Chapter 14

¹At that time, Herod the governor heard the reports about Jesus, ²and he said to his attendants,

“This man must be John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and that is why wonderful powers are working through him.”

³For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, ⁴for John said to him,

“It is not right for you to be living with her.”

⁵And while he wanted him killed, he was afraid of the people; for they considered him a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, Herodias’ daughter danced before the company. And Herod was delighted with her, ⁷and swore that he would give her anything she asked for. ⁸But she, at her mother’s instigation, said,

“Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter!”

⁹And the king was sorry, but because he had sworn to do it, and because of the guests who were present, he ordered it to be given to her. ¹⁰And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought back on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother. ¹²John’s disciples came and took his body away, and buried him, and then they went and reported it to Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard it, he quietly retired by boat to a secluded place. And the crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴So when he got out of the boat he found a great crowd gathered, and his heart was touched at the sight of them, and he cured those of them that were sick. ¹⁵And when it was evening, the disciples came up to him and said,

“This is a lonely place and the day is over. Send the crowds off to the villages to buy themselves food.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them,

“They do not need to go away. Give them food yourselves.”

¹⁷They said to him,

“We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸He said,

“Bring them here to me.”

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed them, and he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to the disciples and they gave them to the people. ²⁰And they all ate and had enough. And the pieces left over that they gathered up filled twelve baskets. ²¹There were about five thousand men who were fed, besides women and children.

²²And he immediately made his disciples get into the boat and cross before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. ²³After he had dismissed them he went up the hill by himself to pray. And when evening came on he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was by this time a long way from shore, struggling with the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵Toward morning he went out to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And the disciples saw him walking on the sea, and they were terrified and said,

“It is a ghost!”

And they screamed with fear. ²⁷But Jesus immediately spoke to them and said,

“Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter answered,

“If it is you, Master, order me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹And he said,

“Come!”

And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and went to Jesus. ³⁰But when he felt the wind he was frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out,

“Master, save me!”

³¹Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and caught hold of him, and said to him,

“Why did you waver? You have so little faith!”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind went down. ³³And the men in the boat fell down before him and said,

“You are certainly God’s Son!”

³⁴And they crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret. ³⁵And the men of the place recognized him, and sent all over that district and brought to him all who were sick, ³⁶and they begged him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak, and all who touched it were cured.