Matthew 14:13-15:39

New American Standard Bible 1995

Five Thousand Fed

^13 (A)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^[a]people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When He went ^[b]ashore, He ^(B)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^(C)healed their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already ^[c]late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷ They *said to Him, “We have here only ^(D)five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Ordering the ^[d]people to ^[e]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(E)blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, ²⁰ and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full ^(F)baskets. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^22 (G)Immediately He ^[f]made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³ After He had sent the crowds away, ^(H)He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. ²⁴ But the boat was already ^[g]a long distance from the land, ^[h]battered by the waves; for the wind was ^[i](I)contrary. ²⁵ And in ^(J)the ^[j]fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is ^(K)a ghost!” And they cried out ^[k]in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “^(L)Take courage, it is I; ^(M)do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “^(N)You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³ And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly ^(O)God’s Son!”

^34 (P)When they had crossed over, they came to land at ^(Q)Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place ^[l]recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶ and they implored Him that they might just touch ^(R)the fringe of His cloak; and as many as ^(S)touched it were cured.

Tradition and Commandment

15 ^(T)Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus ^(U)from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^(V)do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³ And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘^(W)Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^(X)He who speaks evil of father or mother is to ^[m]be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been ^[n]given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother^[o].’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

¹⁰ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ^11 (AA)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ^[p]offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “^(AB)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(AC)they are blind guides ^[q]of the blind. And ^(AD)if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵ Peter ^[r]said to Him, “^(AE)Explain the parable to us.” ^16 [s]Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ^[t]eliminated? ¹⁸ But ^(AF)the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ^19 (AG)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ^[u]fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^21 (AH)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^(AI)Tyre and ^(AJ)Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(AK)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly ^(AL)demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[v]at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(AM)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(AN)began ^[w]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ And He answered and said, “It is not ^[x]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ But she said, “Yes, Lord; ^[y]but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(AO)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ^[z]at once.

Healing Crowds

^29 (AP)Departing from there, Jesus went along by ^(AQ)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[aa]large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(AR)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ^[ab]restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^(AS)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

^32 (AT)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^(AU)I feel compassion for the ^[ac]people, because they ^[ad]have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the ^[ae]people to ^[af]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^(AV)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(AW)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(AX)the boat and came to the region of ^(AY)Magadan.