1 Then He left there and went through the district of Judea and crossed the Jordan, and crowds of people again met around Him, and again He began to teach them, as His custom was. 2 Some Pharisees came up, and to test Him they began to ask Him whether a man should be allowed to divorce his wife.
3 And He answered them by asking, "What has Moses commanded you about it?"
4 They answered, "Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife, if he wrote out a divorce charge."
5 But Jesus said to them, "It was due to your moral perversity that Moses wrote that command in your law. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, 'God made them male and female.
7 Therefore, a man must leave his father and mother, 8 and he and his wife must become one,' so they are no longer two but one. 9 Therefore, what God has joined together man must stop separating."
10 On reaching the house the disciples again asked Him about this. 11 So He said to them, "If any man divorces his wife to marry another woman, he commits adultery against his former wife, 12 and if any woman divorces her husband to marry another man, she commits adultery."
13 And people were bringing little children to Him for Him to touch them, but the disciples reproved them for it. 14 When Jesus saw it, He was indignant, and said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them from it, for to such as these the kingdom of God belongs. 15 I solemnly say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child does, will never get into it at all." 16 Then He took the little children into His arms, and as He laid His hands upon them one by one, He tenderly blessed them.
17 As He was again starting on a journey, a man ran up to Him, and knelt to Him, and was asking Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"
18 And Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me perfectly good? No one is perfectly good but God Himself. 19 You know the commandments: Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Practice honoring your father and mother."
20 But he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these commandments ever since I was a child."
21 Then Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back and follow me." 22 But his countenance fell at that command, and he went away in deep distress, for he owned a great deal of property.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have money to get into the kingdom of God!" 24 His disciples were startled at this statement. But Jesus again said to them as He continued the topic, "My children, how hard it is to get into the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God."
26 They were perfectly dumbfounded, and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?"
27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "This is impossible for men, but everything is possible for God."
28 Then Peter started to say to Him, "We have left everything we had and followed you."
29 Jesus said, "I solemnly say to you, there is no one who has given up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farm for me and for the good news, 30 who will not receive now in this life a hundred times as much in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, but along with them persecution, and in the world to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first now will be last then, and last now who will be first then."
32 As they were walking along the road up to Jerusalem, Jesus was going on ahead of them, but they were dazed while those who were still following were afraid. Then again He took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to befall Him.
33 "Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be turned over to the high priests and scribes, and they will sentence Him to death, and will turn Him over to the heathen, 34 and they will make sport of Him, and spit on Him, and flog Him, and kill Him, but three days after He will rise again."
35 And Zebedee's two sons, James and John, came up to Him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
36 He asked them, "What do you want me to do for you?"
37 They answered Him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your splendor."
38 Jesus said to them, "You do not realize what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup that I am drinking, or endure the baptism of agony that I am to endure?"
39 They answered Him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "Yes, the cup that I am drinking you will have to drink, and the baptism of agony that I am enduring you will have to endure, 40 but seats at my right and at my left are not mine to give, but they will be given to those for whom they have been prepared." 41 When the other ten heard of it, they were at first very indignant at James and John.
42 Then Jesus called them to Him, and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule the heathen lord it over them, and their great men rule as despots over them; 43 but this is not to be the case among you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to hold the first positions among you must be everybody's slave. 45 For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho, with His disciples and a great crowd, Timeus' son, Bartimeus, a blind beggar, was sitting on the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, you son of David, do pity me!" 48 Many of the people began to rebuke him and to tell him to keep quiet, but all the louder he kept shouting, "You son of David, do pity me!"
49 So Jesus stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." Then they told the blind man, saying, "Cheer up! Get up! He is calling for you." 50 He threw off his coat and jumped up and went to Jesus.
51 Then Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man answered, "Good Teacher, I want to see again."
52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has cured you." And all at once he could see again, and began to follow Jesus along the road.