Mark 8 (NMV)
1 In those days, there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. Jesus called His disciples and said to them,
2 "I have compassion for the crowd, because they've already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come from a long distance."
4 His disciples answered Him, "Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?"
5 "How many loaves do you have?" He asked them. "Seven," they said.
6 Then He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples to distribute, and they served them to the crowd.
7 They also had a few small fish, and after He gave thanks for them, He told the disciples to distribute these as well.
8 They ate until they were satisfied. Then they collected seven large baskets full of leftover pieces.
9 There were about four thousand men. He sent them away.
10 Immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, demanding from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, "Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation."
13 Then He left them, got back into the boat, and crossed to the other side.
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat.
15 Then He gave them strict instructions: "Watch out! Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."
16 They began to discuss with one another that they had no bread.
17 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you discussing that you have no bread? Don't you understand or grasp what's happening? Are your hearts still hardened?
18 Do you have eyes and not see, and ears and not hear? Don't you remember?
19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?" "Twelve," they told Him.
20 "When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of pieces did you collect?" "Seven," they said.
21 And He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
22 They came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Him to touch him.
23 He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked, "Do you see anything?"
24 He looked up and said, "I see people, they look like trees walking."
25 Again Jesus placed His hands on the man's eyes. The man looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
26 Then Jesus sent him home, saying, "Do not even go into the village."
27 Jesus and His disciples went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
28 They answered Him, "John the Baptizer; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets."
29 "But you," He asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered Him, "You are the Messiah."
30 And He strictly warned them not to tell anyone about Him.
31 Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 He was speaking openly about this. Peter took Him aside and began to speak forcefully against what He had said.
33 But turning and looking at His disciples, He strongly corrected Peter and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are not thinking about God's concerns but human concerns.'
34 Calling the crowd together with His disciples, He said to them, "If anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 Whoever tries to hold on to their life will lose it, but whoever lets go of it for My sake will receive true life.
36 For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul [his very self]?
37 What can anyone give in exchange for his soul?
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 comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."