Gospel of Saint Mark - The New Testament

¹ And now once again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples to him and said to them,

² 'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat.

³ If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.'

⁴ His disciples replied, 'Where could anyone get these people enough bread to eat in a deserted place?'

⁵ He asked them, 'How many loaves have you?' And they said to him, 'Seven.'

⁶ Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd.

⁷ They had a few small fishes as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed too.

⁸ They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over.

⁹ Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away

¹⁰ and at once, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹ The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with him; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to put him to the test.

¹² And with a profound sigh he said, 'Why does this generation demand a sign? In truth I tell you, no sign shall be given to this generation.'

¹³ And, leaving them again, he re-embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ The disciples had forgotten to take any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

¹⁵ Then he gave them this warning, 'Keep your eyes open; look out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.'

¹⁶ And they said to one another, 'It is because we have no bread.'

¹⁷ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, 'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are your minds closed?

¹⁸ Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember?

¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' They answered, 'Twelve.'

²⁰ 'And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?' And they answered, 'Seven.'

²¹ Then he said to them, 'Do you still not realise?'

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

²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then, putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, 'Can you see anything?'

²⁴ The man, who was beginning to see, replied, 'I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.'

²⁵ Then he laid his hands on the man's eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly.

²⁶ And Jesus sent him home, saying, 'Do not even go into the village.'

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?'

²⁸ And they told him, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.'

²⁹ 'But you,' he asked them, 'who do you say I am?' Peter spoke up and said to him, 'You are the Christ.'

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

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;

³² and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.

³³ But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.'

³⁴ He called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

³⁵ Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

³⁶ What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?

³⁷ And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

³⁸ For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.'