Matthew 14

The Death of John the Baptist

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,²and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”³For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,⁴because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”⁵And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.⁶But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,⁷so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”⁹And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.¹⁰He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,¹¹and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.¹²And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.¹⁴When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.¹⁵Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”¹⁶But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”¹⁷They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”¹⁸And he said, “Bring them here to me.”¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.²¹And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

³⁴And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.³⁵And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick³⁶and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.