He took him by the hand and led him outside the village, then spit in his eyes, laid His hands upon him, and asked him, "Do you see anything?"

He looked up and answered, "I see the people, but they look to me like trees moving around."

Then He laid His hands upon his eyes again, and he looked the best he could and was cured, and saw everything distinctly.

So He sent him home with the warning, "Do not ever go into the village."

Then Jesus and His disciples left Galilee and went to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way there He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

Then He began to ask them, "Who do you yourselves say that I am?" Peter answered Him, "You are the Christ."

But He strictly warned them not to tell this about Him to anybody.

Then He instructed them for the first time that the Son of Man had to endure great suffering and be disowned by the elders and the high priests and the scribes, and be killed but rise again after three days.

And without any reserve He was telling them this fact. So Peter took Him aside and began to reprove Him for it.

But He turned and glanced at His disciples and reproved Peter by saying, "Get out of my way, Satan, for this view of yours is not from God but from men!"

Then He called the people to Him along with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say, 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me.

For whoever is ashamed of me and my teaching in this unfaithful, sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when He comes back in His Father's splendor with the holy angels."

And He said to them, "I solemnly say to you, some of the people standing here will certainly live to see the kingdom of God come in its power."

Six days after this, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him, and led them up on a high mountain, alone by themselves. And in their presence His appearance was changed,

For he did not really know what to say, he was so frightened.

And while they were going down the mountain, He cautioned them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead.

He answered them, "Elijah does come first and gets everything ready, but how is it that the Scripture says about the Son of Man that He will suffer much and be rejected?

Then He asked them, "Why are you arguing with them?"

A man from the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit.

Wherever it seizes him, it convulses him, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth; and he is wasting away. So I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they could not do it."

He answered them, "Oh, you unbelieving people of the times! How long must I be with you! How long must I put up with you! Bring him to me."

And they brought the boy to Him. As soon as the spirit saw Him, it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and kept rolling over and foaming at the mouth.

Then He asked his father, "How long has he been like this?" He answered, "From his childhood;

Then Jesus, because He saw that a crowd was rushing up to Him, reproved the foul spirit and said to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, get out of him, I charge you, and never get into him again."

Then it gave a shriek and violently convulsed the boy, and got out of him. And the boy looked like a corpse, so much so that the people said that he was dead.

But Jesus grasped his hand and raised him, and he got up.

He answered them, "This sort of thing can be driven out only by prayer."

Then they left there and were making a trip through Galilee, and He did not want anybody to know it;

for He was now teaching His disciples, and saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be turned over into men's hands, and they will kill Him, but three days after that He will rise again."

Then they reached Capernaum. When He got home, He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way home?"

So He sat down and called the Twelve to Him and said, "If anyone wants to be the first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all."

Then He took a little child and had him stand in the midst of them; then He took him in His arms, and said to them,

John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to drive out demons, and we tried to stop him, for he was not one of our followers."

"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, on the ground that you belong to Christ, I solemnly say to you, he will not fail to get his reward.

Everyone must be seasoned with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt loses its strength, how can you season it again?

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.

And He answered them by asking, "What has Moses commanded you about it?"

They answered, "Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife, if he wrote out a divorce charge."

and he and his wife must become one,' so they are no longer two but one.

So He said to them, "If any man divorces his wife to marry another woman, he commits adultery against his former wife,

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.

Then He took the little children into His arms, and as He laid His hands upon them one by one, He tenderly blessed them.

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?"

But he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these commandments ever since I was a child."

But his countenance fell at that command, and he went away in deep distress, for he owned a great deal of property.

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!"

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!

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.

"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,

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."

He asked them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

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.

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, you son of David, do pity me!"

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!"

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."

He threw off his coat and jumped up and went to Jesus.

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.

When they were getting near Jerusalem, that is, were at Bethphage and Bethany in front of the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples on ahead,

Then those in front and those behind Him shouted: "Welcome Him! Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord;

Blessed be the coming reign of our father David! Welcome Him from on high!"

And so He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After He had looked everything over, as it was already late, He went out with the Twelve to Bethany.

Next day, while they were walking over from Bethany, He felt hungry.

Now in the distance He saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and He went up to it to see if He might find some figs on it, but when He got to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for figs.

So He spoke to it and said, "Never again may anyone eat a fig from you!" And His disciples were listening to it.

Then they reached Jerusalem, and He went into the temple and began to drive out of it those who were buying and selling things in it. Then He upset the money-changers' tables and the dove-dealers' counters,

And He continued teaching them and saying, "Does not the Scripture say, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a cave for robbers."

Then the high priests and the scribes heard of this, and they kept looking for some way to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, for everybody was swept off his feet at what He said.

So when evening came, He and His disciples used to go out of the city.

I solemnly say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt at all in his heart, but has faith that what he says will take place, shall have it.

Then again they went into Jerusalem. And while Jesus was walking about in the temple, the high priests, scribes, and elders came up to Him

Then they argued with one another in this way, "If we say, 'It was from heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

Then He began to speak to them in stories. "A man once planted a vineyard and fenced it in and hewed out a wine-vat and built a watchtower; then he rented it to tenant farmers, and went abroad.

At the proper time he sent a slave to the tenants to collect his part of the grape crop.

And again he sent another slave to them, and they beat his head and treated him shamefully.

Then he sent a third one, and they killed him, and many others, some of whom they beat, some they killed.

He had one more to send, his dearly loved son; at last he sent him to them, for he said to himself, 'They will surely respect my son.'

Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come back and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

Then they were trying to have Him arrested, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew that He aimed this story at them. And so they left Him and went away.

Should we pay it, or should we not?" Now because He saw their pretense, He said to them, "Why are you testing me so? Bring me a twenty-cent coin to look at."

And they brought Him one. Then He asked them, "Whose picture and title is this?" They answered Him, "Caesar's."

So He said, "Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and pay God what belongs to God." And they were utterly dumbfounded at Him.

But as to the rising of the dead, did you never read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

He is not the God of dead but of living people! You are entirely wrong in your views."

Then one of the scribes, on hearing them arguing, came up, and since he saw that Jesus had answered them properly, he asked Him, "What sort of command is the first of all commands?"

Then the scribe said to Him, "Indeed, Teacher, you have properly said that He is one by Himself, and there is no other but Him,

So Jesus said to him, as He saw that he had answered thoughtfully, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one ventured to ask Him any more questions.

While He was teaching in the temple, He answered them and said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

David himself called him Lord, so how can He be his son?" Most of the people liked to hear Him.

And in His teaching He continued to say: "Beware of the scribes who like to go about in long robes, to be saluted with honor in public places,

Then He sat down in front of the collection-box and was watching the people as they dropped their money into it. And many rich people were dropping in large sums.

And He called His disciples to Him and said, "I solemnly say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all these others who have been putting money into the collection-box.

As He was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Look, Teacher! What stupendous stones, what beautiful buildings!"

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, in a private group, were asking Him,

Many will come bearing the name of Messiah, and saying, 'I am He,' and they will mislead many.

"So when you see the destructive desecration standing where he has no right to stand" -- let the reader take notice -- "then let those who remain in Judea fly to the hills;

If the Lord had not cut those days short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of the people chosen as His own He has cut them short.

"If anyone says to you at that time, 'Look! Here is the Christ,' or, 'Look! There He is,' do not believe it.

Then He will send out His angels, and gather His chosen people from the four points of the compass, from one end of the sky to the other.

So when you see all these things taking place, you will know that He is right at the door.

It will be like a man who leaves his home and goes on a journey, after he has given orders to his slaves, to each his particular task, and has given orders to the watchman to keep watch.