John the Baptist Beheaded

14 ^[a](A)At that time ^[b](B)Herod ^[c]the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “^(C)This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

John’s Fate Recalled

^14 (A)And King Herod heard about it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “^(B)John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” ¹⁵ But others were saying, “He is ^(C)Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is ^(D)a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard about it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^(E)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(F)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And ^(G)Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(H)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he ^[a]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, ^(I)held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people ^(J)of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of ^(K)Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[b]his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to ^(L)half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and ^[c]his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

^30 (M)The ^(N)apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and ^(O)they did not even have time to eat.) ^32 (P)And they went away in ^(Q)the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Men Fed

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ^[d]ashore, He ^(R)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(S)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “^[e]This place is secluded and it is already late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[f]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(T)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[g](U)denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(V)blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied; ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full ^(W)baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(X)five thousand ^[h]men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^45 (Y)And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into ^(Z)the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to ^(AA)Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ And after ^(AB)saying goodbye to them, He left ^(AC)for the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Seeing them ^[i]straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the ^[j](AD)fourth watch of the night, He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. ⁴⁹ But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[k]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “^(AE)Take courage; it is I, ^(AF)do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into ^(AG)the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for ^(AH)they ^[l]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[m]their hearts ^(AI)were hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

^53 (AJ)When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored at the shore. ⁵⁴ And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that entire country and began carrying here and there on their pallets those who were sick, ^[n]to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or a countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just ^(AK)touch ^(AL)the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being ^[o]healed.