Mark 8 (New American Standard)

Four Thousand Fed

1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, ¹Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 2 "²I feel compassion for the ^apeople because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 "If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way ; and some of them have come from a great distance." 4 And His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone be able to find enough ^bbread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people ?" 5 And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have ?" And they said, "Seven." 6 And He directed the ^cpeople to ^dsit down on the ground ; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to ^eserve to them, and they served them to the ^fpeople. 7 They also had a few small fish ; and ³after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be ^gserved as well. 8 And they ate and were satisfied ; and they picked up seven large ⁴baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9 About four thousand were there; and He sent them away. 10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of ⁵Dalmanutha. 11 ⁶The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ⁷seeking from Him a ^hsign from heaven, ⁱto test Him. 12 ⁸Sighing deeply ^jin His spirit, He said, "Why does this generation seek for a ^ksign ? Truly I say to you, ^l9no ^msign will be given to this generation." 13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side. 14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, "¹⁰Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ¹¹Herod." 16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread ? ¹²Do you not yet see or understand ? Do you have a ⁿhardened heart ? 18 "¹³HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE ? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR ? And do you not remember, 19 when I broke ¹⁴the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ¹⁵baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." 20 "When I broke ¹⁶the seven for the four thousand, how many large ¹⁷baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." 21 And He was saying to them, "¹⁸Do you not yet understand ?" 22 And they came to ¹⁹Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to ²⁰touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He ²¹brought him out of the village ; and after ²²spitting on his eyes and ²³laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything ?" 24 And he ^olooked up and said, "I see men, for ^pI see them like trees, walking around." 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes ; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter ²⁴the village."

Peter's Confession of Christ

27 ²⁵Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of ²⁶Caesarea Philippi ; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am ?" 28 ²⁷They told Him, saying, "John the Baptist ; and others say Elijah ; but others, one of the prophets." 29 And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am ?" ²⁸Peter answered and said to Him, "You are ^qthe Christ." 30 And ²⁹He ^rwarned them to tell no one about Him. 31 ³⁰And He began to teach them that ³¹the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter ³²plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, ³³Satan ; for you are not setting your mind on ^sGod's interests, but man's." 34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and ³⁴take up his cross and follow Me. 35 "For ³⁵whoever wishes to save his ^tlife will lose it, but whoever loses his ^ulife for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul ? 37 "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul ? 38 "For ³⁶whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ³⁷the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ³⁸comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."