Matthew 14

New Matthew Bible

John is taken and beheaded. Christ feeds 5,000 men with five loaves and two fishes, and appears to his disciples by night upon the lake.

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus ² and said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen again from death, and therefore are such miracles wrought by him! ³ For Herod had seized John, and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴ For John said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her. ⁵ But when Herod would have put him to death, he feared the people, because they counted John as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod, ⁷ whereupon he promised with an oath that he would give her whatever she would ask. ⁸ And she, being first instructed by her mother, said, Give me here the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

⁹ And the king sorrowed. Nevertheless, because of his oath, and because of the people who were sitting also at the table, he commanded it to be given her. ¹⁰ And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came and took up his body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

¹³ When Jesus heard about this, he withdrew from there by boat into an isolated place out of the way. But when the people heard of it, they followed him by foot out of their towns. ¹⁴ And Jesus went forth and saw the crowds of people, and his heart did melt upon them. And he healed among them those that were sick.

¹⁵ When evening was come, his disciples went to him, saying, This is an isolated place, and the day is spent. Let the people depart so that they can go into the towns and buy themselves some food. ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, They have no need to go away; you give them to eat. ¹⁷ Then they said to him, We have here only five loaves and two fishes. ¹⁸ And he said, Bring them here.

¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass, took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ And they did all eat, and were satisfied. And of the pieces that remained, they gathered twelve baskets full. ²¹ And the men that had eaten were in number about 5,000, as well as women and children.

²² Directly after, Jesus got his disciples to get into a boat, and to go over before him while he sent the people away. ²³ And as soon as he had sent the people away, he went up into a mountain alone to pray. And when night was come, he was there himself alone. ²⁴ And the boat was now in the middle of the sea, and was tossed with waves, for it was a contrary wind.

²⁵ In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when his disciples saw him walking on the water, they were troubled, saying, It is some spirit! And they cried out for fear. ²⁷ And straightaway Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. ²⁸ Peter answered him and said, Master, if it is you, get me to come to you on the water. ²⁹ And he said, Come!

And when Peter had gone down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw a mighty wind, he was afraid. And as he began to sink he cried out, saying, Master, save me! ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt? ³² And as soon as they were in the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Then the men in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, you are the Son of God.

³⁴ And when they had crossed over, they went into the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵ When the men of that place learned of him, they sent out into all the area round about, and brought to him all that were sick, ³⁶ and asked him if they might touch the hem of his vesture only. And as many as touched it were made well.