1  One day Jesus summoned his twelve apostles, and gave them power to expel all kinds of demons and to heal people with diseases. He gave them authority to do that. 2  Before he sent them out to heal people and to tell people what it meant to let God ◄rule/have complete control over► their lives, 3 he said to them, “Do not take things for your journey. Do not take a walking stick or a traveler’s bag or food or money. Do not take ◄an extra shirt/extra clothes►. 4 Whenever you enter some house to lodge there, stay in that house until you leave that town. 5  In towns where the people do not welcome you, you should not continue to stay there. Just leave those towns. And as you leave, shake off the dust from your feet. Do that to warn them that God will punish them for rejecting your message.” 6 Then they left and traveled through many villages. Everywhere they went, they told people God’s good message and healed sick people.

7 Herod Antipas, the ruler of that district, heard about the things that Jesus and his disciples were doing. He had previously commanded his soldiers to execute John the Baptizer, so now he was perplexed, because some people were saying that John had become alive again and was doing those miracles. 8 Others were saying that the prophet Elijah had appeared again as had been prophesied. Others were saying that one of the other former prophets had become alive again and was doing those miracles. 9 But Herod said, “It cannot be John who is doing these things, because I commanded my soldiers to cut off his head. So who is this man that I am hearing these things about?” And he kept wanting to see Jesus.

10 When the apostles returned from traveling to various towns, they told Jesus the things that they had done. Then he took them and they went by themselves by boat to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But when the crowds of people who had been with Jesus found out about that, they followed him on land. When they got to where he was, he welcomed them. He taught them about how God is going to some day ◄rule as king/have complete control over people’s lives►. He also healed the sick people.

12 Late in the afternoon Jesus’ twelve apostles came to him and said, “This is a place where nobody lives, so dismiss the people so that they can go to the surrounding villages and other places where they can get some food and find places to stay!” 13 But he said to them, “No, you yourselves give them something to eat!” They replied, “We (exc) have only five small loaves and two cooked fish. Are you (sg) going to give us the money to go somewhere and buy food for all these people?” 14 There were about 5,000 men there. He replied to the disciples, “No, just tell the people to sit down. Tell them to sit in groups, with about 50 people in each group.” 15 After they told the people that, they all sat down. 16 Then he took the five small loaves and the two fish. He looked up towards heaven and thanked God for them. Then he broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples so that they would distribute them to the crowd. 17 All the people in the crowd ate until they all had enough to eat. Then the disciples collected twelve baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over!

18  One day Jesus was praying in a place where only the disciples were with him. He asked them, “The crowds of people, who do they say that I really am?” 19 They replied, “Some people say that you are John the Baptizer, who has come back to life again. Others say that you are the prophet Elijah, who has returned from heaven as God promised. Others say that you are one of the other prophets who lived long ago, who has come back to life again.” 20 He asked them, “What about you (pl)? Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “You (sg) are the Messiah, who has come from God.” 21 Then Jesus warned them strongly not to tell that to anyone yet. 22 Then he said, “Even though I am the one who came from heaven, it is necessary that I suffer very much. It is also necessary that I be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the men who teach the Jewish laws {that the Jewish elders and the chief priests and the men who teach the Jewish laws will reject me}. It is necessary that I be killed {that people will kill me}. Then on the third day after that, I will become alive again.”

23 Then he said to all of them, “If any one of you wants to be my disciple, you must not do only what you yourself desire to do. Specifically, you must be willing each day [MET] to let others hurt you and disgrace you. That is like what is done to criminals who are forced to carry [MET] crosses to the place where they will be executed. That is what anyone who wants to be my disciple must do. 24 You must do that, because those who try to save their lives by denying that they belong to me when people want to kill them for believing in me will not live eternally, but those who are killed because of being my disciples will live forever with me. 25 People might get everything that they want in this world, but ◄they are really gaining nothing if they do not get eternal life by becoming my disciples!/are they really gaining anything if they do not get eternal life by becoming my disciples?► [RHQ] 26 Those who reject my message and refuse to say that they belong to me, I, the one who came from heaven, will also refuse to say that they belong to me when I come back with the holy angels, and have the glorious brightness that my Father has. 27 But listen carefully! Some of you (pl) who are here now will see God ruling [MET] in many powerful ways. You will see it before you die!”

28 About a week after Jesus said those things, he took Peter, James, and James’ brother John and led them up a mountain so that he could pray there. 29 As he was praying, his face appeared very different to them. His clothes became as bright as lightning. 30-31 Suddenly, two men appeared who had the brightness of heaven surrounding them. They were prophets who had lived long ago, Moses and Elijah. They started talking with Jesus about how he would accomplish what God had planned when he died [EUP] very soon in Jerusalem. 32 Peter and the other disciples who were with him were sound asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ brightness. They also saw the two men standing with him. 33 As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is wonderful for us to be here! Allow us to make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” But he really did not realize what he was talking about. 34 As he was saying that, a bright cloud appeared and covered them all. The disciples were afraid as the cloud surrounded them. 35  God [MTY/EUP] spoke to them from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son. He is the one whom I have chosen to do a great work for me. So you must listen to him!” 36 After God [MTY/EUP] finished saying that, the three disciples saw that only Jesus was there. They did not tell anyone what they had seen until much later.

37 The next day, after they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd of people met Jesus. 38 Then a man from the crowd exclaimed, “Teacher, I plead with you, do something to help my son! He is my only child! 39 At various times an evil spirit suddenly seizes him and causes him to scream. The evil spirit shakes him violently and causes him to foam at the mouth. It does not leave until my child is completely exhausted. 40 I pleaded with your disciples who were here for them to expel the evil spirit, but they were not able to do it!” 41 Jesus replied by saying to everyone who had gathered there, “You who have seen how I help people do not believe that you can do anything. What you think is perverted! How long must I be with you before you are able to do what I do [RHQ]? How long must I endure your lack of faith?” Then he said to the boy’s father, “Bring your (sg) son here to me!” 42 While they were bringing the boy to Jesus, the demon attacked the boy, threw him to the ground, and shook him severely. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and healed the boy. Then he returned him to his father’s care. 43 All the people there were amazed at the great power of God.

While they were all amazed at all the miracles Jesus was doing, he said to his disciples, 44 “Think carefully [MTY] about what I am about to tell you: Even though I am the one who came from heaven, I will soon be handed over to the authorities (OR, my enemies) {someone is about to enable [MTY] my enemies to seize me}.” 45 But the disciples did not understand what he was saying; God prevented them from understanding it, so that they would not know yet what he meant. And they were afraid to ask him about what he had said.

46 The disciples began to argue among themselves about which one of them would be the greatest when Jesus became king. 47 But Jesus perceived what they were thinking. So he brought a young child to his side. 48 He said to the disciples, “Those who, because they love me, (OR, because they want to behave like me) welcome a little child ◄like this one/as I would► [MTY], God considers that [MET] they are welcoming me. And those who welcome me, God considers that [MET] they are welcoming him, the one who sent me. Remember that those among you who think of themselves as being very unimportant will be the ones whom God considers to be great.”

49 John replied to Jesus, “Master, we (exc) saw a man who was expelling demons, claiming that he had authority from you [MTY] to do that. So we told him to stop doing it, because he is not one of us disciples.” 50 But Jesus said to him and the other disciples, “Do not tell him not to do that! Remember that those who are not opposing you are trying to achieve the same goals that you are!”

51 When it was almost time for God to take Jesus up to heaven, he firmly resolved to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent some messengers to go ahead of him, and they entered a village in Samaria district to prepare for him [SYN] to go there. 53 But the Samaritans did not like the Jews because of their insisting that it was necessary to go to Jerusalem to worship God. So, because Jesus had firmly resolved to go to Jerusalem, they would not let him come to their village. 54 When two of his disciples, James and John, heard about that, they said, “Lord, do you (sg) want us (exc) to pray that God will send fire down from heaven, as the prophet Elijah did long ago, and destroy those people?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them for saying that. 56 So they went to a different village.

57 As Jesus and the disciples were walking along the road, one man said to him, “I will go with you (sg) wherever you go!” 58  In order that the man might know what he could expect if he went with Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes in the ground in which to live, and birds have nests, but even though I am the one who came from heaven, I do not have a home where I can sleep!” 59 Jesus told another man, “Come with me!” But the man said, “Lord/Sir, let me go home first. After my father dies I will bury him, and then I will come with you.” 60 But Jesus said to him, “God considers that those who do not have eternal life are dead [MET]. Let those people do the work of burying people who die. As for you, go and tell people about how God wants ◄to rule/to have complete control over► people’s lives!” 61 Someone else said, “Lord, I will come with you and be your disciple, but first let me go home to say goodbye to my relatives.” 62 Jesus said to him, “Anyone who is plowing his field should not look back to see what he has done. He must look forward to what is ahead. Similarly, anyone who continues to be concerned about his family and other things he has left behind is not fit to serve me and tell others about how God wants to rule [MTY] people’s lives.”