John the Baptist Beheaded

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

³ For when ^(D)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^(E)in prison because of ^(F)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ For John had been saying to him, “^(G)It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ And although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they were regarding ^[c]John as ^(H)a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of ^(I)Herodias danced ^[d]before them and pleased ^(J)Herod, ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Now having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of ^[e]his dinner guests. ¹⁰ And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came and took away the body and buried ^[f]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

^13 (K)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself; and when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ And when He went ^[g]ashore, He ^(L)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^(M)healed their sick.

¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already ^[h]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 But they *said to Him, “We have here only ^(N)five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ And ordering the crowds to ^[i]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(O)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 ^(P)baskets. ²¹ And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

^22 (Q)Immediately He ^[j]made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³ And after He had sent the crowds away, ^(R)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 many ^[k]stadia away from the land, ^[l]being battered by the waves; for the wind was ^[m](S)against them. ²⁵ And in ^(T)the ^[n]fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ Now when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is ^(U)a ghost!” And they cried out ^[o]in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “^(V)Take courage, ^[p]it is I; ^(W)do not be afraid.”

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

^34 (Z)And when they had crossed over, they came to land at ^(AA)Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place ^[q]recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶ and they were pleading with Him that they might just touch ^(AB)the fringe of His garment; and as many as ^(AC)touched it were cured.