Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
The death of John the Baptist
14 At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard reports about Jesus.
2 “This fellow must be John the Baptist,” he said to his servants. “He’s been raised from the dead! That’s why these powers are at work in him.”
3 This is what had happened. Herod had seized John, tied him up and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 John had been telling him that it wasn’t right for him to have her. 5 Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the crowd, because they reckoned that John was a prophet.
6 When Herod’s birthday came around, the daughter of Herodias danced for the assembled company, and delighted Herod. 7 So he swore a great oath that he would give her whatever she requested. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me—here, on a platter—the head of John the Baptizer!” 9 The king was sorry; but because of his oaths, and his guests, he gave orders for it to be given to her. 10 He sent to the prison and had John beheaded. 11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she passed it on to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
The feeding of the five thousand
13 When Jesus heard it, he went away from there in a boat to a deserted spot by himself. The crowds heard about it, and they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he came out and saw the large crowd, he was sorry for them. He healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him.
“This is a deserted spot,” they said, “and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 “They don’t need to go away,” said Jesus. “You give them something to eat.”
17 “All we have here,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.
19 He told the crowds to sit down on the grass. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven. He blessed the loaves, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 Everybody ate and was satisfied, and they picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces. 21 There were about five thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.
22 Jesus at once made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the opposite shore, while he dismissed the crowds.
Jesus walks on water
23 After he had sent the crowds away, Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there by himself. 24 The boat had already gone some distance from the shore and was being smashed around by the waves, since the wind was against it.
25 At the very dead of night he came towards them, walking on the water. 26 The disciples saw him walking on the sea and panicked. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they screamed in terror. 27 But Jesus at once spoke to them.
“Cheer up,” he said, “it’s me! Don’t be frightened!”
28 “If it’s really you, Master,” said Peter in reply, “give me the word to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come along, then,” said Jesus.
Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came towards Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind he was afraid, and began to sink.
“Master,” he yelled, “rescue me!”
31 Jesus at once reached out his hand and caught him.
“A fine lot of faith you’ve got!” he said. “Why did you doubt?”
32 They got into the boat, and the wind died down. 33 The people in the boat worshiped him.
“You really are God’s son!” they said.
34 So they crossed over to the land called Gennesaret. 35 The men of that region recognized him and sent word to all the surrounding district. They brought all their sick people to him, 36 and begged him to be allowed simply to touch the hem of his clothes. And everyone who touched it was cured.
Discussions of clean and unclean
15 At that time some Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus. They had a question for him.
2 “Why,” they said, “do your disciples go against the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands when they eat their food!”
3 “Why,” Jesus replied, “do you go against the command of God because of your tradition? 4 What God said was ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘If anyone speaks evil of father or mother, they must certainly die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone says to father or mother, “What you might have gained from me is given to God,” 6 they don’t need to honor their father anymore.’ As a result, you make God’s word null and void because of your tradition.
7 “You play-actors! Isaiah had the right words for you in his prophecy:
8 This people gives me honor with their lips,
their heart, however, holds me at arm’s length.
9 The worship which they offer me is vain,
because they teach, as law, mere human precepts.”
The parable of clean and unclean
10 Then Jesus called the crowd, and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11 What makes someone unclean isn’t what goes into the mouth. It’s what comes out of the mouth that makes someone unclean.”
12 Then the disciples came to Jesus.
“Do you know,” they said, “that the Pharisees were horrified when they heard what you said?”
13 “Every plant that my heavenly father hasn’t planted,” replied Jesus, “will be plucked up by the roots. 14 Let them be. They are blind guides. But if one blind person guides another, both of them will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter spoke up. “Explain the riddle to us,” he said.
16 “Are you still slow on the uptake as well?” replied Jesus. 17 “Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth travels on into the stomach and goes out into the drain? 18 But what comes out of the mouth begins in the heart, and that’s what makes someone unclean. 19 Out of the heart, you see, come evil plots, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, and blasphemy. 20 These are the things that make someone unclean. But eating with unwashed hands doesn’t make a person unclean.”
The Canaanite woman
21 Jesus left that place and went off to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from those parts came out and shouted, “Have pity on me, Lord, son of David! My daughter is demon-possessed! She’s in a bad way!” 23 Jesus, however, said nothing at all to her.
His disciples came up.
“Please send her away,” they asked. “She’s shouting after us.”
24 “I was only sent,” replied Jesus, “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 The woman, however, came and threw herself down at his feet.
“Master,” she said, “please help me!”
26 “It isn’t right,” replied Jesus, “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “I know, Master,” she said. “But even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.”
28 “You’ve got great faith, haven’t you, my friend!” replied Jesus. “All right; let it be as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that moment.
The feeding of the four thousand
29 Jesus went away from there, and arrived beside the sea of Galilee. He went up the mountain and sat down. 30 Large crowds came to him, with their lame, blind, crippled, mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 When the crowd saw the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, they were astonished, and they gave praise to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples, and said, “I am really sorry for the crowd. They’ve been around me now for three days and they haven’t got anything to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; they might faint on the way home.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread to feed a crowd this size, out here in the country?”
34 “How many loaves have you got?” asked Jesus.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
35 Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up seven baskets full of what was left of the broken pieces. 38 There were four thousand men who had eaten, besides the women and children.
39 Jesus sent the crowds away. Then he got into the boat and went over to the Magadan coast.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.