So she went out and said to her mother, "What am I to ask?" "John the Baptizer's head," she answered.

Then she hurried in at once and asked the king, saying, "I want you to give me this very moment John the Baptist's head on a dish."

so the king at once sent one of the guard with orders to bring his head. The man went and beheaded him in the prison,

brought his head on a dish, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

When his disciples heard of it they went and fetched his body and laid it in a tomb.

And he said to them, "Come away to some lonely spot and get a little rest" (for there were many people coming and going, and they could get no time even to eat).

So when Jesus disembarked he saw a large crowd, and out of pity for them, as they were like sheep without a shepherd, he proceeded to teach them at length.

Then, as the day was far gone, his disciples came up to him, saying, "It is a desert place and the day is now far gone;

He replied, "Give them some food, yourselves." They said, "Are we to go and buy ten pounds' worth of food and give them that to eat?"

He said, "How many loaves have you got? Go and see." When they found out they told him, "Five, and two fish."

They all ate and had enough;

(The number of men who ate the loaves was five thousand.)

Then he made the disciples at once embark in the boat and cross before him towards Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd;

Now when evening came the boat was [far out] in the middle of the sea, and he was on the land alone;

but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and shrieked aloud ??50 for they all saw him and were terrified. Then he spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

On crossing over they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore.

And when they had disembarked, the people at once recognized Jesus;

They noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with 'common' (that is, unwashed) hands.

(The Pharisees and all the Jews decline to eat till they wash their hands up to the wrist, in obedience to the tradition of the elders;

they decline to eat what comes from the market till they have washed it; and they have a number of other traditions to keep about washing cups and jugs and basins [and beds].)

He said to them, "Isaiah made a grand prophecy about you hypocrites ??as it is written, This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me:

You drop what God commands and hold to human tradition.

Yes, forsooth," he added, "you set aside what God commands, so as to maintain your own tradition.

But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'This money might have been at your service, but it is Korban' (that is, dedicated to God),

nothing outside a man can defile him by entering him; it is what comes from him that defiles him.

It does not enter his heart but his belly and passes from that into the drain" (thus he pronounced all food clean).

"No," he said, "it is what comes from a man, that is what defiles him.

Leaving there, he went away to the territory of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and wished no one to know of it, but he could not escape notice;

a woman heard of him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, and she came in and fell at his feet

(the woman was a pagan, of Syrophoenician birth) begging him to cast the daemon out of her daughter.

He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first of all; it is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

Then his ears were [at once] opened and his tongue freed from its fetter ??he began to speak correctly.

Jesus forbade them to tell anyone about it, but the more he forbade them the more eagerly they made it public;

In those days, when a large crowd had again gathered and when they had nothing to eat, he called the disciples and said to them,

"I am sorry for the crowd; they have been three days with me now, and they have nothing to eat.

So he ordered the crowd to recline on the ground, and taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve out. They served them out to the crowd,

and as they also had a few small fish, he blessed them too and told the disciples to serve them out as well.

So the people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven baskets of fragments which were left over.

embarked at once in the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Now the Pharisees came out and started to argue with him, asking him for a Sign from heaven, by way of tempting him.

"Leaven?" they argued to themselves, "we have no bread at all."

He noted this and said to them, "Why do you argue you have no bread? Do you not see, do you not understand, even yet? Are you still dull of heart?

He began to see and said, "I can make out people, for I see them as large as trees, moving."

At this he laid his hands on his eyes once more, and the man stared in front of him; he was quite restored and saw everything distinctly.

he spoke of this quite freely. Peter took him and began to reprove him for it,

for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

What profit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?

What could a man offer as an equivalent for his soul?

and his clothes glistened white, vivid white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

So Peter addressed Jesus, saying, "Rabbi, it is a good thing we are here; let us put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"

(for he did not know what to say, they were so terrified).

As they went down the hill, he forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen, till such time as the Son of man rose from the dead.

This order they obeyed, debating with themselves what 'rising from the dead' meant.

He said to them, "Elijah does come first, to restore all things; but what is written about the Son of man as well? This, that he is to endure great suffering and be rejected.

As for Elijah, I tell you he has come already, and they have done to him whatever they pleased ??as it is written of him."

Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

and whenever it seizes him it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth. He is wasting away with it; so I told your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

So they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw Jesus it at once convulsed the boy; he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

"it has thrown him into fire and water many a time, to destroy him. If you can do anything, do help us, do have pity on us."

At once the father of the boy cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

And it did come out, after shrieking aloud and convulsing him violently. The child turned like a corpse, so that most people said, "he is dead";

When he went indoors his disciples asked him in private, "Why could we not cast it out?"

He said to them, "Nothing can make this kind come out but prayer and fasting."

But they did not understand what he said, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

Then they reached Capharnahum. And when he was indoors he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?"

Then he took a little child, set it among them, and putting his arms round it said to them,

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out daemons in your name; but he does not follow us, and so we stopped him."

And whoever is a hindrance to one of these little ones who believe, it were better for him to have a great millstone hung round his neck and be thrown into the sea.

If your hand is a hindrance to you, cut it off: better be maimed and get into Life, than keep your two hands and go to Gehenna, to the fire that is never quenched.

If your foot is a hindrance to you, cut it off: better get into Life a cripple, than keep your two feet and be thrown into Gehenna.

If your eye is a hindrance to you, tear it out: better get into God's Realm with one eye, than keep your two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna,

where their worm never dies and the fire is never put out.

Salt is excellent: but if salt is tasteless, how are you to restore its flavour? Let there be 'salt between you'; be at peace with one another."

So he replied, "What did Moses lay down for you?"

They said, "Moses permitted a man to divorce her by writing out a separation notice."

What God has joined, then, man must not separate."

I tell you truly, whoever will not submit to the Reign of God like a child will never get into it at all."

As he went out on the road a man ran up and knelt down before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit life eternal?"

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "There is one thing you want," he said; "go and sell all you have; give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, take up the cross, and follow me."

But his face fell at that, and he went sadly away, for he had great possessions.

Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, "How difficult it is for those who have money to get into the Realm of God!"

The disciples were amazed at what he said; so he repeated, "My sons, how difficult it is [for those who rely on money] to get into the Realm of God!

It is easier for a camel to get through a needle's eye than for a rich man to get into the Realm of God."

Jesus looked at them and said, "For men it is impossible, but not for God: anything is possible for God."

They were on the way up to Jerusalem, Jesus walking in front of them: the disciples were in dismay and the company who followed were afraid. So once again he took the twelve aside and proceeded to tell them what was going to happen to himself.

So he said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

They said to him, "Give us seats, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your glory."

Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I have to drink, or undergo the baptism I have to undergo?"

but it is not for me to grant seats at my right or my left hand ??these belong to the men for whom they have been destined."

Now when the ten heard of this, they burst into anger at James and John;

so Jesus called them and said, "You know the so-called rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them:

heard it was Jesus of Nazaret. So he started to shout, "Son of David! Jesus! have pity on me."

Jesus spoke to him and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said, "Rabboni, I want to regain my sight."

Then Jesus said, "Go, your faith has made you well;" and he regained his sight at once and followed Jesus along the road.

Now when they came near Jerusalem, near Bethphage and Bethany, at the Hill of Olives, he despatched two of his disciples,

saying to them, "Go to the village in front of you. As soon as you enter it you will find a colt tethered, on which no one has ever sat; untether it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing that?' say, 'The Lord needs it,' and he will send it back immediately."

Off they went and found a colt tethered outside a door in the street. They untethered it;

but some of the bystanders said to them, "What do you mean by untethering that colt?"

Then they brought the colt to Jesus, and when they had put their clothes on it Jesus seated himself.