CHAPTER XXIX.
SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN—BLIND MEN—FEEDS FOUR THOUSAND.
THEN Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord thou Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And (he) entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation: and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her,
Let the children first be filled; for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs under the table, eat of the children's crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And he said unto her,
For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
And again Jesus departed from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee: through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him,
Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond
measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
And (Jesus) went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them; insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,
I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way.
For divers of them came from far. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them,
How many loaves have ye?
And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave
to his disciples, to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes; and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.