Mark 8

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

¹ In those days again there was [a] great crowd, and [they] not having anything to eat, [Jesus] having called his disciples says to them: ² I have compassion on the crowd, for already three days they remain with me, and they have not anything they may eat. ³ And if I send them fasting to their house, they will give out in the road, and some of them are from afar. ⁴ And his disciples answered him that: How will anyone be able to fill them with loaves here in the desert? ⁵ And he asked¹ them: How any loaves have you? And they said: Seven. ⁶ And he instructs the crowd to recline on the ground² ; and having taken the seven loaves, having given thanks he broke and was giving [them] to his disciples in order that they set [them] before [them], and they set [them] before the crowd. ⁷ And they were having [a] few little fish, and having blessed them he said to be setting these also before [them]. ⁸ And they were eating and were filled, and they took up [an] abundance of fragments, seven baskets. ⁹ Now they were nearly four thousand. And he dispersed them. ¹⁰ And straightway having embarked in the boat with his disciples he came to the distant Dalmanoutha.

The Demand for a Sign

¹¹ And the Pharisees came out and began to be debating with him, seeking by him [a] sign from heaven, testing him. ¹² And having groaned in his spirit he says: Why does this generation seek [a] sign? Truly I say to you that [no]³ sign will be given to this generation. ¹³ And having again left them having embarked he departed to the other side.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod

¹⁴ And they forgot to take loaves and except one loaf they were not having [any] with them in the boat. ¹⁵ And he was directing them, saying: See, be looking to the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod⁴. ¹⁶ And they reasoned with one another that they do not have loaves. ¹⁷ And having known he says to them: Why do you reason that you don't have loaves? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? You have hardened your heart. ¹⁸ Having eyes they do not see, and having ears they do not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when having broken the five loaves to the five thousands how many baskets full of scraps you took up? They say to him: Twelve. ²⁰ When the seven to the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you take up? And they say: Seven. ²¹ And he was saying to them: Do you not yet understand?

A Two-state Healing

²² And they come into Bethsaida. And they bring to him [a] blind [man], and they call upon him in order that he touch [him]. ²³ And taking hold of the hand of the blind [man], he led him out of the village, and having spat in his eye, having laid his hands on him, he asked him, Do you see? ²⁴ And looking up he was saying: I see men, that as trees I see them walking [about]. ²⁵ Then again he laid his hands on his eyes, and he saw clearly and was restored and saw everything clearly. ²⁶ And he sent him to his house saying: Neither enter into the village nor speak to anyone in the village.

Peter's Confession

²⁷ And Jesus and his disciples went out to the villages of Caesarea of Phillip; and in the road he asked his disciples saying to them: Who do men say I am? ²⁸ But they said to him saying that: John the Baptist, and others Elijah, and others that: One of the prophets. ²⁹ And he asked him: But who do you say I am? Peter answering says to him: You are the Christ. ³⁰ And he rebuked them in order that they speak to no one concerning him.

First Prediction of Jesus' Death and Resurrection

³¹ And he began to be teaching that: It is necessary [that] the son of man suffer many [things], and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days to arise. ³² And he was speaking the word plainly. And Peter taking him aside began to be rebuking him. ³³ And having turned around and having seen his disciples he rebuked Peter and says: Be getting behind me, Satan, because you do not think on the [things] of God but the [things] of men.

Following Jesus

³⁴ And calling upon the crowd with his disciples he said to them: If anyone would come after me, let him renounce⁵ himself and take up his cross, and be following me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his psyche-life⁶ will lose⁷ it, but whoever loses⁷ his psyche-life⁶ because of me⁸ and the gospel will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit [a] man to gain the whole world and forfeit⁹ his psyche-life⁶? ³⁷ For what will [a] man give in exchange for his psyche-life⁶? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of man will also be ashamed of him, when he come in the glory of his father with¹⁰ the holy angels.

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¹EROTAO (ερωταω) "Ask", but more polite, not demanding/begging as is AITEO. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.

²GE "GAY" (γη) "earth", "land" (remember that they didn't understand about the Earth being a planet floating in space yet), sometimes "ground" or "dirt".

³Actually a 'Semiticism'—essentially an Aramaic idiom showing up in the Greek. More literally this passage reads "[May God do such and such to me] if a sign be given to this generation." See I Sam 3:17, Ps. 130:2 LXX

⁴"Herod" ℵBD vg KH; "the Herodians" p⁴⁵W

⁵imperative

⁶from PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. Animals have PSYCHEs as well as humans. Contrast ZOE (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected.

⁷APOLLUMI (απoλλυμι) To lose something that one previously possessed. Can also mean `ruin' or `destroy'—see Rev.9:11 where the angel of the Abyss is named `Apollyon' (same root word).

⁸"me and" ℵBW vg K; omit: p⁴⁵D

⁹ZEMIOO "zeh-mi-AW-oh" (ζημιoω) to suffer the loss of something which one has previously possessed, with the emphasis on the hardship that this causes.

¹⁰"with"ℵBDKH vg all; "and" p⁴⁵W