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king faid unto the damfel, Afk of me whatfoever 23 thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he fware

unto her, Whatfoever thou fhalt afk of me, I will 24 give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And fhe went forth, and faid unto her mother, What fhall I afk? And the faid, The head of John the 25 Baptift. And fhe came in ftraightway with hafte unto the king, and afked, faying, I will that thou give me by and by, in a charger, the head of John 26 the Baptift. And the king was exceeding forry, yet for his oath's fake, and for their fakes which fat with 27 him, he would not reject her (k). And immediately the king fent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him 28 in the prifon, And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damfel: and the damfel gave it to her And when his difciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpfe, and laid it in a tomb. 30 And the apostles gathered themfelves together unto

29 mother.

Jefus, and told him all things, both what they had 31 done, and what they had taught. And he faid unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a defert place, and reft a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leifure for much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a defert place by fhip pri33 vately. And the people faw them departing, and many

knew him (1), and ran afoot (m) thither out of all cities, and out-went them, and came together unto 34 him. And Jefus, when he came out, faw much people, and was moved with compaffion toward them, because they were as fheep not having a fhepherd and he began to teach them many things.

(k) See Mat. xiv. 9. Note..

(Though he wished to be in private, and departed fecretly, yet many of them who knew his perfon, obferving which was going, ran afoot to the place.

(m) Going by land, they were fooner at the place.

way he

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35 And when the day was now far fpent, his difciples came unto him, and faid, This is a defert place, 36 and now the time is far paffed (n): Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they 37 have nothing to eat. He answered and faid unto them (0), Give ye them to eat. And they fay unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred penny worth 38 of bread, and give them to eat? He faith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and fee (p). And when they knew, they fay, Five, and two 39 fishes. And he commanded them to make all fit 40 down by companies upon the green grafs. And they fat down in ranks by hundreds, and by fifties. 41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fifhes, he looked up to heaven, and bleffed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his difciples to fet before them; and the two fifhes divided he 42 among them all. And they did all eat, and were 43 filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the 44 fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat 45 of the loaves, were about five thousand men. And

ftraightway he conftrained his difciples to get into the hip, and go to the other (9) fide before unto 46 Bethfaida, while he fent away the people. And

when he had fent them away, he departed into 47 a mountain to pray. And when even was come,

the ship was in the midft of the fea, and he alone on 48 the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; (for the wind was contrary unto them) and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the fea, and would have paffed (r) by them.

(n) It is growing late in the day.

(e) See Mat. xxii. 19. John vi. 7. Note. See Mat. xv. 34. Note.

See Mat. xiv. 22. Luke xiv. 23.

(7) As if he intended to pass by them.

49 But when they faw him walking upon the fea, they 50 fuppofed it had been a spirit, and cried out. (For they all faw him, and were troubled.) And immediately he talked with them, and faith unto them, Be 51 of good cheer, It is I, be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the fhip, and the wind ceased: and they were fore amazed in themselves beyond mea52 fure, and wondered. For they confidered not the

miracle of the loaves, for their heart was (s) hardened. 53 And when they had paffed over, they came into the 54 land of Gennefaret, and drew to the fhore. And

when they were come out of the fhip, ftraightway. 55 they (t) knew him, And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds thofe that were fick, where they heard he was. 6 And whitherfoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the fick in the ftreets, and befought him that they might touch, if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

CHA P. VII.

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THEN came together unto him the Pharifees, and certain of the fcribes, which came from Jeru. 2 falem. And when they faw fome of his difciples eat bread with defiled (that is to fay, with unwafhen) 3 hands, they found fault. For the Pharifees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat 4 not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they: eat not. And many other things there be, which

(s) Their heart was hardened, not from wilful obftinacy, but from the flowness of their apprehenfion and capacity. They did not confider as they ought to have done, that nothing could be difficult to the power which had performed the miracle of the loaves.

(t) The people of thofe parts knew him.

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they have received to hold, as the washing of cups 5 and pots, brazen veffels, and of tables. Then the Pharifees and fcribes afked him, Why walk not thy difciples according to the tradition of the elders, but 6 eat bread with unwafhen (a) hands? He answered and faid unto them, Well hath Efaias prophefied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far 7 from me. Howbeit, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying afide the commandment of God, ye hold. the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and 9 cups: and many other fuch like things ye do.

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he faid unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own 10 tradition. For Mofes faid, Honour thy father and thy mother and whofo curfeth father or mother, I let him die the death. But ye fay, If a man shall fay to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to fay, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited 12 by me (b): he shall be free. And ye fuffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother : 13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered and many fuch like things do ye.

14

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And when he had called all the people unto him, he faid unto them, Hearken unto me every one of 15 you, and underftand. There is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are 16 they that (c) defile the man, If any man have ears 17 to hear, let him (d) hear. And when he was en

(a) See Mat. xv. 2.

(b) See Mat. xv. 5. (c) See Mat. xv.

17.

(d) Obferve attentively what I fay, and make juft reflections upon it; as verfe 14. See Mat. xi. 15.

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tered into the houfe from the people, his difciples r8 asked him concerning the parable. And he faith unto them, Are ye fo without understanding alfo ? Do ye not perceive, that whatfoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him, 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the

belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all 20 meats (e)? And he faid, That which cometh out of 21 the man, that defileth the man. For from within,

out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adul22 teries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetouf

nefs, wickedness, deceit, lafcivioufnefs, an evil eye (f), 23 blafphemy, pride, foolishness: All thefe evil things come from within, and defile the man.

24

And from thence he arofe, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it; but he could not 25 be hid. For a certain woman, whofe young daugh

27 ter.

ter had an unclean fpirit, heard of him, and came 26. and fell at his feet: (The woman was (g) a, Greek, a Syrophenician by nation) and fhe befought him that he would caft forth the devil out of her daughBut Jefus faid unto her, Let the children firft. be filled for it is not meet to take the children's 28 bread, and to caft it unto the dogs. And the anfwered and faid unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs (h). And he said unto her, For this faying, go thy way,

29

(e) The draught which carries off all the dregs and unclean parts of food.

(f) An evil eye denotes envy. See Mat. xx. 15. Blafphemy here means evil fpeaking in general': foolishness is put for all foolish and ungoverned paffions.

(g) By a Greek is generally meant a Gentile or Heathen, held in abhorrence by the Jews. This miracle was admirably fuited to cure them of that prejudice.

(h) And I hope for only a small share of that bounty which you heftow, fo largely on the Jews.

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