The death of John the Baptist

14 At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard reports about Jesus.

² “This fellow must be John the Baptist,” he said to his servants. “He’s been raised from the dead! That’s why these powers are at work in him.”

³ This is what had happened. Herod had seized John, tied him up and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ John had been telling him that it wasn’t right for him to have her. ⁵ Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the crowd, because they reckoned that John was a prophet.

⁶ When Herod’s birthday came around, the daughter of Herodias danced for the assembled company, and delighted Herod. ⁷ So he swore a great oath that he would give her whatever she requested. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me—here, on a platter—the head of John the Baptizer!” ⁹ The king was sorry; but because of his oaths, and his guests, he gave orders for it to be given to her. ¹⁰ He sent to the prison and had John beheaded. ¹¹ His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she passed it on to her mother. ¹² His disciples came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

The feeding of the five thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard it, he went away from there in a boat to a deserted spot by himself. The crowds heard about it, and they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he came out and saw the large crowd, he was sorry for them. He healed their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him.

“This is a deserted spot,” they said, “and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ “They don’t need to go away,” said Jesus. “You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “All we have here,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said.

¹⁹ He told the crowds to sit down on the grass. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven. He blessed the loaves, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ Everybody ate and was satisfied, and they picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.

²² Jesus at once made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the opposite shore, while he dismissed the crowds.

Jesus walks on water

²³ After he had sent the crowds away, Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there by himself. ²⁴ The boat had already gone some distance from the shore and was being smashed around by the waves, since the wind was against it.

²⁵ At the very dead of night he came towards them, walking on the water. ²⁶ The disciples saw him walking on the sea and panicked. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they screamed in terror. ²⁷ But Jesus at once spoke to them.

“Cheer up,” he said, “it’s me! Don’t be frightened!”

²⁸ “If it’s really you, Master,” said Peter in reply, “give me the word to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come along, then,” said Jesus.

Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came towards Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the strong wind he was afraid, and began to sink.

“Master,” he yelled, “rescue me!”

³¹ Jesus at once reached out his hand and caught him.

“A fine lot of faith you’ve got!” he said. “Why did you doubt?”

³² They got into the boat, and the wind died down. ³³ The people in the boat worshiped him.

“You really are God’s son!” they said.

³⁴ So they crossed over to the land called Gennesaret. ³⁵ The men of that region recognized him and sent word to all the surrounding district. They brought all their sick people to him, ³⁶ and begged him to be allowed simply to touch the hem of his clothes. And everyone who touched it was cured.