UST MARK Chapter 9

9 Jesus also said to the crowds and his apprentices, “Listen carefully! Some of you who are here now will not die before you see God ruling powerfully!”

2 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and James’ brother, John, and led them up a high mountain. While they were alone up there, he appeared very different to them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white. They were whiter than anyone on earth could make them by bleaching them. 4 Two prophets who had lived long ago, Moses and Elijah, appeared to them. Then the two of them began talking with Jesus. 5 After a short time, Peter said, “Teacher, it is wonderful to be here! So allow us to make three shelters. One will be for you, one will be for Moses, and one will be for Elijah!” 6 He said this because he wanted to say something, but he did not know what to say, because he and the other two apprentices were very frightened. 7 Then a cloud appeared, and it covered them. God spoke to them from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son. He is the one whom I love. Therefore, you should pay attention to what he says!” 8 When the three apprentices looked around, they suddenly saw that only Jesus was with them and that Elijah and Moses were no longer there.

9 While they were coming down the mountain, Jesus told them that they should not tell anyone yet what had just happened to him. He said, “You may tell them after I, the Son of Man, become alive again after I die.” 10 So they did not tell others about it for a long time. But they discussed among themselves what it meant when he said that he would rise from the dead.

11 The three apprentices asked Jesus, “The men who teach the Jewish laws say that Elijah must come back to the earth before the Messiah comes to earth, but we have just seen Elijah, so is what they are teaching wrong?” 12-13 12-13Jesus answered them, “It is true that God promised to send Elijah to come first to put everything as it should be. But Elijah has already come, and our leaders treated him very badly, just like they wanted to do just like prophets long ago had said they would. But there is much written in the Scriptures about me, the Son of Man. The Scriptures say that I will suffer a lot and that people will reject me.”

14 Then Jesus and those three apprentices arrived where the other apprentices were. They saw a large crowd around the other apprentices and some men who taught the Jewish laws arguing with them. 15 The crowd was very surprised to see Jesus come. So they ran to him and greeted him. 16 Jesus asked them, “What are you arguing about?” 17 A man in the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son here to you in order that you would heal him. There is an evil spirit in him that makes him unable to talk. 18 Whenever the spirit begins to control him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, he grinds his teeth together, and he becomes stiff. I asked your apprentices to expel the spirit, but they were not able to do it.” 19 Jesus replied to them by saying, “You faithless people! I have become greatly wearied by your unbelief! Bring the boy to me.” 20 So they brought the boy to Jesus. As soon as the evil spirit saw Jesus, it shook the boy severely, and the boy fell on the ground. He rolled around and foamed at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” He replied, “This started to happen when he was a child. 22 The spirit does not only do this, but he also often throws him into the fire or into the water in order to kill him. Pity us and help us, if you can!” 23 Jesus exclaimed to him, “Of course I can! God can do anything for people who believe that he is able to do it!” 24 Immediately the child’s father shouted, “I believe that you can help me, but I do not believe strongly. Help me to believe more strongly!” 25 Jesus saw that the crowd was growing. He rebuked the evil spirit: “You evil spirit, you who are causing this boy to be deaf and unable to talk! I command you to come out of him and never enter him again!” 26 The evil spirit shouted and shook the boy violently, and then it left the boy. The boy did not move. He seemed like a dead body. So most of the people there said, “He has died!” 27 However, Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him get up. Then the boy stood up. 28 Later, when Jesus and his apprentices were alone in a house, they asked him, “Why were we not able to force the evil spirit out?” 29 Jesus said to them, “You can force this type of evil spirit out only by abstaining from food and praying to God. There is no other way that you can expel them.”

30 After Jesus and his apprentices left that region, they traveled through the region of Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone else to know where he was. 31 Jesus wanted to have time to teach his apprentices. He was telling them, “Someday my enemies will arrest me, the Son of Man, and I will be put into the hands of other men. Those men will kill me. But on the third day after I die, I will become alive again!” 32 The apprentices did not understand what Jesus was telling them, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

33 Then Jesus and his apprentices returned to the town of Capernaum. When they were in the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you talking about while we were traveling on the road?” 34 But the apprentices did not reply. They were ashamed to reply because, while they were traveling, they had been arguing with each other about which one of them was the most important. 35 Jesus sat down. He called the Twelve Representatives to come close to him, and then he said to them, “If anyone wants God to consider him to be the most important person of all, he must consider himself to be the least important person of all, and he must serve everyone else.” 36 Then Jesus took a child and placed him among them. He took the child in his arms, and then he said to them, 37 “Those who welcome a child like this one because they love me, God considers that they are welcoming me. Whoever welcomes me, it is as though they are also welcoming God, who sent me to represent him.”

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone who was forcing evil spirits out of people. He claimed that he had authority from you to do that. So we told him to stop doing it, because he was not one of us apprentices.” 39 Jesus said, “Do not tell him to stop doing that. For no person will say bad things about me soon after performing a mighty deed with my authority. 40 Those who are not opposing us are trying to achieve the same goals that we are. 41 God will certainly reward those who help you in any way, even if they simply give you a cup of water to drink because you follow me, the Messiah!”

42 Jesus also said, “But if you cause child who believes in me to sin, God will punish you severely. If someone tied a very heavy stone around your neck and threw you into the sea, that would be better for you than if God punished you for causing a person who believes in me to sin. 43 So if you are wanting to use one of your hands to sin, do not use it! Even if you have to cut your hand off and throw it away to avoid sinning, do it! It is better that you live eternally, even though you lack one of your hands while you are here on earth. But it is not good that you sin and as a result God throws your whole body into hell. There, the fires never go out! 44 [fn] [It is a place where maggots never stop feeding on them, and the fire that burns them never goes out.] 45 If you are wanting to use one of your feet to sin, stop using your foot! Even if you have to cut off your foot to avoid sinning, do it! It is good that you do not sin and do live eternally, even though you lack one of your feet while you are here on earth. But it is not good that you sin, and as a result, God puts your whole body into hell 46 [fn] [where maggots never stop feeding on them, and the fire that burns them never goes out.] 47 If because of what you see you are tempted to sin, stop looking at those things! Stop even if you have to gouge out your eye and throw it away to avoid sinning, do it! It is better to have only one eye and to enter the kingdom over which God reigns, than to have two eyes and have him throw you into hell. 48 In that place maggots feed on the people there forever, and the fires are never put out.

49 You must endure difficulties in order that God will be pleased with you. Your difficulties are like a fire that makes things pure. Your enduring is also like people putting salt on their sacrifices to make them pure. 50 Salt is useful to put on food, but you cannot make it taste salty again if it becomes flavorless. Similarly, you must remain useful to God, because how can you become useful to God again if you become useless. You must also live peacefully with each other.”

Some ancient manuscripts include verse 44.

Some ancient manuscripts include verse 46.

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