The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  14 Then their herders ran away and brought the news to the city and the countryside. And people went to see what had happened, 15 and they came to Iēsous and saw the man who had been possessed by demons, but now he was sitting with clothes on and was clearheaded, though he’d had a “legion” of demons in him; and the people were frightened. 16 Those who’d seen it told them all about what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and also about the pigs, 17 and they began to plead with Iēsous to go away, out of their district.

  18 As he was boarding the boat, the man who’d been possessed by demons pleaded with him, wanting to go along with him. 19 But Iēsous didn’t allow him to, instead telling him, “Get along to your home and family, and tell them everything the master’s done for you, and how he took pity on you.” 20 And the man went away and proceeded to spread the word in the Ten Cities about everything Iēsous had done for him, and everyone was amazed.

  21 Once Iēsous crossed over again to the opposite shore [in the boat], a large crowd gathered in front of him, so he stayed beside the sea. 22 And there came to him one of the synagogue leaders, whose name was Iaïros. When this man saw Iēsous, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded with him fervently, saying, “My little daughter is on the verge of death, so will you come and lay your hands on her? Then she’ll be cured and live.” 24 So Iēsous went with him, and a large crowd followed him, pushing up hard against him him.

  25 Now there was a woman who’d been afflicted with a flow of blood for twelve years. 26 She’d suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and spent everything she had, but found no relief—instead, she’d gotten worse. 27 When she heard about Iēsous, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 telling herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be cured.”*37 29 And right away, the spring of her blood dried up, and she sensed in her body that she had been healed of her scourge. 30 But right away Iēsous clearly sensed in himself that power was going out of him, and he turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 But his students said to him, “You see this crowd pushing against you so hard, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But he went on looking around to see which female*38 had done this thing. 33 But the woman, terrified and shaking, and knowing what had happened to her, came and threw herself at his feet and told him the whole truth. 34 But he said to her, “Daughter, your trust has cured you. Be on your way in peace and be healthy after your scourge.”

  35 While he was still speaking, people came from the house of the synagogue leader and said, “Your daughter has died. Why are you still bothering the teacher?” 36 But Iēsous overheard the news being told, and he said to the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; only trust.” 37 And he didn’t allow anyone to come along with him except Petros and Iakōbos and Iakōbos’ brother Iōannēs. 38 And they came to the leader’s house, and he observed an uproar, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 Going in, he said, “Why are you making this uproar, why are you crying? The child hasn’t died—she’s just asleep.” 40 They jeered at him, but he threw out everybody, took the child’s father and her mother and his companions with him, and made his way in to where the child was. 41 Then he took hold of the child’s hand and said to her “Talitha koum,” which translates as “Little girl, I’m telling you, get up.”*39 42 And right away the little girl stood up and walked around; she was twelve years old. Then [right away] they were stunned almost beyond their capacity to be stunned. 43 And he gave strict orders to them that no one was to know what had happened here, and he told them she must be given something to eat.*40

  Chapter 6

  1 And he went away from there and came to his own hometown, and his students followed him. 2 And when the sabbaton arrived, he set about teaching in the synagogue, and many people were powerfully struck when they heard him, and they said, “Where did he get all this?” and “What’s this insight that’s been granted him?” and “How are such powerful things done by his hands?” 3 Isn’t this the builder, the son of Maria, and the brother of Iakōbos and Iōsēs and Ioudas and Simōn? And aren’t his sisters here with us?”*41 So they were tripped up by him. 4 But Iēsous said to them, “A prophet isn’t treated dishonorably except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own house.”*42 5 And in that place he couldn’t perform any powerful act, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 But he was amazed at their lack of trust. Then he made a circuit of the villages, teaching. 7 And he called the twelve to him and proceeded to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over unclean spirits; 8 and he directed them to take nothing with them on the road except a staff—not a loaf of bread, not a bag, and no copper coins in the belt; 9 rather, they were simply to strap on their sandals and not put on two tunics.*43 10 And he said to them, “Wherever you arrive and enter a house, stay in it until you leave that locale. 11 And if a place doesn’t take you in hospitably or listen to you, when you make your way out of it shake off the dust that’s under your feet as testimony against the people.”*44 12 And the students went out and announced that people should change their purpose, 13 and they expelled many demons, and they rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them.*45

  14 Then Hērōdēs the king*46 heard, since Iēsous’ name grew well known and conspicuous, and they said, “Iōannēs the baptizer has awakened from among the dead, and because of this, powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He’s Ēlias.” And still others said, “He’s a prophet, like one of the prophets in the books.” 16 But when Hērōdēs heard all this, he said, “Iōannēs, whom I beheaded—he’s awakened.”

  17 Hērōdēs had in fact personally sent to seize Iōannēs, and chained him up in prison because of Hērōdias, his brother Filippos’ wife, because Hērōdēs had married her. 18 Iōannēs had said to Hērōdēs, “It’s not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”*47 19 And Hērōdias held this against him and wanted to kill him, but she couldn’t, 20 as Hērōdēs had a reverent fear of Iōannēs, knowing that he was an upright and holy man; and he kept an eye out on his behalf. Having heard him, he felt he was at a dead end; yet he enjoyed hearing him.

  21 But an opportune day arrived when Hērōdēs, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilaia. 22 And his daughter Hērōdias came in and danced, delighting Hērōdēs and the others reclining at the table with him.*48 The king said to the little girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he swore to her [repeatedly], “Whatever you ask me for, I’ll give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” And her mother said, “The head of Iōannēs the baptizer.” 25 And she went back in right away, in a rush, to the king, and asked him in these words: “I want you to give me, here and now, on a platter, the head of Iōannēs the baptizer.” 26 And though the king was deeply grieved, still, because of the oaths and the men reclining at the table, he wasn’t willing to refuse her. 27 So right away the king sent an executioner, ordering him to bring Iōannēs’ head. And the executioner went and beheaded him in the prison. 28 And he brought his head on a platter and gave it to the little girl, and the little girl gave it to her mother. 29 And when his students heard, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

  30 Then the envoys gathered around Iēsous and reported to him everything they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come on! Just you, on your own, come to a place no one lives, and rest for a little while.” Many people were in fact coming and going, and they didn’t even have a chance to eat.

  32 So they went away on their own in a boat to an uninhabited place. 33 But many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran on foot from all the towns to assemble there and arrived before those on the boat did.

  34 And as he got out of it, he saw a large crowd and felt a wrenching pity for them because they were like sheep that didn’t have a shep
herd, and he began to teach them many things.

  35 By now it was late in the day, so his students approached him and said, “This is a place where no one lives, and by now it’s quite late. 36 Send them away, so that they can go to the farms and villages around here and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he responded by saying to them: “You give them something to eat.” But they told him, “Should we go out and buy two hundred denarii worth of loaves, and give them those to eat?”*49 38 But he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to have all the people recline in convivial cohorts that abutted on the verdant turf. 40 So they reclined by fifties and hundreds, all lined up as in garden allotments.*50 41 Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish, Iēsous looked up to the sky and blessed the loaves and broke them into pieces and gave them to [his] students to set before the people, and he shared out the two fish among them all. 42 And everyone ate until he was full, 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fish scraps. 44 And those who ate [the loaves] were five thousand grown men.

  45 And right away he made his students board the boat and go ahead of him to the opposite shore, to Bēthsaïda,*51 while he sent the crowd away. 46 And he took his leave from them and went away onto the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, but he was alone on land. 48 But when he saw them strained in their rowing, as the wind was against them, he came in their direction, around the fourth watch of the night,*52 walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them. 49 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and they screamed, 50 since they all saw him and were horrified. But right away he spoke to them and told them: “Be brave—it’s me. Don’t be afraid.” 51 And he got onto the boat where they were, and the wind stopped. And they were absolutely [overcome], beside themselves. 52 They hadn’t understood what had happened with the loaves—just the opposite: their hearts were calloused and unfeeling.

  53 Then, crossing to the opposite shore, they came to Gennēsaret and moored there.*53 54 But right when they got out of the boat, people recognized him, 55 and they ran here and there throughout that district and proceeded to put those who were unwell on stretchers and bring them here and there, wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he arrived—in villages or towns or rural areas—they put debilitated people down in the marketplaces and begged him to let these touch the hem of his cloak. And everyone who touched him was cured.

  Chapter 7

  1 Then the Farisaioi and some of the scholars came from Hierosoluma and gathered near him, 2 and they saw that some of his students were eating loaves with hands that had been promiscuously dirtied*54—which means unwashed; 3 the Farisaioi, you see, and all the other Ioudaioi don’t eat unless they vigorously wash their hands, holding to what their ancestors have handed down; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, if they don’t immerse themselves in water, they don’t eat; and there are many other customs, received from the past, that they hold to, such as the immersion of cups and pitchers and kettles [and couches]. 5 And the Farisaioi and the scholars asked him, “Why are your students behaving contrary to what the ancestors handed down? They eat bread with hands that have been made dirty anywhere and everywhere.”

  6 And he said to them, “Ēsaïas was right when he prophesied about you play-actors, as it’s been written:

  ‘This people honors me with their lips alone,

  While their heart is far away from me.

  7 Uselessly they “worship” me,

  Teaching human injunctions as the teachings.’*55

  8 “Throwing away god’s command, you hold to what human beings have handed down.” 9 And he said to them, “That’s a fine way to break god’s command—in order to set on firm ground what you hand down. 10 Mōüsēs in fact said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother is to meet his end and die.’*56 11 You say, on the other hand, that if someone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help might have come from me is korban (meaning an offering),’ 12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother!*57 13 In this way, you cancel what god spoke by this handing down of yours that you’ve handed down—and you handle a whole lot else in hardly different ways.”*58

  14 Then he called the crowd back again and said to them: “All of you listen to me, and understand: 15 Nothing outside a person that makes its way into him, however indiscriminately, can make him dirty; rather, the things making their way out of a person make that person dirty.”*59

  17 Then when he came home, away from the crowd, his students asked him what this analogy meant. 18 And he said to them, “You too—do you have so little understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing outside that makes its way into a person can dirty him? 19 It’s because it doesn’t make its way into his heart but into his belly, and then makes its way down the latrine—and that makes all kinds of foods clean!”*60 20 Then he said, “The thing that makes its way out of a person, that dirties the person. 21 In fact, outward, out of people’s hearts, bad calculations make their way, and whoring, thefts, murders, 22 violations of marriage, rapacious greed, nasty vices, sneakiness, fast and loose living, the nasty stare of envy, backstabbing lies, shameless gall, moronic behavior. 23 All of these nasty things make their way from the inside to the outside and make a person dirty.”*61

  24 From there he set off and went out into the region of Turos.*62 He entered a house and didn’t want anyone to know of his arrival, but he didn’t manage to escape notice. 25 On the contrary, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her heard about him right away and came and fell down at his feet. 26 But the woman was Greek, and Surophoinikissa by birth.*63 And she asked him to expel the demon from her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “First let the offspring eat their fill, as it’s not right to take the offspring’s loaf and toss it to the little doggies.” 28 But she answered back, telling him, “Master, even the little doggies under the table eat some of the children’s crumbs!”*64 29 And he said to her, “Because of what you just said: get out of here: the demon has left your daughter.” 30 Then she went back to her house and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon had left her.

  31 Then he came back out of the region of Turos, going through Sidōn and to the sea of Galilaia and across the region of the Ten Cities.*65 32 And they brought him a man who was deaf and could barely speak, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him away from the crowd to a private place, he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and spat, and touched the man’s tongue.*66 34 Then he looked up to the sky, sighed deeply, and said to him, “Effatha,” which means “Be opened.”*67 35 And [right away] his ears were opened, and his tongue was untied and freed, and he spoke properly. 36 And Iēsous gave orders to the people not to tell anyone; but the more he ordered them, the more exuberantly they spread the news. 37 And they were overwhelmed and stunned, saying, “He’s done everything right; he even makes the deaf hear and [the] mute speak.”

  Chapter 8

  1 In those days there was once more a large crowd that had nothing to eat, and he summoned his students and said to them, 2 “I’m wrung with pity for this crowd, because they’ve lasted with me for three days already and have nothing to eat. 3 But if I send them away hungry to their homes, they’ll collapse on the road; and some of them have come a long way.” 4 But his students answered him, “Here in this place no one lives in, where will anybody be able to get enough loaves to fill these people up?” 5 Then he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” 6 Then he directed the crowd to recline on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, gave thanks for them, and broke them into pieces and gave them to his students to set before the crowd, and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they also had a few small fish. And he blessed these and said to set them before the people
also. 8 And they ate until they were full, and they took up seven hampers full of leftover broken pieces. 9 And there were around four thousand people. Then he sent them away.

  10 Then right away he boarded a boat with his students and went to the district of Dalmanoutha.*68

  11 Then the Farisaioi came out and began to dispute with him, looking for a sign from the sky from him, and putting him to the test. 12 And sighing deeply with his life-breath, he said, “Why does this generation look for a sign? Amēn I tell you—I can’t say what I stake on this: no sign will be given to this generation!”*69 13 Then he left them, boarded the boat once more, and went away to the other shore.*70