Friday, September 7, 2012

Mark 7:24-37 (NRSV)

Read Mark 7:24-37 on biblegateway.com

Verse ²⁴From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, Verse ²⁵but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Verse ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Verse ²⁷He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Verse ²⁸But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Verse ²⁹Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter." Verse ³⁰So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Verse ³¹Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. Verse ³²They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. Verse ³³He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Verse ³⁴Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." Verse ³⁵And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Verse ³⁶Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. Verse ³⁷They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."