Matthew 14
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
14 At that time Herod the governor heard the reports about Jesus,
2 And he said to his attendants, This is John the Baptist; He has been raised from the dead, and that is why the powers [a]of performing miracles are at work in Him.
3 For Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison [to [b]stow him out of the way] on account and for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
4 For John had said to him, It is not lawful or right for you to have her.(A)
5 Although he wished to have him put to death, he was afraid of the people, for they regarded John as a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst [before the company] and pleased and fascinated Herod,
7 And so he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8 And she, being put forward and prompted by her mother, said, Give me the head of John the Baptist right here on a [c]platter.
9 And the king was distressed and sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he ordered it to be given her;
10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.
11 And his head was brought in on a [d]platter and given [e]to the little maid, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And John’s disciples came and took up the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
13 When Jesus heard it, He withdrew from there privately in a boat to a solitary place. But when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him [by land] on foot from the towns.
14 When He went ashore and saw a great throng of people, He had compassion (pity and deep sympathy) for them and cured their sick.
15 When evening came, the disciples came to Him and said, This is a remote and barren place, and the day is now over; send the throngs away into the villages to buy food for themselves.
16 Jesus said, They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.
17 They said to Him, We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.
18 He said, Bring them here to Me.
19 Then He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass; and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and blessed and broke the loaves and handed the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve [[f]small hand] baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
21 And those who ate were about 5,000 men, not including women and children.
22 Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds.
23 And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.
24 But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.
25 And in the fourth watch [between 3:00—6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
27 But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I Am! Stop being afraid!(B)
28 And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.
29 He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.
30 But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!
31 Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!
34 And when they had crossed over to the other side, they went ashore at Gennesaret.
35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent around into all the surrounding country and brought to Him all who were sick
36 And begged Him to let them merely touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were perfectly restored.(C)
Footnotes
- Matthew 14:2 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Matthew 14:3 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon.
- Matthew 14:8 William Tyndale, The Tyndale Bible.
- Matthew 14:11 William Tyndale, The Tyndale Bible.
- Matthew 14:11 Martin Luther, cited by Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Matthew 14:20 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies. But according to James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary, the term refers to the type of material of which the basket is constructed (perhaps a wicker basket) and not necessarily the size of the basket.
Matthew 15:1-9
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
15 Then from Jerusalem came scribes and Pharisees and said,
2 Why do Your disciples transgress and violate the rules handed down by the elders of the past? For they do not practice [ceremonially] washing their hands before they eat.
3 He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?
4 For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely come to his end by death.(A)
5 But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.
6 So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].
7 You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:
8 These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.
9 Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.(B)
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Genesis 47
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
47 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan, and they are in the land of Goshen.
2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers before us.
4 Moreover, they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for your servants have no pasture for our flocks, for the famine is very severe in Canaan. So now, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
5 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6 The land of Egypt is before you; make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any men of ability among them, put them in charge of my cattle.
7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 And Pharaoh asked Jacob, How old are you?
9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and they have [a]not attained to those of the life of my fathers in their pilgrimage.
10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
11 Joseph settled his father and brethren and gave them a possession in Egypt in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses (Goshen), as Pharaoh commanded.
12 And Joseph supplied his father and his brethren and all his father’s household with food, according to [the needs of] their families.
13 [In the course of time] there was no food in all the land, for the famine was distressingly severe, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan hung in doubt and wavered by reason of the hunger (destitution, starvation) of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan [in payment] for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15 And when the money was exhausted in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, Give us food! Why should we die before your very eyes? For we have no money left.
16 Joseph said, Give up your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for [them] if your money is gone.
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and [he] gave them food in exchange for the horses, flocks, cattle of the herds, and the donkeys; and he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 When that year was ended, they came to [Joseph] the second year and said to him, We will not hide from my lord [the fact] that our money is spent; my lord also has our herds of livestock; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.
19 Why should we perish before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed [to plant], that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.
20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field because of the overwhelming severity of the famine upon them. The land became Pharaoh’s,
21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities and practically made slaves of them [at their own request], from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.
22 Only the priests’ land he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed pension from Pharaoh and lived on the amount Pharaoh gave them. So they did not sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24 At [harvest time when you reap] the increase, you shall give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own to use for seed for the field and as food for you and those of your households and for your little ones.
25 And they said, You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord; and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt—to this day—that Pharaoh should have the fifth part [of the crops]; it was the priests’ land only which did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they gained possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so Jacob reached the age of 147 years.
29 When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, [b]put your hand under my thigh and [promise to] deal loyally and faithfully with me. Do not bury me, I beg of you, in Egypt,
30 But let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. And [Joseph] said, I will do as you have directed.
31 Then Jacob said, Swear to me [that you will do it]. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself upon the head of the bed.
Footnotes
- Genesis 47:9 Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, had lived to be 175 years old; Isaac, his father, lived to be 180. Jacob lived seventeen years after making this statement to Pharaoh, in which time he had an opportunity to get a much more optimistic view of God’s treatment of him. He died at 147, having said, “The redeeming Angel... has redeemed me continually from every evil” (Gen. 48:16).
- Genesis 47:29 This was a customary manner of taking a solemn oath. The gesture was a reference to the mark of circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant, which is equivalent to our laying our hand upon the Bible. (Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with A Commentary).
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