Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

14 Around that time, Herod, the regional governor, heard of the fame of Yeshua ² and said to his attendants, “This must be Yochanan the Immerser. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For Herod had arrested Yochanan, put him in chains and thrown him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; ⁴ since Yochanan had told Herod, “It violates the Torah for you to have her as your wife.” ⁵ Herod had wanted to put Yochanan to death; but he was afraid of the people, in whose eyes Yochanan was a prophet. ⁶ However, at Herod’s birthday celebration, Herodias’ daughter danced before the company and pleased Herod so much ⁷ that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of Yochanan the Immerser.” ⁹ The king became deeply upset; but out of regard for the oaths he had sworn before his dinner guests, he ordered that her wish be granted, ¹⁰ and sent and had Yochanan beheaded in prison. ¹¹ The head was brought on a platter to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ¹² Yochanan’s talmidim came, took the body and buried it; then they went and told Yeshua.

¹³ On hearing about this, Yeshua left in a boat to be by himself in the wilderness. But the people learned of it and followed him from the towns by land. ¹⁴ So when he came ashore, he saw a huge crowd; and, filled with compassion for them, he healed those of them who were sick.

¹⁵ As evening approached, the talmidim came to him and said, “This is a remote place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the villages.” ¹⁶ But Yeshua replied, “They don’t need to go away. Give them something to eat, yourselves!” ¹⁷ “All we have with us,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.” ¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ After instructing the crowds to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ They all ate as much as they wanted, and they took up twelve baskets full of the pieces left over. ²¹ Those eating numbered about five thousand men, plus women and children.

²² Immediately he had the talmidim get in the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away. ²³ After he had sent the crowds away, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night came on, and he was there alone. ²⁴ But by this time, the boat was several miles from shore, battling a rough sea and a headwind. ²⁵ Around four o’clock in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the lake! ²⁶ When the talmidim saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said and screamed with fear. ²⁷ But at once Yeshua spoke to them. “Courage,” he said, “it is I. Stop being afraid.” ²⁸ Then Kefa called to him, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come!” he said. So Kefa got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Yeshua. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he became afraid; and as he began to sink, he yelled, “Lord! Save me!” ³¹ Yeshua immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “Such little trust! Why did you doubt?” ³² As they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ The men in the boat fell down before him and exclaimed, “You really are God’s son!”

³⁴ Having made the crossing, they landed at Ginosar. ³⁵ When the people of the place recognized him, they sent word throughout the neighborhood and brought him everyone who was ill. ³⁶ They begged him that the sick people might only touch the tzitzit on his robe, and all who touched it were completely healed.

15 Then some P’rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him, ² “Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don’t do n’tilat-yadayim before they eat!” ³ He answered, “Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[a] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[b] 5} But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “I have promised to give to God what I might have used to help you,” ⁶ then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.’ Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of God! ⁷ You hypocrites! Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you,

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand this! ¹¹ What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!”

¹² The talmidim came to him and said, “Do you know that the P’rushim were offended by what you said?” ¹³ He replied, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Let them be. They are blind guides. When a blind man guides another blind man, both will fall in a pit.”

¹⁵ Kefa said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ So he said, “Don’t you understand even now? ¹⁷ Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? ¹⁸ But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders. . . . ²⁰ These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n’tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean.”

²¹ Yeshua left that place and went off to the region of Tzor and Tzidon. ²² A woman from Kena‘an who was living there came to him, pleading, “Sir, have pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly held under the power of demons!” ²³ But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his talmidim came to him and urged him, “Send her away, because she is following us and keeps pestering us with her crying.” ²⁴ He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.” ²⁵ But she came, fell at his feet and said, “Sir, help me!” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “That is true, sir, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸ Then Yeshua answered her, “Lady, you are a person of great trust. Let your desire be granted.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

²⁹ Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; ³⁰ and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.

³² Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” ³³ The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” ³⁴ Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” ³⁵ After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. ³⁷ Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. ³⁸ Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. ³⁹ After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.