Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
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Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,
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they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.
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(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,
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thus observing the tradition of the elders;
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and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;
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and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.
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)
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So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live
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according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
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He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
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in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
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You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
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Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!
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For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’
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But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God
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)—
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then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother,
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thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”
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Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:
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there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”
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When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.
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He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
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since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
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And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles.
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For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,
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adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
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All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
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From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.
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He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,
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but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.
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Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
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He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
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But she answered him, “Sir,
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even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
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Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.”
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So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
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Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
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They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
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He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.
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Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
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And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
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Then Jesus
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ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
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They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
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In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them,
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“I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.
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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.”
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His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?”
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He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
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Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd.
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They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed.
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They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
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Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.
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And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
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The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him.
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And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
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And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.
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Now the disciples
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had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
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And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
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They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.”
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And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
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Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?
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When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.”
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“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.”
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Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
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They came to Bethsaida. Some people
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brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.
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He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?”
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And the man
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looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
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Then Jesuse laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
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Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”
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Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
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And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
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He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
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And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
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Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
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He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
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But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
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He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
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For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,
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will save it.
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For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
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Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
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Those who are ashamed of me and of my words
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in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
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And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with
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power.”
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Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
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and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one
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on earth could bleach them.
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And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
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Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,
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one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
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He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
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Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;
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listen to him!”
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Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.