1 Then Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them his power so that they would be strong. He said to them, “I will make you strong so that you can make evil spirits come out of people, and so that you can heal the sick. 2 So go now,” he said, “and tell many people about God becoming ruler, and also heal any sick people. 3 But don't take anything with you. Don't take a walking stick or a bag or any food or money. And just take one coat and no more.

4 “When you arrive in a town and people welcome you and take you into their houses, stay and sleep there. Stay in the same house until you leave that place. 5 But when you arrive in a town and the people there don't want you, you should leave them. When you go away, shake the dust off your feet. Shake it off so that the people will know you are leaving them forever. That will show them that they are rejecting you and they are also rejecting God.”

6 Then the disciples left and went from place to place to tell people the good news about God and to heal the sick.

7 After some time Herod, the ruler in Galilee, heard people talking about Jesus. They were telling each other everything Jesus had done and the words he had been speaking to people. But Herod couldn't understand what they were saying, because some of them said, “John the Baptist has come alive again.” 8 But other people were saying, “Elijah has arrived.” And others were saying, “A prophet who died long ago has come alive again.”

9 Herod couldn't understand what they were saying. He said to himself, “What do they mean? I told one of my soldiers and he cut John's head off! So who is this man they are talking about?” Then he wanted very much to try and see Jesus with his own eyes.

10 Then Jesus' apostles came back to him and told him everything they had done. And Jesus took them away to a place called Bethsaida. He just took them and no one else.

11 Some people heard that Jesus had gone away to Bethsaida and they followed him and found him halfway. But Jesus didn't send them away. He told them about God becoming ruler and he healed those who were sick.

12 Afternoon came and then the sun began to set. Jesus' twelve disciples went to him and said, “There are no houses here. So send the people away now. Let them go to the places around here to eat and sleep.”

13 Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat yourselves.”

They said, “We have five dampers and two fish but that's all. We can't feed all these people, there are too many. Do you want us to go and buy food for them all?” 14 There was a huge crowd of people there, 5,000 men and also women and children.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Make them sit down on the ground, a group of 50 here, 50 over there and 50 around here.” 15 Then the disciples told the people what Jesus had said, and they all sat down.

16 Jesus took the five dampers and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for them. Then he broke them into little pieces and gave them to his disciples so that they could give them to the people. 17 They all ate and had enough.

There were some big baskets there. The people collected all the little pieces of food that they had left, and the disciples put them in the baskets and they filled twelve baskets.

18 One day Jesus was by himself praying to God, and his disciples came to him. Jesus said to them, “When people are talking together, who do they say that I am?”

19 They said, “Some people say, ‘He is John the Baptist’. Others say, ‘He is Elijah’. But others say, ‘A prophet of long ago has come alive again.’ ”

20 “But what about you?” Jesus said to them. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Lord, the one God spoke about long ago. God said, ‘I am going to send someone to save my people.’ So you must be that person, the Messiah.”

21 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “You mustn't tell anyone those words Peter has said about me. 22 I, the one who was born in this place, must suffer very much. Our elders and the chief priests will reject me. The teachers of Moses' law will also reject me. They will kill me, but I will come alive again after three days.”

23 Then Jesus spoke to all his disciples. “Everyone listen to what I am saying. If any of you want to follow me, you must forget about the things that you want and say to yourselves, ‘No! I don't want those things.’ Every day you must be willing to go where I go. You must be like me, even if you suffer as I will suffer on a cross. 24 You mustn't think about yourselves, because if you think about yourself and take good care of yourself and keep thinking about living a long time you will die. But if you follow me closely and don't refuse to give yourself, even if people kill you, you will live forever. 25 If you have everything that you want, even if you are the most important ruler of all, but you don't have real life, what good is that to you? It is no good at all!

26 “If any of you are ashamed of me and of my words today, then I will be ashamed of you. I, the one who was born in this place, will be ashamed of you at the time when I come back. When I come back here I will be shining, coming in my own glory. And I will have my Father's glory too. And God's angels will also be shining.

27 “Listen to me, because I am telling you the truth. Some of these people here will not die until they see God becoming ruler over everyone,” Jesus said to all those people.

28 A week went by. Then Jesus took Peter, John and James and they went and climbed a hill so that Jesus could pray there. They went up and Jesus prayed to God. 29-32 But Peter, John and James were sleepy and they fell fast asleep. And while Jesus was praying his face became different. The clothes he was wearing shone brightly. They were shining white like a heron's feathers.

Then two men suddenly appeared and talked together with Jesus. They were the leader Moses and the prophet Elijah. They had died long ago, but there they were with Jesus. And they too were shining brightly. The three of them were talking about Jesus dying in Jerusalem. He was going to die because God had decided that long ago.

Then Peter, John and James woke up and saw Jesus shining. And they saw the two men standing near him.

33 When the men were about to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us three to be here. We will make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” But Peter didn't know what he was saying.

34 While Peter was speaking, a cloud came and covered them all, there on the top of the hill. The three men, Peter, John and James, were afraid because the cloud was covering them, and covering Jesus and Moses and Elijah too.

35 Then they heard a voice speaking from heaven. “This is my Son, the one I have chosen. Listen to him,” the voice said.

36 After the voice had spoken, Peter, John and James saw Jesus all alone. They couldn't see anyone else with him. But they didn't tell anyone what they had seen. They just kept quiet.

37 The next day Jesus and his three disciples went down from the hill and many people met them there. 38 A man called out to Jesus and said, “Teacher, please look at this only son of mine for me. 39 An evil spirit keeps getting hold of him. It calls out loudly and throws the child's body around until the spit comes out of his mouth. It keeps hurting him and won't leave him alone. 40 I kept asking your disciples to make it come out but they couldn't do it.”

41 Jesus said to the people, “You people are very hard, and you don't believe in me yet. I am tired of you all. When can I leave you?” Then he said to the man, “Come here and bring your son.”

42 The man took his son to Jesus. But while they were coming the evil spirit threw the boy to the ground and threw his body around. Then Jesus spoke to the spirit. “Come out of the child!” he said, and as he spoke the boy got better. Jesus said to his father, “Your son is better now.”

43 All the people there were amazed because God was so powerful.

While the people kept on talking about all the wonderful things Jesus was doing, Jesus spoke to his disciples. 44 “Listen carefully to what I am telling you,” he said. “Don't let my words go in one ear and out the other, but keep on thinking about them. I am the one who was born in this place, but some men will get me and take me to the leaders.”

45 But the disciples didn't know what he meant. His words were hidden from them so that they couldn't understand. They didn't ask him, “What do you mean?” because they were too frightened.

46 Then Jesus' disciples began arguing with each other. They said, “Which one of us is the most important? Which one will rule over the others?”

47 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he called a little child to come to him. He made him stand beside him, 48 and he said to his disciples, “If any of you obey me and love this child, you will love me too. And if any of you love me you will also love God, the one who sent me here to you. If you are not proud and you work for others, God will say, ‘You are important.’ ”

49 Then John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw a man making evil spirits come out of people. But he was using your name. So we stopped him because he doesn't belong to our group.”

50 But Jesus spoke to John and his other disciples. “No,” he said, “don't stop him, because any man who isn't against you is helping you.”

51 Some time later, Jesus decided to go straight to Jerusalem and not wait any longer. The time was coming near for him to go back to heaven. 52 So he sent some men to a village in Samaria. It was on the road to Jerusalem. He sent them ahead so that they could find a place where he could stay for a while on the way. They went on ahead and Jesus and his disciples followed them.

When the men arrived at the village, they asked the people about a house for Jesus and his disciples, so that they could stay there for a while. 53 But the Samaritan people didn't want Jesus to stay in their village, because they hated the Jewish people. And they knew that Jesus was going to Jerusalem for the Passover ceremony.

54 When those men found Jesus and his disciples again, they told Jesus about the Samaritan people not wanting him. Then James and John said to Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to ask God to send fire down from heaven to burn up these Samaritans?”

55 Jesus said to them, “You mustn't say that kind of thing.” 56 So Jesus and his disciples didn't stop in that village. They went on further to another village.

57 While Jesus and his disciples were going along, they met a man who said to Jesus, “I will go with you too. I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus said to him, “Look, dingoes have holes and birds have nests. But I have no home. I am the one who was born in this place, but I have nowhere to sleep safely like the dingoes and the birds.”

59 Later on Jesus and his disciples met another man going along the road. Jesus said to him, “Come and follow me.”

The man said to Jesus, “Not yet, Master. First let me go home because my father has died. Let me bury his body and then afterwards I will follow you.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let those who aren't God's people bury their dead, because they themselves are like dead people. As for you, go and tell everyone, ‘God is ready to rule all people.’ ”

61 Another man said to Jesus, “Master, I will follow you, but first let me go home to tell my family that I am going to follow you.”

62 Jesus said to him, “If you follow me you mustn't look back. If you look back you will be like a man ploughing the ground. If he looks behind him he won't go straight, he will go all over the place. You will be like that man if you obey me for a little while and then leave me. God doesn't rule over people like that.”

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