11And He called the twelvetogether, and gave them power and authorityoverall the demons and to healdiseases.
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And He sent them out to 2proclaim the kingdom of God and to performhealing.
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And He said to them, "3Takenothing for your journey, 4neither a staff, nor a bag, norbread, normoney; and do not even havetwotunicsapiece.
4
"Whateverhouse you enter, staythereuntil you leave that city.
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"And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, 5shake the dustoff your feet as a testimonyagainst them."
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Departing, they began goingthroughout the villages, 6preaching the gospel and healingeverywhere.
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7Now8Herod the tetrarchheard of all that was happening; and he was greatlyperplexed, because it was said by some that 9John had risen from the dead,
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and by some that 10Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risenagain.
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Herodsaid, "I myself had Johnbeheaded; but who is thismanaboutwhom I hearsuchthings?" And 11he kept trying to see Him.
10
12When the apostlesreturned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. 13Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a citycalled14Bethsaida.
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But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curingthose who hadneed of healing.
Five Thousand Fed
12 Now the day was ending, and the twelvecame and said to Him, "Send the crowdaway, that they may go into the surroundingvillages and countryside and findlodging and getsomething to eat; for here we are in a desolateplace."
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But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have nomorethanfiveloaves and twofish, unless*perhaps we go and buyfood for allthesepeople."
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(For there were aboutfivethousandmen.) And He said to His disciples, "Have them sitdown to eat 15in groups of aboutfiftyeach."
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Then He took the fiveloaves and the twofish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to setbefore the people.
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And they allate and were satisfied; and the brokenpieces which they had leftover were picked up, twelve16baskets full.
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17And it happened that while He was 18prayingalone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, "Who do the peoplesay that I am?"
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They answered and said, "John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risenagain."
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And He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peteranswered and said, "19The Christ of God."
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But He 20warned them and instructed them not to tellthis to anyone,
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21saying, "22The Son of Manmustsuffermanythings and be rejected by the elders and chiefpriests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the thirdday."
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And He was saying to them all, "23Ifanyonewishes to comeafter Me, he must denyhimself, and take up his crossdaily* and follow Me.
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"For 24whoever*wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever*loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
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"For what is a manprofited if he gains the wholeworld, and 25losesorforfeitshimself?
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"26For whoever* is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holyangels.
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"But I say to you truthfully, 27there are some of thosestandingherewho will not tastedeathuntil they see the kingdom of God."
The Transfiguration
2828Someeightdaysafterthesesayings, He tookalong29Peter and John and James, and 30went up on the mountain31to pray.
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And while He was 32praying, the appearance of His face33becamedifferent, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
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And behold, twomen were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,
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who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His 34departurewhich He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32
NowPeter and his companions*35had beenovercome with sleep; but when they were fullyawake, they saw His glory and the twomenstanding with Him.
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And as these were leaving Him, Petersaid to Jesus, "36Master, it is good for us to be here; 37let us makethreetabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah "-38not realizingwhat he was saying.
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While he was sayingthis, a cloudformed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
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Then39a voicecame out of the cloud, saying, "40This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!"
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And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was foundalone. And 41they keptsilent, and reported to noone in thosedaysany of the things which they had seen.
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42On the nextday, when they camedown from the mountain, a largecrowdmet Him.
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And a man from the crowdshouted, saying, "Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only boy,
39
and a spiritseizes him, and he suddenlyscreams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves.
40
"I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not."
41
And Jesusanswered and said, "You unbelieving and pervertedgeneration, howlong* shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your sonhere."
42
While he was stillapproaching, the demonslammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesusrebuked the uncleanspirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father.
43
And they were allamazed at the 43greatness of God. 44But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,
44
"Let thesewordssink into your ears; 45for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men."
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But 46they did not understandthisstatement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him aboutthisstatement.
The Test of Greatness
4647An argumentstartedamong them as to which of them might be the greatest.
47
But Jesus, 48knowingwhat they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side,
48
and said to them, "49Whoever*receivesthischild in My namereceives Me, and whoever*receives Me receives Him who sent Me; 50for the one who is leastamongall of you, this is the one who is great."
49
51Johnanswered and said, "52Master, we sawsomeonecasting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us."
50
But Jesussaid to him, "Do not hinder him; 53for he who is not against you is for you."
51
When the days were approaching for 54His ascension, He was determined55to go to Jerusalem;
52
and He sentmessengers on ahead* of Him, and they went and entered a village of the 56Samaritans to makearrangements for Him.
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But they did not receive Him, 57because He was travelingtowardJerusalem.
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When His disciples58James and Johnsaw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to 59commandfire to comedown from heaven and consume them?"
55
But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not knowwhatkind of spirit you are of;
56
for the Son of Man did not come to destroymen'slives, but to save them."] And they went on to anothervillage.