The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And getting the twelve together, he gave them power and authority over all evil spirits and over diseases, to make them well.
1
Jesus called the twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases.
2 And he sent them out to be preachers of the kingdom of God, and to make well those who were ill.
2
Then he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick,
3 And he said to them, Take nothing for your journey, no stick or bag or bread or money, and do not take two coats.
3
after saying to them, "Take nothing with you for the trip: no walking stick, no beggar's bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt.
4 And if you go into a house, let that house be your resting-place till you go away.
4
Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that town;
5 And if any people will not take you in, when you go away from that town, put off its dust from your feet for a witness against them.
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wherever people don't welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them."
6 And they went away, journeying through all the towns, preaching the good news and making people free from diseases in all places.
6
The disciples left and traveled through all the villages, preaching the Good News and healing people everywhere.
7 Now Herod the king had news of all these things: and he was in doubt, because it was said by some people that John had come back from the dead;
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When Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about all the things that were happening, he was very confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had come back to life.
8 And by some, that Elijah had come; and by others, that one of the old prophets had come back to life.
8
Others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life.
9 And Herod said, I put John to death: but who is this, of whom such stories are given to me? And he had a desire to see him.
9
Herod said, "I had John's head cut off; but who is this man I hear these things about?" And he kept trying to see Jesus.
10 And the twelve, when they came back, gave him an account of what they had done. And he took them with him and went away from the people to a town named Beth-saida.
10
The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him, and they went off by themselves to a town named Bethsaida.
11 But the people, getting news of it, went after him: and he was pleased to see them, and gave them teaching about the kingdom of God, and made those well who were in need of it.
11
When the crowds heard about it, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, and healed those who needed it.
12 And the day went on; and the twelve came to him and said, Send these people away so that they may go into the towns and the country round about and get resting-places and food for themselves, for we are in a waste place.
12
When the sun was beginning to set, the twelve disciples came to him and said, "Send the people away so that they can go to the villages and farms around here and find food and lodging, because this is a lonely place."
13 But he said, Give them food yourselves. And they said, We have only five cakes of bread and two fishes, if we do not go and get food for all these people.
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But Jesus said to them, "You yourselves give them something to eat." They answered, "All we have are five loaves and two fish. Do you want us to go and buy food for this whole crowd?"
14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them be seated in groups, about fifty to a group.
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(There were about five thousand men there.) Jesus said to his disciples, "Make the people sit down in groups of about fifty each."
15 And they did so, and made them all be seated.
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After the disciples had done so,
16 And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them, and when they had been broken, he gave them to the disciples to give to the people.
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Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, thanked God for them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.
17 And they all took the food and had enough; and they took up of the broken bits which were over, twelve baskets full.
17
They all ate and had enough, and the disciples took up twelve baskets of what was left over.
18 And it came about that when he was in prayer, by himself, and the disciples were with him, he put a question to them, saying, Who do the people say I am?
18
One day when Jesus was praying alone, the disciples came to him. "Who do the crowds say I am?" he asked them.
19 And they, answering, said, John the Baptist; but others say Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has come back.
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"Some say that you are John the Baptist," they answered. "Others say that you are Elijah, while others say that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."
20 And he said, But who do you say that I am? And Peter, answering, said, The Christ of God.
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"What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are God's Messiah."
21 But he gave them special orders, not to say this to any man;
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Then Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.
22 Saying, The Son of man will undergo much and be put on one side by the rulers and the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and be put to death, and on the third day he will come back to life.
22
He also told them, "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will be raised to life."
23 And he said to them all, If any man has a desire to come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross every day, and come after me.
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And he said to them all, "If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me.
24 For whoever has a desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, but whoever gives up his life because of me, will keep it.
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For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it.
25 For what profit will a man have if he gets all the world, but undergoes loss or destruction himself?
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Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but are yourself lost or defeated? Of course not!
26 For if any man has a feeling of shame because of me or of my words, the Son of man will have shame because of him when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
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If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 But truly I say to you, Some of those who are here now will have no taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
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I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Kingdom of God."
28 And about eight days after he had said these things, he took Peter and John and James with him and went up into the mountain for prayer.
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About a week after he had said these things, Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up a hill to pray.
29 And while he was in prayer, his face was changed and his clothing became white and shining.
29
While he was praying, his face changed its appearance, and his clothes became dazzling white.
30 And two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him;
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Suddenly two men were there talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah,
31 Who were seen in glory and were talking of his death which was about to take place in Jerusalem.
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who appeared in heavenly glory and talked with Jesus about the way in which he would soon fulfill God's purpose by dying in Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and those who were with him were overcome with sleep: but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were with him.
32
Peter and his companions were sound asleep, but they woke up and saw Jesus' glory and the two men who were standing with him.
33 And when they were about to go away from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah: having no knowledge of what he was saying.
33
As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, how good it is that we are here! We will make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (He did not really know what he was saying.)
34 And while he said these things, the shade of a cloud came over them, and they were full of fear when they went into the cloud.
34
While he was still speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them with its shadow; and the disciples were afraid as the cloud came over them.
35 And there was a voice from the cloud saying, This is my Son, the man of my selection; give ear to him.
35
A voice said from the cloud, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen - listen to him!"
36 And after the voice was gone they saw that Jesus was by himself. And they kept quiet, and said nothing at that time to anyone of the things which they had seen.
36
When the voice stopped, there was Jesus all alone. The disciples kept quiet about all this and told no one at that time anything they had seen.
37 And on the day after, when they came down from the mountain, a great band of people came to him.
37
The next day Jesus and the three disciples went down from the hill, and a large crowd met Jesus.
38 And a man from among them, crying out, said, Master, I make a request to you, give a thought to my son, for he is my only child:
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A man shouted from the crowd, "Teacher! I beg you, look at my son - my only son!
39 And see, a spirit takes him, and suddenly he gives a cry, twisted in pain and streaming at the lips, and when it goes away from him at last, he is marked as from blows.
39
A spirit attacks him with a sudden shout and throws him into a fit, so that he foams at the mouth; it keeps on hurting him and will hardly let him go!
40 And I made a request to your disciples to send it out of him, but they were not able to do it.
40
I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn't."
41 And Jesus said, O generation without faith and false in heart, how long will I have to be with you and put up with you? let your son come here.
41
Jesus answered, "How unbelieving and wrong you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you?" Then he said to the man, "Bring your son here."
42 And while he was coming, he was pushed violently down and twisted by the evil spirit. But Jesus gave sharp orders to the unclean spirit, and made the boy well, and gave him back to his father.
42
As the boy was coming, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a fit. Jesus gave a command to the evil spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
43 And they were full of wonder at the great power of God. But while they were all wondering at all the things which he did, he said to his disciples,
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All the people were amazed at the mighty power of God. The people were still marveling at everything Jesus was doing, when he said to his disciples,
44 Let these words go deep into your ears, for the Son of man will be given up into the hands of men.
44
"Don't forget what I am about to tell you! The Son of Man is going to be handed over to the power of human beings."
45 But this saying was not clear to them and its sense was kept secret from them so that they were not able to see it: and they had fear of questioning him about it.
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But the disciples did not know what this meant. It had been hidden from them so that they could not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about the matter.
46 Now there was a discussion among them about which of them would be the greatest.
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An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest.
47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their hearts, he took a small child and put him by his side,
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Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he took a child, stood him by his side,
48 And said to them, Whoever gives honour to this child in my name, gives honour to me: and whoever gives honour to me, gives honour to him who sent me: for whoever is least among you all, that man is great.
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and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, also welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all is the greatest."
49 And John, answering, said, Master, we saw a man driving out evil spirits in your name, and we did not let him do it, because he was not one of us.
49
John spoke up, "Master, we saw a man driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group."
50 But Jesus said to him, Let him do it, for he who is not against you is for you.
50
"Do not try to stop him," Jesus said to him and to the other disciples, "because whoever is not against you is for you."
51 And it came about that when the days were near for him to be taken up, his face was turned to go to Jerusalem,
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As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem.
52 And he sent men before: and they came to a small town of Samaria to make ready for him.
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He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready for him.
53 But they would not have him there, because he was clearly going to Jerusalem.
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But the people there would not receive him, because it was clear that he was on his way to Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, may we send fire from heaven and put an end to them?
54
When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"
55 But turning round he said sharp words to them.
55
Jesus turned and rebuked them.
56 And they went to another small town.
56
Then Jesus and his disciples went on to another village.
57 And when they were on the way, a certain man said to him, I will come after you wherever you go.
57
As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.
58
Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest."
59 And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.
59
He said to another man, "Follow me." But that man said, "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father."
60 But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God.
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Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
61 And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house.
61
Someone else said, "I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family."
62 But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God.
62
Jesus said to him, "Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God."
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.