Luke 9:7–27

Herod’s Confusion

^7*When Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about all the things that were happening, he was very confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had come back to life. ^8*Others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. ⁹Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off; but who is this man I hear these things about?” And he kept trying to see Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men

¹⁰The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him, and they went off by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹When the crowds heard about it, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, and healed those who needed it.

¹²When the sun was beginning to set, the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the people away so that they can go to the villages and farms round here and find food and lodging, because this is a lonely place.”

¹³But Jesus said to them, “You yourselves give them something to eat.”

They answered, “All we have are five loaves and two fish. Do you want us to go and buy food for this whole crowd?” ¹⁴(There were about 5,000 men there.)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Make the people sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

¹⁵After the disciples had done so, ¹⁶Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, thanked God for them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. ¹⁷They all ate and had enough, and the disciples took up twelve baskets of what was left over.

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

¹⁸One day when Jesus was praying alone, the disciples came to him. “Who do the crowds say I am?” he asked them.

^19*“Some say that you are John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say that you are Elijah, while others say that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

^20*“What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

²¹Then Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. ²²He also said to them, “The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will be raised to life.”

^23*And he said to them all, “Anyone who wants to come with me must forget self, take up their cross every day, and follow me. ^24*For whoever wants to save their own life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will save it. ²⁵Will people gain anything if they win the whole world but are themselves lost or defeated? Of course not! ²⁶If people are ashamed of me and of my teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Kingdom of God.”