<p> <SPAN name="C15V1"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:1</font></SPAN> Then Pharisees and
scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, <SPAN name="C15V2"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:2</font></SPAN> "Why do your disciples
disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when
they eat bread."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V3"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:3</font></SPAN> He answered them,
"Why do you also disobey the commandment of God
because of your tradition? <SPAN name="C15V4"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:4</font></SPAN> For God commanded, 'Honor your
father and your mother,'<font color="#0000ff" size=-1><sup><SPAN href="#N72">*</SPAN></sup></font> and, 'He who speaks evil of father or
mother, let him be put to death.'<font color="#0000ff" size=-1><sup><SPAN href="#N73">*</SPAN></sup></font> <SPAN name="C15V5"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:5</font></SPAN> But you say, 'Whoever may tell
his father or his mother, "Whatever help you might otherwise have
gotten from me is a gift devoted to God," <SPAN name="C15V6"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:6</font></SPAN> he shall not honor his father or
mother.' You have made the commandment of God void because of your
tradition. <SPAN name="C15V7"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:7</font></SPAN> You
hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
<br/> <SPAN name="C15V8"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:8</font></SPAN> 'These people draw
near to me with their mouth,
<br/>and honor me with their lips;
<br/>but their heart is far from me.
<br/> <SPAN name="C15V9"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:9</font></SPAN> And in vain do they
worship me,
<br/>teaching as doctrine rules made by men.'"<font
color="#0000ff" size=-1><sup><SPAN href="#N74">*</SPAN></sup></font>
</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V10"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:10</font></SPAN> He summoned the
multitude, and said to them, "Hear, and understand.
<SPAN name="C15V11"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:11</font></SPAN> That which enters into
the mouth doesn't defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the
mouth, this defiles the man."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V12"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:12</font></SPAN> Then the disciples
came, and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended,
when they heard this saying?"</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V13"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:13</font></SPAN> But he answered,
"Every plant which my heavenly Father didn't plant
will be uprooted. <SPAN name="C15V14"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:14</font></SPAN> Leave
them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the
blind, both will fall into a pit."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V15"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:15</font></SPAN> Peter answered him,
"Explain the parable to us."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V16"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:16</font></SPAN> So Jesus said, "Do you also still not understand? <SPAN name="C15V17"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:17</font></SPAN> Don't you understand that
whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the
body? <SPAN name="C15V18"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:18</font></SPAN> But the things
which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the
man. <SPAN name="C15V19"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:19</font></SPAN> For out of the
heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts,
false testimony, and blasphemies. <SPAN name="C15V20"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:20</font></SPAN> These are the things which
defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands doesn't defile the
man."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V21"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:21</font></SPAN> Jesus went out from
there, and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. <SPAN name="C15V22"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:22</font></SPAN> Behold, a Canaanite woman came
out from those borders, and cried, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord,
you son of David! My daughter is severely demonized!"</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V23"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:23</font></SPAN> But he answered her
not a word.</p>
<p>His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away; for she
cries after us."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V24"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:24</font></SPAN> But he answered,
"I wasn't sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the
house of Israel."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V25"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:25</font></SPAN> But she came and
worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V26"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:26</font></SPAN> But he answered,
"It is not appropriate to take the children's bread
and throw it to the dogs."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V27"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:27</font></SPAN> But she said,
"Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their
masters' table."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V28"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:28</font></SPAN> Then Jesus answered
her, "Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you
even as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that
hour.</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V29"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:29</font></SPAN> Jesus departed there,
and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and
sat there. <SPAN name="C15V30"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:30</font></SPAN> Great
multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed,
and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,
<SPAN name="C15V31"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:31</font></SPAN> so that the multitude
wondered when they saw the mute speaking, injured whole, lame walking, and
blind seeing--and they glorified the God of Israel.</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V32"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:32</font></SPAN> Jesus summoned his
disciples and said, "I have compassion on the
multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing
to eat. I don't want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the
way."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V33"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:33</font></SPAN> The disciples said to
him, "Where should we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to
satisfy so great a multitude?"</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V34"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:34</font></SPAN> Jesus said to them,
"How many loaves do you have?"</p>
<p>They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C15V35"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:35</font></SPAN> He commanded the
multitude to sit down on the ground; <SPAN name="C15V36"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:36</font></SPAN> and he took the seven loaves and
the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and
the disciples to the multitudes. <SPAN name="C15V37"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:37</font></SPAN> They all ate, and were filled.
They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.
<SPAN name="C15V38"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:38</font></SPAN> Those who ate were four
thousand men, besides women and children. <SPAN name="C15V39"><font size=-1 color="blue">15:39</font></SPAN> Then he sent away the
multitudes, got into the boat, and came into the borders of Magdala.</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V1"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:1</font></SPAN> The Pharisees and
Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from
heaven. <SPAN name="C16V2"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:2</font></SPAN> But he answered
them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red.' <SPAN name="C16V3"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:3</font></SPAN> In the morning, 'It will be foul
weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know
how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can't discern the signs
of the times! <SPAN name="C16V4"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:4</font></SPAN> An evil and
adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given
to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah."</p>
<p>He left them, and departed. <SPAN name="C16V5"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:5</font></SPAN> The disciples came to the other
side and had forgotten to take bread. <SPAN name="C16V6"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:6</font></SPAN> Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V7"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:7</font></SPAN> They reasoned among
themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V8"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:8</font></SPAN> Jesus, perceiving it,
said, "Why do you reason among yourselves, you of
little faith, 'because you have brought no bread?' <SPAN name="C16V9"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:9</font></SPAN> Don't you yet perceive, neither
remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you
took up? <SPAN name="C16V10"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:10</font></SPAN> Nor the seven
loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? <SPAN name="C16V11"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:11</font></SPAN> How is it that you don't
perceive that I didn't speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the
yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V12"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:12</font></SPAN> Then they understood
that he didn't tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the
teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. <SPAN name="C16V13"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:13</font></SPAN> Now when Jesus came into the
parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V14"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:14</font></SPAN> They said, "Some
say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V15"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:15</font></SPAN> He said to them,
"But who do you say that I am?"</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V16"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:16</font></SPAN> Simon Peter answered,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V17"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:17</font></SPAN> Jesus answered him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
<SPAN name="C16V18"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:18</font></SPAN> I also tell you that you
are <SPAN href="#N75">Peter,</SPAN> and on this <SPAN href="#N76">rock</SPAN> I will
build my assembly, and the gates of <SPAN href="#N77">Hades</SPAN> will not
prevail against it. <SPAN name="C16V19"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:19</font></SPAN> I
will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind
on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth
will have been released in heaven." <SPAN name="C16V20"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:20</font></SPAN> Then he commanded the disciples
that they should tell no one that he is Jesus the Christ. <SPAN name="C16V21"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:21</font></SPAN> From that time, Jesus began to
show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third
day be raised up.</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V22"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:22</font></SPAN> Peter took him aside,
and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This will
never be done to you."</p>
<p> <SPAN name="C16V23"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:23</font></SPAN> But he turned, and
said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a
stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of
God, but on the things of men." <SPAN name="C16V24"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:24</font></SPAN> Then Jesus said to his
disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. <SPAN name="C16V25"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:25</font></SPAN> For whoever desires to save his
life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find
it. <SPAN name="C16V26"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:26</font></SPAN> For what will it
profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what
will a man give in exchange for his life? <SPAN name="C16V27"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:27</font></SPAN> For the Son of Man will come in
the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to
everyone according to his deeds. <SPAN name="C16V28"><font size=-1 color="blue">16:28</font></SPAN> Most certainly I tell you, there
are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see
the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom."</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />