Mark Chapter 5
Mark Chapter 5, from the Gospel of Mark, is another excellent passage for learning or improving to read by phonics. Good phonetic words here include:
New Concept
Introduce the concept of a homophone after reading the word "mourning", spoken the same as "morning" but having a completely different meaning.
Easy
- homeless
- embankment
- cemetery
- episode
- possessed
- countryside
- urgently
- glimpsed
- trembling
- enormously
Medium
- "The onlookers were positively astounded."
- mistreatments
Advanced
- accompanied
- miracle
- hemorrhages
Also some sight words are included:
- live (verb, twice)
- tombs
- evicted
Mark Chapter 5
They reached the other side of the lake, which was in the region where the Gadarenes lived. As Jesus disembarked the boat, he was immediately confronted by a possessed man, who was homeless and slept in a cemetery; no man had the strength to restrain him, not even with chains. Many times, he had been restrained by leg irons and chains, but he had thrown off the chains and broken the leg irons to pieces. No man could control him. Day and night he roamed the mountains and tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. But when he glimpsed Jesus at a distance, he ran up to Him and fell down at His feet. He cried out loudly, "What business do I have with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you in God's name not to torment me." Because Jesus had proclaimed, "Get out of that man, evil spirit."
Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "My name is 'Legion', because we are many." He begged Jesus not to expel him from the region. Near the mountains where they were, a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons all begged Jesus, "Send us to the pigs, so that we may possess them." Jesus then granted the demons the permission they sought. The demons left the man and possessed the pigs, and the herd ran violently down a steep embankment to drown in the sea, all two thousand of them.
Those in charge of the pigs fled and told everyone in the town and countryside. People then went to see for themselves what had happened. They saw Jesus and the man formerly possessed, who was in his right mind and sitting peacefully, fully dressed; the people became afraid upon seeing him. Witnesses to the episode described for the people what had happened to the possessed man, and about the pigs. The terrified people began to plead that Jesus leave their area.
When Jesus got back aboard His boat, the man who had been possessed begged Jesus to let him join His company. Instead, Jesus told him, "Return home to your friends, and tell them how the Lord has done wonders for you with compassion." So the man left and began speaking publicly in Decapolis about Jesus's great works for him, and everyone who heard the story was very much amazed.
A huge crowd was awaiting Jesus on the opposite coast as he crossed by boat, so He stayed on the seashore. One of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, joined the crowd. When he saw Jesus, he threw himself at His feet, and begged Him urgently, saying "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put Your hands on her, so that she will be healed; and then she will live."
Jesus accompanied him; many people followed Jesus, pressing Him on all sides. One woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, and had suffered further from mistreatments by doctors, having spent all she had on them without any improvement; her condition even worsened. When she heard about Jesus she crowded behind Him and touched his clothes, because as she had said, "If I can just touch His clothes, I will be made well." Instantly the hemorrhages ceased, and she felt cured of her illness.
Jesus immediately realized that power had discharged from him, and turned to the pressing crowd to say, "Who touched my clothes?" His students replied, "You see the huge crowd pressing against you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me'"? Jesus turned and scanned the crowd to find her.
But the terrified, trembling woman, aware of the miracle, came and bowed at Jesus's feet, and told him the entire truth. Jesus said to her: "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go with peace of mind, and live a life free from that terrible disease."
While Jesus was speaking, people told the synagogue leader, "Your daughter has died. Why bother this teacher any more?" But as soon as Jesus heard about this, he said to the father, "Don't be afraid; only believe." Jesus then allowed no one to follow Him, except Peter, James, and James' brother John. He came to the synagogue leader's home, and saw the mourning, and all those who wept and cried enormously. When Jesus entered the house, he said to them, "What is the reason for all this uproar and crying? The girl is not dead - she's just asleep!"
They laughed and ridiculed him. But after he evicted them all, he took the girl's mother and father with Him and His three students to where she was lying, and taking her by the hand, said, "talitha cumi" (pronounced: TAL-ih-thuh CYOO-mih), which means "girl, I tell you to rise." Immediately the 12-year-old girl got up and walked. The onlookers were positively astounded. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then commanded that the girl should be given something to eat.
See also
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