So, Jesus took him away from the crowd by himself and put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue [i.e., with His saliva]

[So], He took hold of the blind man by his hand and brought him out of the village. When Jesus spit [and put His saliva] on his eyes [See 7:33 for a similar use of His saliva in healing] and placed His hands on him [for healing], He asked him, "Can you see anything?"

Now Jesus and His disciples were [traveling] along the road, going up to Jerusalem, with Jesus moving on ahead of the others. The disciples were amazed and they followed [behind Him] fearfully. [Note: From the context, it appears their amazement was due to His eagerness to enter Jerusalem in spite of the imminent danger they felt awaited Him there]. He took the twelve apostles aside and began telling them about the things that were going to happen to Him.

They will mock Him, and spit on Him, and whip Him and [finally] kill Him, but after three days He will rise again [from the dead]."

And some of them began to spit on Him, then to cover His face [with a blindfold] and hit Him [with their fists], saying, "Prophesy [i.e., tell who hit you]." And the officers in charge of Him also struck Him with their hands.

They beat His head with a stick, spat on Him, knelt down before Him and [mockingly] worshiped Him.