How John the Baptist Was Killed

14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. ² So Herod said to his servants, “Jesus is really John the Baptist. He has risen from death. That is why he is able to do these miracles.”

³ Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. ⁴ Herod arrested John because he told Herod: “It is not right for you to have Herodias.” ⁵ Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people. They believed that John was a prophet.

⁶ On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. Herod was very pleased with her, ⁷ so he promised he would give her anything she wanted. ⁸ Herodias told her daughter what to ask for. So she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹ King Herod was very sad. But he had promised to give her anything she wanted, and the people eating with him had heard his promise. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. ¹⁰ He sent men to the prison to cut off John’s head. ¹¹ And the men brought John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl. She took it to her mother, Herodias. ¹² John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what happened.

More Than 5,000 People Fed

¹³ When Jesus heard what happened to John, Jesus left in a boat. He went to a lonely place by himself. But when the crowds heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus arrived, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick.

¹⁵ Late that afternoon, his followers came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “They don’t need to go away. You give them some food to eat.”

¹⁷ The followers answered, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” ¹⁹ Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he looked to heaven and thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the loaves of bread. He gave them to his followers, and they gave the bread to the people. ²⁰ All the people ate and were satisfied. After they finished eating, the followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. ²¹ There were about 5,000 men there who ate, as well as women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²² Then Jesus made his followers get into the boat. He told them to go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. Jesus stayed there to tell the people they could go home. ²³ After he said good-bye to them, he went alone up into the hills to pray. It was late, and Jesus was there alone. ²⁴ By this time, the boat was already far away on the lake. The boat was having trouble because of the waves, and the wind was blowing against it.

²⁵ Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus’ followers were still in the boat. Jesus came to them. He was walking on the water. ²⁶ When the followers saw him walking on the water, they were afraid. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus quickly spoke to them. He said, “Have courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter said, “Lord, if that is really you, then tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ Jesus said, “Come.”

And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. ³⁰ But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Then Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”

³² After Peter and Jesus were in the boat, the wind became calm. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God!”

³⁴ After they crossed the lake, they came to the shore at Gennesaret. ³⁵ The people there saw Jesus and knew who he was. So they told people all around there that Jesus had come. They brought all their sick to him. ³⁶ They begged Jesus to let them just touch the edge of his coat to be healed. And all the sick people who touched it were healed.