Mark 5-6

New American Standard Bible

The Demon-possessed Man Cured

5 ^(A)They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. ² When He got out of ^(B)the boat, immediately a man from the tombs ^(C)with an unclean spirit met Him. ³ He lived among the tombs; and no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴ because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces; and no one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; ⁷ and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, “^[a](D)What business do You have with me, Jesus, ^(E)Son of ^(F)the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” ⁸ For He had already been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is ^(G)Legion, for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region. ¹¹ Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding ^[b]nearby on the mountain. ¹² And the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.” ¹³ Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ And then they *came to Jesus and *saw the man who had been ^(H)demon-possessed sitting down, ^(I)clothed and ^(J)in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the “^(K)legion”; and they became frightened. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the ^(L)demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. ¹⁷ And they began to ^(M)beg Him to leave their region. ^18 (N)And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been ^(O)demon-possessed was begging Him that he might ^[c]accompany Him. ¹⁹ And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “^(P)Go home to your people and report to them ^[d]what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to ^(Q)proclaim in ^(R)Decapolis ^[e]what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Miracles and Healing

^21 (S)When Jesus had crossed over again in ^(T)the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He ^[f]stayed ^(U)by the seashore. ^22 (V)And one of ^(W)the synagogue ^[g]officials, named Jairus, *came, and upon seeing Him, *fell at His feet ²³ and *pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and ^(X)lay Your hands on her, so that she will ^[h]get well and live.” ²⁴ And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

²⁵ A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶ and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— ²⁷ after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His ^[i]cloak. ²⁸ For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will ^[j]get well.” ²⁹ And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her ^(Y)disease. ³⁰ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that ^(Z)power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” ³¹ And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³² And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. ³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, ^(AA)your faith has ^[k]made you well; ^(AB)go in peace and be cured of your ^(AC)disease.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, people *came from the house of the ^(AD)synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?” ³⁶ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the ^(AE)synagogue official, “^(AF)Do not be afraid, only ^[l]believe.” ³⁷ And He allowed no one to accompany Him except ^(AG)Peter, ^[m]James, and John the brother of ^[n]James. ³⁸ They *came to the house of the ^(AH)synagogue official, and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. ³⁹ And after entering, He *said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child has not died, but is asleep.” ⁴⁰ And they began laughing at Him. But putting them all outside, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was in bed. ⁴¹ And taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha, kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, ^(AI)I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astonished. ⁴³ And He ^(AJ)gave them strict orders that no one was to know about this, and He told them to have something given her to eat.

Teaching at Nazareth

6 ^(AK)Jesus went out from there and *came into ^[o](AL)His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² And when the Sabbath came, He began ^(AM)to teach in the synagogue; and ^[p]the ^(AN)many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such ^[q]miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is this not ^(AO)the carpenter, ^(AP)the son of Mary and brother of ^[r]James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are ^(AQ)His sisters not here with us?” And they took ^(AR)offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “^(AS)A prophet is not dishonored except in ^[s](AT)his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could not do any ^[t]miracle there except that He ^(AU)laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He was amazed at their unbelief.

^(AV)And He was going around the villages, teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

^7 (AW)And ^(AX)He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out ^(AY)in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; ^8 (AZ)and He instructed them that they were to take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no ^[u]bag, no money in their belt— ⁹ but ^[v]to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not wear two ^[w]tunics.” ¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you ^[x]leave town. ¹¹ Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ^(BA)shake the dust ^[y]off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.” ^12 (BB)And they went out and ^[z]preached that people are to repent. ¹³ And they were casting out many demons and ^(BC)were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

^14 (BD)And King Herod heard about it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^(BE)John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” ¹⁵ But others were saying, “He is ^(BF)Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^(BG)a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard about it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^(BH)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(BI)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And ^(BJ)Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(BK)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he ^[aa]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, ^(BL)held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people ^(BM)of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of ^(BN)Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[ab]his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to ^(BO)half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and ^[ac]his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

^30 (BP)The ^(BQ)apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and ^(BR)they did not even have time to eat.) ^32 (BS)And they went away in ^(BT)the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Men Fed

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ^[ad]ashore, He ^(BU)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(BV)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “^[ae]This place is secluded and it is already late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[af]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(BW)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[ag](BX)denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(BY)blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied; ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full ^(BZ)baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(CA)five thousand ^[ah]men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (CB)And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into ^(CC)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to ^(CD)Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And after ^(CE)saying goodbye to them, He left ^(CF)for the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Seeing them ^[ai]straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the ^[aj](CG)fourth watch of the night, He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. ⁴⁹ But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[ak]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(CH)Take courage; it is I, ^(CI)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(CJ)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(CK)they ^[al]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[am]their hearts ^(CL)were hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (CM)When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored at the shore. ⁵⁴ And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that entire country and began carrying here and there on their pallets those who were sick, ^[an]to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or a countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just ^(CN)touch ^(CO)the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being ^[ao]healed.