1 From that place Jesus set out and went to the region of Judea and the other side of the Jordan. Crowds again came flocking to him, and just as he always did, he began teaching them once again. 2 Some Pharisees came up to him and posed a question to him. “Does the Torah permit a man to divorce his wife?” they asked in order to test him.

3 “What was it that Moses commanded you?” Jesus asked them in reply.

4 “Moses allowed a man to write this out—‘a written notice of divorce’+—and to send her away,” they said.

5 “It was because of the hardness of ᵖyour hearts that he wrote you this command,” Jesus said to them. 6 “In the beginning, however, when everything was created, God ‘made them male and female.’+ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united with his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’+ Thus they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What God, therefore, has himself yoked together, man must not separate.”

10 When they were back in the house, the disciples, in regard to this matter, began asking him some questions. 11 And he told them, “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of committing adultery against her.” 12 (Likewise, if a woman, after divorcing her husband, marries another man, she is guilty of committing adultery.)

13 Some people were trying to bring some children to Jesus in hopes that he would touch them. The disciples, though, scolded those who brought them. 14 Jesus, when he saw this, was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me and don’t try to stop them! It is to lowly people such as these, you see, that the Kingdom of God belongs. 15 Amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: If someone does not welcome the Kingdom of God like a child, he will certainly not enter it.” 16 Then, after putting his arms around the children, Jesus invoked blessing after blessing upon them as he placed his hands on their heads.

17 As Jesus was starting on his way, a man ran up and fell on his knees before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit life in the coming age?”

18 “Exactly why is it that ˢyou are calling me good?” asked Jesus. “No one is good, except for one—God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘ˢYou must not murder,’+ ‘ˢYou must not commit adultery,’+ ‘ˢYou must not steal,’+ ‘ˢYou must not bear false testimony,’+ ˢyou must not withhold wages,+ ‘ˢHonor your father and mother.’+”

20 “Teacher,” the man said, “these things, all of them, I have carefully observed since I was a young man.”

21 Jesus, then, looking straight at the man, expressed affection for him and said to him, “You are lacking one thing: Go and sell this—everything you own—and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure stored away in heaven. Then come along with me as a disciple.”

22 A gloomy look came over the man’s face when he heard this answer, and he went away feeling sad, because he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were shocked at these words. Jesus, however, said to them yet again, “Dear children, how difficult it is to enter the Kingdom of God! 25 It is truly easier for a camel to pass through the very eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”

26 At that the disciples were even more taken aback. “Then who can be saved?” they asked one another.

27 Jesus, looking straight at them, said, “Only with mere men is it impossible, but not with God. Indeed all things, you see, are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up and said to him, “What about us? We have left behind everything to be your disciples.”

29 Jesus said, “Amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: There is no one who has left behind house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for that of the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, unending life. 31 Many, however, who are now first, will at that time be last, and many who are now last will at that time be first.”

32 Now, they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and his disciples were in awe. The others who followed, however, were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, Jesus began to speak to them of the things that were destined to happen to him. 33 “Listen,” he said, “we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the Torah-experts; they will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. After three days, however, he will rise to life.”

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we’d like you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

36 “What would ᵖyou like me to do for you?” he asked them.

37 “Please grant us the honor of sitting beside you, one of us at your right hand and the other at your left, in your glory,” they said to him.

38 “ᵖYou two have no idea what you’re asking,” Jesus said to them. “Are you able to drink the cup of suffering that I myself am going to drink? Are you able to be baptized with this: The overwhelming affliction with which I myself am about to be baptized?”

39 “We are able,” they replied.

“The cup that I myself am to drink ᵖyou will indeed drink,” said Jesus, “and with the overwhelming affliction with which I myself am to be baptized you will indeed be baptized.40 To sit at my right hand or at my left, however, is not for me to grant. No, these places will go to those for whom they have been prepared.”

41 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became outraged at James and John. 42 So after calling them over to himself, Jesus said to them, “ᵖYou disciples know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles dominate their subjects, and that their high-ranking leaders wield authority over the people like tyrants. 43 This, however, is precisely how it must not be among you. No, if someone desires to become great among you, he must be ᵖyour servant, 44 and if someone desires to be first among you, he must be the slave of all. 45 Even the Son of Man, you see, came not to be served, but to serve and give up his life as a payment for+ ‘many’+ to release them from slavery.”

46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a large crowd, sitting there beside the road was Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar. 47 When he learned that it was Jesus of Nazareth himself, he began shouting, “Son of David! Jesus! Have mercy on me!” 48 Many people kept warning him to be quiet, but he started shouting even more loudly, “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Tell the man to come here.”

So they called the blind man and said to him, “Take courage! To your feet! He’s calling for you.”50 So throwing off his cloak, the man jumped up and came to Jesus.

51 “What is it that ˢyou would like me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

“Rabbi,” the blind man said to him, “I want to see again.”

52 “ˢYou may go,” Jesus said to him. “This faith of yours has healed you.” And instantly the man received his sight! Then he began following along with Jesus on the road.