Matthew 14–28

The Death of John the Baptist

14At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. ²“He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life,” he told his officials. “That is why he has this power to perform miracles.”

^3*For Herod had earlier ordered John’s arrest, and he had him chained and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ^4*For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, “It isn’t right for you to be married to Herodias!” ⁵Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

⁶On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased ⁷that he promised her, “I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!”

⁸At her mother’s suggestion she asked him, “Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a dish!”

⁹The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. ¹⁰So he had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹The head was brought in on a dish and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹²John’s disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men

¹³When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, so they left their towns and followed him by land. ¹⁴Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed those who were ill.

¹⁵That evening his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶“They don’t have to leave,” answered Jesus. “You yourselves give them something to eat!”

¹⁷“All we have here are five loaves and two fish,” they replied.

¹⁸“Then bring them here to me,” Jesus said. ¹⁹He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over. ²¹The number of men who ate was about 5,000, not counting the women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²²Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away. ²³After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone; ²⁴and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.

²⁵Between three and six o’clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. ²⁶When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and screamed with fear.

²⁷Jesus spoke to them at once. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don’t be afraid!”

²⁸Then Peter spoke up. “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

²⁹“Come!” answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. “Save me, Lord!” he cried.

³¹At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, “How little faith you have! Why did you doubt?”

³²They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. ³³Then the disciples in the boat worshipped Jesus. “Truly you are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

³⁴They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, ³⁵where the people recognized Jesus. So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus. ³⁶They begged him to let those who were ill at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.

The Teaching of the Ancestors

15Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, ²“Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don’t wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!”

³Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching? ^4*For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death.’ ⁵But you teach that if a person has something he could use to help his father or mother, but says, ‘This belongs to God,’ ⁶he does not need to honour his father.^m In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching. ⁷You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!

^8*‘These people, says God, honour me with their words,

but their heart is really far away from me.

^9*It is no use for them to worship me,

because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!’ ”

The Things That Make a Person Unclean

¹⁰Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand! ¹¹It is not what goes into a person’s mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.”

¹²Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

¹³“Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus. ^14*“Don’t worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

¹⁶Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others. ¹⁷Don’t you understand? Anything that goes into a person’s mouth goes into his stomach and then on out of his body. ^18*But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person ritually unclean. ¹⁹For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. ²⁰These are the things that make a person unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should—this doesn’t make a person unclean.”

A Woman’s Faith

²¹Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.”

²³But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!”

²⁴Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

²⁵At this the woman came and fell at his feet. “Help me, sir!” she said.

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

²⁷“That’s true, sir,” she answered; “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you.” And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹Jesus left there and went along by Lake Galilee. He climbed a hill and sat down. ³⁰Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb, and many other sick people, whom they placed at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them. ³¹The people were amazed as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they praised the God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand Men

³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away without feeding them, for they might faint on their way home.”

³³The disciples asked him, “Where will we find enough food in this desert to feed this crowd?”

³⁴“How much bread have you?” Jesus asked.

“Seven loaves,” they answered, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵So Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷They all ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. ³⁸The number of men who ate was 4,000, not counting the women and children.

³⁹Then Jesus sent the people away, got into a boat, and went to the territory of Magadan.

The Demand for a Miracle

16^*Some Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle for them, to show that God approved of him. ²But Jesus answered, “When the sun is setting, you say, ‘We are going to have fine weather, because the sky is red.’ ³And early in the morning you say, ‘It is going to rain, because the sky is red and dark.’ You can predict the weather by looking at the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs concerning these times!^{n 4*}How evil and godless are the people of this day! You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of Jonah.”

So he left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵When the disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake, they forgot to take any bread. ^6*Jesus said to them, “Take care; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They started discussing among themselves, “He says this because we didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, “Why are you discussing among yourselves about not having any bread? How little faith you have! ^9*Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand men? How many baskets did you fill? ^10*And what about the seven loaves for the four thousand men? How many baskets did you fill? ¹¹How is it that you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Guard…