been discussing who was the greatest.  He sat down,  
     called the twelve, and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must  
     make himself last of all and servant of all.'  Then he took a child, set him  
     in front of them, and put his arm around him.  'Whoever receives one of  
     these children in my name', he said,' receives me; and whoever receives  
     me, receives not me but the One who sent me.'  
        John said to him, 'Master, we saw a man driving out devils in your name,  
     and as he was not one of us, we tried to stop him.'  Jesus said, 'Do not stop  
     him; no one who does a work of divine power in my name will be able the   
     next moment to speak evil of me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  
     I tell you this: if anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you are  
     followers of the Messiah, that man assuredly will not go unrewarded.  
        'As for the man who is a cause of stumbling to one of these little one  
     who have faith, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with   
     a millstone round his neck.  If your hand is your undoing, cut it off; it  
     is better for you to enter into life maimed than to keep both hands and  
     go to hell and the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot is your undoing,  
     cut it off; it is better to enter into life a cripple than to keep both you feet   
     and be thrown into hell.  And if it is your eye, tear it out; it is better to enter   
     into the kingdom of God with one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown   
     into hell, where the devouring worm never dies and the fire is not quenched.   
        'For everyone will be salted with fire  
        'Salt is a good thing; but if the salt loses its saltiness, what will you season  
     it with?  
        'Have salt in yourselves; and be at peace with one another.'   

The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970