New Testament in a Year

The Death of John the Baptist^(A)

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch,^[a] hearing about the fame of Jesus, ² told his servants, “This is John the Baptist! He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why these miracles are being done by him.” ³ Herod had arrested John, bound him with chains, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s^[b] wife.

⁴ John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ Although Herod^[c] wanted to kill him, he was afraid of the crowd, since they regarded John^[d] as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday celebration was held, the daughter of Herodias danced before the guests.^[e] She pleased Herod ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked for. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me, right here on a platter, the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ Under pressure because of his promises and his assembled guests, the king ordered that it be done. ¹⁰ So he sent word^[f] and had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹ His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother. ¹² When John’s^[g] disciples came, they carried off the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds More than Five Thousand People^(B)

¹³ When Jesus heard this, he left that place and went^[h] by boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the neighboring^[i] towns. ¹⁴ When he got out of the boat,^[j] he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When evening had come, the disciples went to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it’s already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ But Jesus told them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ They told him, “We don’t have anything here except five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed them. Then he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them^[k] to the crowds. ²⁰ All of them ate and were filled. Then the disciples^[l] picked up what was left of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.