He continued teaching them by many stories. In His teaching He spoke to them as follows:

As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

And He said, "Let him who has ears listen!"

When He was by Himself, those who stayed about Him with the Twelve began to ask Him about the stories.

Then He said to them, "To you the secret of the kingdom of God has been entrusted, but to those who are on the outside everything is presented in stories, so that

Then He said to them: "If you do not understand this story, how, indeed, can you understand any of my stories?

Then He put a question to them: "A lamp is not brought to be put under a peck-measure or under a bed, is it? Is it not rather to be put on the lamp-stand?

And He was saying to them: "Take care what you hear. The measure you give will come back to you, and more besides.

For whoever has will have more given to him, but whoever has nothing, even what he has will be taken away."

He also was saying: "The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground,

then continues sleeping by night and getting up by day, while the seed sprouts and comes up without his knowing how.

But as soon as the crop Will permit it, he puts in the sickle, for the reaping time has come."

Then He kept on saying: "How can I further picture the kingdom of God, or by what story can I illustrate it?

With many stories like these He kept on telling them the message, as far as they could understand it.

He did not tell them anything except by stories, but to His own disciples He kept on privately explaining everything.

That same day when it was evening, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other Side."

So they left the crowd and took Him in the boat in which he was sitting. And there were other boats with Him.

He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, "Teacher, is it no concern to you that we are going down?"

Then He aroused Himself and reproved the wind, and said to the sea, "Hush! Be still." And the wind lulled, and there was a great calm.

Then He asked them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith yet?"

They were very much frightened, and said to one another, "Who can He be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

As soon as He got out of the boat, a man under the power of a foul spirit and from the tombs met Him.

for he had often been fastened with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one was strong enough to overpower him.

All night and all day he kept screaming among the tombs and on the hills, and kept gashing himself with stones.

On catching a glimpse of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell down on his knees before Him,

and screamed aloud, "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name, I beg you, do not torture me."

He asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

So He let them do so. And the foul spirits came out of the man and got into the hogs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the cliff and into the sea and were drowned.

And those who had seen it told them how it occurred to the man who had been under the power of the demons, and about the hogs.

And as He was getting into the boat, the once insane man kept begging Him to let him go with Him.

However, He did not let him, but said to him, "Go home to your folks, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and has taken pity on you."

And so he went away and began to tell everybody in the Ten Cities how much Jesus had done for him; and everybody was dumbfounded.

When Jesus again had crossed in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him, as He was standing on the seashore.

And a man named Jairus, a leader of a synagogue, came up, and when he saw Jesus he flung himself at His feet

So He went off with him, and a great crowd kept following Him, and jostling Him.

Jesus at once perceived that power had gone out of Him, and so He turned around in the crowd, and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

Still He kept looking around to see her who had done it.

And He said to her, "My daughter, your faith has cured you. Go in peace and be free from your disease."

Even while He was saying this, people came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said, "Your daughter is dead; why trouble the Teacher any longer?"

He let no one go with Him but Peter, James, and James's brother John.

They came to the home of the leader of the synagogue, and there He saw confusion, and people weeping and wailing without restraint.

And He went into the house and said to them, "Why do you continue all this confusion and crying? The little girl is not dead but is sleeping."

Then they began to laugh in His face. But He drove them all out, and took the little girl's father and mother and the men with Him, and went into the room where the little girl was.

Then He grasped her hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I tell you, get up!"

But He strictly charged them to let nobody know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

He left there and went back to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him.

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue. And the people were dumbfounded when they heard Him, and said, "Where did He get all these things? What sort of wisdom is it that has been given Him? And such mighty deeds are done by Him!

Is He not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not His sisters live here among us?" And so they found a cause for stumbling over him.

He could not do any mighty deeds there, except that He put His hands on a few ailing people and cured them.

And He wondered at their lack of faith in Him. Then He made a circle of the villages and continued teaching.

And He called the Twelve to Him and sent them out two by two, and gave them power over the foul spirits.

He ordered them not to take anything for the journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in the purse;

And He continued to say to them, "Whenever you put up at a house, stay there until you leave that place.

But others were saying that He was Elijah, and still others that He was a prophet like the prophets of old.

But when Herod heard of Him, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead."

for Herod stood in awe of John, because he knew that he was an upright and holy man, and so he protected him. When he heard him speak, he was very much disturbed, and yet he liked to hear him.

And he promised her on oath, "I will give you anything you ask for, up to half of my kingdom."

The apostles returned and met Jesus and reported to Him everything, how many things they had done and taught.

And He said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a little while." For there was an endless stream of people coming and going, and they had no time even to eat.

So when He got out of the boat, He saw a great crowd waiting, and His heart was moved with pity at the sight of them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and so He proceeded to teach them a number of things.

But He answered them, "Give them something to eat yourselves." Then they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy forty dollars' worth of bread and give it to them to eat?"

Then He asked them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." They found out and told Him, "Five, and two fish."

Then He ordered them all to sit down in rows on the green grass.

Then He took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed the loaves and broke them in pieces and gave the pieces to the disciples to pass on to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

Then He insisted that the disciples at once get into their boat and cross ahead of Him toward Bethsaida, while He was sending the crowd away.

After He had told them "Goodbye," He went up the hill to pray.

Now when evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, while He was alone on land.

And because He saw that they were struggling at the oars, for the wind was against them, a while before daybreak He started toward them walking on the sea, and He meant to go right up beside them.

for they all saw Him and were terrified. But He at once spoke to them and said, "Keep up courage! It is I; stop being afraid."

Then He went up to them and got into the boat, and the wind lulled. They were completely dumbfounded,

and hurried all over the countryside and began to bring the sick to Him on their pallets, wherever they heard He was.

And whatever villages or towns or country places He came to, they would lay the sick in the market-places and beg Him to let them touch just the tassel of His coat, and everybody that touched it was cured.

But He answered them, "Isaiah beautifully prophesied about you hypocrites; as the Scripture says: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me;

Again He called the people to Him and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

Now when He had left the crowd and gone home, His disciples were asking Him the meaning of this story.

And He answered them, "Are you too without understanding yet? Do you not know that nothing from the outside that goes into a man can make him foul,

because it does not reach his heart but only his stomach, and then passes off into the waste?" In thus speaking He made all foods clean.

He kept on saying, "The thing that comes from the inside of a man is the thing that makes him foul,

Then He left there and went into the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and wanted no one to know that He was there. But He could not escape public notice.

But He was saying to her, "Let the children first eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it out to the house dogs."

Then He said to her, "Because you have said this, go home; the demon has gone out of your daughter."

He left the neighborhood of Tyre and went by way of Sidon through the district of the Ten Cities down to the Sea of Galilee.

So He took him off from the crowd by himself and put His fingers in his ears and touched his tongue with saliva.

Then He looked up to heaven and sighed, as He said, "Ephphatha," which means, "Be opened."

And his ears were opened and his tongue was untied, and he began to speak distinctly.

Then He charged them not to tell anybody about it, but the more He kept charging them, the more they kept spreading the news.

So the people were overwhelmingly dumbfounded, and kept saying, "How wonderfully He has done everything! He even makes deaf people hear and dumb people talk."

In those days when a great crowd again had gathered and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him, and said,

Then He asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They answered, "Seven."

So He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves and gave thanks and broke them in pieces and gave them to His disciples to pass, and they passed them to the people.

And they had a few small fish, and He blessed them and told them to pass these, too, to the people,

About four thousand people were there. Then He sent them away.

And He at once got into the boat and crossed to the district of Dalmanutha.

But He sighed in spirit and said, "Why do the people of these times ask for a spectacular sign? I solemnly say, no sign at all will be given them."

And He left them and again got into the boat and crossed to the other side.

Then He kept warning them by saying, "Look out! Keep on guarding yourselves against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

And as He noticed it He said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet know nor understand? Are your minds so dull?

Do you not remember how many basketfuls of pieces you picked up when I broke the five loaves in pieces for the five thousand?" They said to Him, "Twelve."

"And how many hamper-basketfuls of pieces when I broke the seven loaves in pieces for the four thousand?" They said to Him, "Seven."

He said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"