Mark 9

¹ And he said to them, 'In truth I tel you, there are some standing here who wil not taste death beforethey see the kingdom of God come with power.'

² Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain ontheir own by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured:

³ his clothes became brilliantly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them.

⁴ Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus.

⁵ Then Peter spoke to Jesus, 'Rabbi,' he said, 'it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make threeshelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.'

⁶ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened.

⁷ And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and from the cloud there came a voice, 'This is my Son,the Beloved. Listen to him.'

⁸ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain he warned them to tel no one what they had seen, untilafter the Son of man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰ They observed the warning faithful y, though among themselves they discussed what 'rising from thedead' could mean.

¹¹ And they put this question to him, 'Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?'

¹² He said to them, 'Elijah is indeed first coming to set everything right again; yet how is it that thescriptures say about the Son of man that he must suffer grievously and be treated with contempt?

¹³ But I tel you that Elijah has come and they have treated him as they pleased, just as the scripturessay about him.'

¹⁴ As they were rejoining the disciples they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing withthem.

¹⁵ At once, when they saw him, the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ And he asked them, 'What are you arguing about with them?'

¹⁷ A man answered him from the crowd, 'Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit ofdumbness in him,

¹⁸ and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds histeeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to drive it out and they were unable to.'

¹⁹ In reply he said to them, 'Faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How muchlonger must I put up with you? Bring him to me.'

²⁰ They brought the boy to him, and at once the spirit of dumbness threw the boy into convulsions, andhe fel to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' 'From childhood,' he said,

²² 'and it has often thrown him into fire and into water, in order to destroy him.

²³ But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.'

²⁴ 'If you can?' retorted Jesus. 'Everything is possible for one who has faith.' At once the father of the boycried out, 'I have faith. Help my lack of faith!'

²⁵ And when Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. 'Deaf and dumbspirit,' he said, 'I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.'

²⁶ Then it threw the boy into violent convulsions and came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like acorpse that most of them said, 'He is dead.'

²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand.

²⁸ When he had gone indoors, his disciples asked him when they were by themselves, 'Why were weunable to drive it out?'

²⁹ He answered, 'This is the kind that can be driven out only by prayer.'

³⁰ After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know,

³¹ because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man wil be delivered intothe power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.'

³² But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

³³ They came to Capernaum, and when he got into the house he asked them, 'What were you arguingabout on the road?'

³⁴ They said nothing, because on the road they had been arguing which of them was the greatest.

³⁵ So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himselflast of all and servant of all.'

³⁶ He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them,

³⁷ 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone whowelcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'

³⁸ John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, andbecause he was not one of us we tried to stop him.'

³⁹ But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soonafterwards speak evil of me.

⁴⁰ Anyone who is not against us is for us.

⁴¹ 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tel you, he wilmost certainly not lose his reward.

⁴² 'But anyone who is the downfal of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown intothe sea with a great mil stone hung round his neck.

⁴³ And if your hand should be your downfal , cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than tohave two hands and go to hel , into the fire thatnever be put out.

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⁴⁵ And if your foot should be your downfal , cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to havetwo feet and be thrown into hell.

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⁴⁷ And if your eye should be your downfal , tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of Godwith one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell

⁴⁸ where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out.

⁴⁹ For everyone wil be salted with fire.

⁵⁰ Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you make it salty again? Have salt inyourselves and be at peace with one another.'