The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 At about this same time he again found himself with a hungry crowd on his hands. He called his disciples together and said,
1
About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,
2 "This crowd is breaking my heart. They have stuck with me for three days, and now they have nothing to eat.
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“I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat.
3 If I send them home hungry, they'll faint along the way - some of them have come a long distance."
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If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples responded, "What do you expect us to do about it? Buy food out here in the desert?"
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His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?”
5 He asked, "How much bread do you have?" "Seven loaves," they said.
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Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” “Seven loaves,” they replied.
6 So Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. After giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd.
6
So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.
7 They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well.
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A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them.
8 The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected.
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They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.
9 There were well over four thousand at the meal. Then he sent them home.
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There were about 4,000 people in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.
10 He himself went straight to the boat with his disciples and set out for Dalmanoutha.
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Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.
11 When they arrived, the Pharisees came out and started in on him, badgering him to prove himself, pushing him up against the wall.
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When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
12 Provoked, he said, "Why does this generation clamor for miraculous guarantees? If I have anything to say about it, you'll not get so much as a hint of a guarantee."
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When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.”
13 He then left them, got back in the boat, and headed for the other side.
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So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake.
14 But the disciples forgot to pack a lunch. Except for a single loaf of bread, there wasn't a crumb in the boat.
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But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.
15 Jesus warned, "Be very careful. Keep a sharp eye out for the contaminating yeast of Pharisees and the followers of Herod."
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As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”
16 Meanwhile, the disciples were finding fault with each other because they had forgotten to bring bread.
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At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread.
17 Jesus overheard and said, "Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don't you see the point of all this? Don't you get it at all?
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Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?
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‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?
19 Remember the five loaves I broke for the five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?" They said, "Twelve."
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When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said.
20 "And the seven loaves for the four thousand - how many bags full of leftovers did you get?" "Seven."
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“And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said.
21 He said, "Do you still not get it?"
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“Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them.
22 They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch.
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When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him.
23 Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man's eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, "Do you see anything?"
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Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”
24 He looked up. "I see men. They look like walking trees."
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The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”
25 So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.
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Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.
26 Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, "Don't enter the village."
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Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”
27 Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, "Who do the people say I am?"
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Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 "Some say 'John the Baptizer,'" they said. "Others say 'Elijah.' Still others say 'one of the prophets.'"
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“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
29 He then asked, "And you - what are you saying about me? Who am I?" Peter gave the answer: "You are the Christ, the Messiah."
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Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah. ”
30 Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone.
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But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive."
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Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
32 He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.
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As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
33 But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works."
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Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
34 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how.
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Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
35 Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.
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If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
36 What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?
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And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
37 What could you ever trade your soul for?
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Is anything worth more than your soul?
38 "If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."
38
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.