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.

Pharisees and Sadducees Test Jesus

16 ^(A)The ^(B)Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they ^(C)asked Him to show them a ^[a]sign from heaven. ² But He replied to them, “^[b](D)When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ ^(E)You know how to discern the ^[c]appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times? ^4 (F)An evil and adulterous generation wants a ^[d]sign; and so a ^[e]sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵ And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and ^(G)beware of the ^[f]leaven of the ^(H)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “^(I)You men of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand nor remember ^(J)the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up? ¹⁰ Nor ^(K)the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up? ¹¹ How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? But ^(L)beware of the ^[g]leaven of the ^(M)Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the ^[h]leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^(N)Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^13 (O)Now when Jesus came into the region of ^(P)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^(Q)the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say ^(R)John the Baptist; and others, ^[i](S)Elijah; and still others, ^[j]Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are ^(T)the ^[k]Christ, ^(U)the Son of ^(V)the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^(W)Simon ^[l]Barjona, because ^(X)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are ^[m](Y)Peter, and upon this ^[n]rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(Z)Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you ^(AA)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(AB)whatever you ^[o]bind on earth ^[p]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you ^[q]loose on earth ^[r]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ^20 (AC)Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was ^(AD)the ^[s]Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21 (AE)From that time ^[t]Jesus began to ^[u]point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to ^(AF)suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. ²² And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[v]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[w]happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^(AG)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[x]God’s purposes, but men’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(AH)take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For ^(AI)whoever wants to save his ^[y]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[z]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but ^[aa]forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the ^(AJ)Son of Man ^(AK)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(AL)will then repay every person according to his ^[ab]deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(AM)Son of Man ^(AN)coming in His kingdom.”