Matthew 14:1-21

Common English Bible

Death of John the Baptist

14 At that time Herod the ruler^[a] heard the news about Jesus. ² He said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He’s been raised from the dead. This is why these miraculous powers are at work through him.” ³ Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip.

⁴ That’s because John told Herod, “It’s against the law for you to marry her.”

⁵ Although Herod wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd because they thought John was a prophet. ⁶ But at Herod’s birthday party Herodias’ daughter danced in front of the guests and thrilled Herod. ⁷ Then he swore to give her anything she asked.

⁸ At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a plate.” ⁹ Although the king was upset, because of his solemn pledge and his guests he commanded that they give it to her. ¹⁰ Then he had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹ They brought his head on a plate and gave it to the young woman, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² But John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

Feeding the five thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. ¹⁵ That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. ²¹ About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten.