JOHN THE BAPTIST BEHEADED

14 At that timeb Herod the tetrarchc heard the report about Jesus. 2 “This is John the Baptist,” he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”d

3 For Herod had arrested John, chainedA him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,e 4 since John had been telling him, “It’s not lawfulf for you to have her.” 5 Though Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd since they regarded John as a prophet.g

6 When Herod’s birthday celebration came, Herodias’s daughter danced before themB and pleased Herod. 7 So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she answered, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.” 9 Although the king regretted it, he commanded that it be granted because of his oaths and his guests. 10 So he sent orders and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 Then his disciples came, removed the corpse,C buried it, and went and reported to Jesus.

FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND

13 When Jesus heard about it,h he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore,D he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.i

15 When evening came, the disciplesj approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.E 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,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

17 “But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.k 20 Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.l 21 Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

WALKING ON THE WATER

22 Immediatelym heF made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.n 24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distanceG from land,H battered by the waves, because the wind was against them. 25 Jesus came toward them walking on the seao very early in the morning.l 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.

27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”p

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.”

29 He said, “Come.”

And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strength of the wind,J he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”q

32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”r

MIRACULOUS HEALINGS

34 When they had crossed over,s they came to shore at Gennesaret.t 35 When the men of that place recognized him, they alerted the whole vicinity and brought to him all who were sick. 36 They begged him that they might only touch the end of his robe, and as many as touched it were healed.u

THE TRADITION OF THE ELDERS

15 Thenv Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,w 2 “Why do your disciplesx break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”A,a

3 He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said:B Honor your father and your mother;C,b and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.D,c 5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,” 6 he does not have to honor his father.’E In this way, you have nullified the word of GodF because of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

8 This peopleG honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me.

9 They worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines human commands.”* d

DEFILEMENT IS FROM WITHIN

10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defilese a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”f

12 Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.g 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.I And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”h

15 Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”i

16 “Do you still lack understanding?” heJ asked. 17 “Don’t you realizeK that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?L 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.j 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,k slander.l 20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”m

A GENTILE MOTHER’S FAITH

21 When Jesus left there,n he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.o 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out,M “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”p

23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciplesq approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”

24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”r

25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”s

27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that momentN her daughter was healed.t

HEALING MANY PEOPLE

29 Moving on from there,u Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.v He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,w and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND

32 Jesus called his disciples and said,x “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate placey to feed such a crowd?”

34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 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.z 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.A,a