Matthew 14-15

New American Standard Bible

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 ^[a](A)At that time ^[b](B)Herod ^[c]the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “^(C)This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised 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 Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded ^[d]John as ^(H)a prophet.

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

Five Thousand Men Fed

^13 (K)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^[i]people heard about this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When He came ^[j]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 secluded and the hour is already past to eat; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷ They *said to Him, “We have nothing here except ^(N)five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ And ordering the crowds to ^[k]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looked 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, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: twelve full ^(P)baskets. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^22 (Q)Immediately afterward He compelled the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³ 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 ^[l]a long distance from the land, ^[m]battered by the waves; for the wind was ^[n](S)contrary. ²⁵ And in ^(T)the ^[o]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 ^(U)a ghost!” And they cried out ^[p]in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “^(V)Take courage, ^[q]it is I; ^(W)do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter responded and said to Him, “Lord, if ^[r]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 when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out with His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “^(X)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 truly ^(Y)God’s Son!”

^34 (Z)When they had crossed over, they came to land at ^(AA)Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place ^[s]recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding region and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶ and they pleaded with Him that they might just touch ^(AB)the ^[t]border of His cloak; and all who ^(AC)touched it were cured.

Tradition and Commandment

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

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

¹² Then the disciples came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ^[x]offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “^(AL)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Leave them alone; ^(AM)they are blind guides ^[y]of blind people. And ^(AN)if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵ Peter ^[z]said to Him, “^(AO)Explain the parable to us.” ^16 [aa]Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ^[ab]eliminated? ¹⁸ But ^(AP)the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person. ^19 (AQ)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, and ^[ac]slanderous statements. ²⁰ These are the things that defile the person; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the person.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

^21 (AR)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the region of ^(AS)Tyre and ^(AT)Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(AU)Son of David; my daughter is severely ^(AV)demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her with even a word. And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[ad]at us!” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(AW)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(AX)began ^[ae]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ Yet He answered and said, “It is not ^[af]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ And she said, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(AY)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed ^[ag]at once.

Healing Crowds

^29 (AZ)Departing from there, Jesus went along ^(BA)the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[ah]large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(BB)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs ^[ai]restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they ^(BC)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Men Fed

^32 (BD)Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “^(BE)I feel compassion for the ^[aj]people, because they ^[ak]have remained with Me now for 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 ^[al]people to ^[am]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after ^(BF)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(BG)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

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