Matthew 14–28

How John the Baptist Was Killed

14At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. ²So he said to his servants, “Jesus is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why he can work these miracles.”

³Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, who had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. ⁴John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to Herodias.” ⁵Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they believed John was a prophet.

⁶On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests, and she pleased him. ⁷So he promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted. ⁸Herodias told her daughter what to ask for, so she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹Although King Herod was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard him. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. ¹⁰He sent soldiers to the prison to cut off John’s head. ¹¹And they brought it on a platter and gave it to the girl, and she took it to her mother. ¹²John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

More than Five Thousand Fed

¹³When Jesus heard what had happened to John, he left in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. But the crowds heard about it and followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick.

¹⁵When it was evening, his followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place, and it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus answered, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷They said to him, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” ¹⁹Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking to heaven, he thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the bread and gave it to his followers, who gave it to the people. ²⁰All the people ate and were satisfied. Then the followers filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of food. ²¹There were about five thousand men there who ate, not counting women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²²Immediately Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go ahead of him across the lake. He stayed there to send the people home. ²³After he had sent them away, he went by himself up into the hills to pray. It was late, and Jesus was there alone. ²⁴By this time, the boat was already far away from land. It was being hit by waves, because the wind was blowing against it.

²⁵Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. ²⁶When his followers saw him walking on the water, they were afraid. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out in fear.

²⁷But Jesus quickly spoke to them, “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter said, “Lord, if it is really you, then command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹Jesus said, “Come.”

And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. ³⁰But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”

³²After they got into the boat, the wind became calm. ³³Then those who were in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God!”

³⁴When they had crossed the lake, they came to shore at Gennesaret. ³⁵When the people there recognized Jesus, they told people all around there that Jesus had come, and they brought all their sick to him. ³⁶They begged Jesus to let them touch just the edge of his coat, and all who touched it were healed.

Obey God’s Law

15Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him, ²“Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? They don’t wash their hands before they eat.”

³Jesus answered, “And why do you refuse to obey God’s command so that you can follow your own teachings? ⁴God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ ⁿ and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’ ^{n 5}But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I have given it to God already.’ ⁶You teach that person not to honor his father or his mother. You rejected what God said for the sake of your own rules. ⁷You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you:

⁸‘These people show honor to me with words,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁹Their worship of me is worthless.

The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’ ”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to him, he said, “Listen and understand what I am saying. ¹¹It is not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean.”

¹²Then his followers came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees are angry because of what you said?”

¹³Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders. ⁿ And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵Peter said, “Explain the example to us.”

¹⁶Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? ¹⁷Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then goes out of the body. ¹⁸But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean. ¹⁹Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others. ²⁰These things make people unclean; eating with unwashed hands does not make them unclean.”

Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman

²¹Jesus left that place and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus and cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon, and she is suffering very much.”

²³But Jesus did not answer the woman. So his followers came to Jesus and begged him, “Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting.”

²⁴Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”

²⁵Then the woman came to Jesus again and bowed before him and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”

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

²⁸Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked.” And at that moment the woman’s daughter was healed.

Jesus Heals Many People

²⁹After leaving there, Jesus went along the shore of Lake Galilee. He went up on a hill and sat there.

³⁰Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, those who could not speak, and many others. They put them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. ³¹The crowd was amazed when they saw that people who could not speak before were now able to speak. The crippled were made strong. The lame could walk, and the blind could see. And they praised the God of Israel for this.

More than Four Thousand Fed

³²Jesus called his followers to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have already been with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. They might faint while going home.”

³³His followers asked him, “How can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”

³⁴Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

³⁵Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. ³⁶He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks to God. Then he divided the food and gave it to his followers, and they gave it to the people. ³⁷All the people ate and were satisfied. Then his followers filled seven baskets with the leftover pieces of food. ³⁸There were about four thousand men there who ate, besides women and children. ³⁹After sending the people home, Jesus got into the boat and went to the area of Magadan.

The Leaders Ask for a Miracle

16The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick him. So they asked him to show them a miracle from God.

²Jesus answered, ⁿ “At sunset you say we will have good weather, because the sky is red. ³And in the morning you say that it will be a rainy day, because the sky is dark and red. You see these signs in the sky and know what they mean. In the same way, you see the things that I am doing now, but you don’t know their meaning. ⁴Evil and sinful people ask for a miracle as a sign, but they will not be given any sign, except the sign of Jonah.” ⁿ Then Jesus left them and went away.

Guard Against Wrong Teachings

⁵Jesus’ followers went across the lake, but they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

⁷His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.”

⁸Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. ⁹Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the five thousand? And remember that you filled many baskets with the leftovers? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand and the many baskets you filled then also? ¹¹I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? I am telling you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ¹²Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of…