New Testament in a Year

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.