aJesus went out from there and *came into 1 bHis hometown; and His disciples *followed Him.
2When the Sabbath came, He began ato teach in the synagogue; and the bmany listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such 1miracles as these performed by His hands?
3"Is not this athe carpenter, bthe son of Mary, and brother of 1James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not cHis sisters here with us?" And they took doffense at Him.
4Jesus said to them, " aA prophet is not without honor except in 1 bhis hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household."
5And He could do no 1miracle there except that He alaid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
6And He wondered at their unbelief.
aAnd He was going around the villages teaching.
aAnd bHe *summoned the twelve and began to send them out cin pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
8aand He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff--no bread, no 1bag, no money in their belt--
9but 1to wear sandals; and He added, "Do not put on two 2tunics."
10And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you 1leave town.
11"Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ashake the dust 1off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them."
12aThey went out and 1preached that men should repent.
13And they were casting out many demons and awere anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
aAnd King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, " bJohn the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him."
15But others were saying, "He is aElijah." And others were saying, "He is ba prophet, like one of the prophets of old."
16But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!"
17For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of aHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.
18For John had been saying to Herod, " aIt is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
19aHerodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so;
20for aHerod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; 1but he 2used to enjoy listening to him.
21A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday agave a banquet for his lords and 1military commanders and the leading men bof Galilee;
22and when the daughter of aHerodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and 1his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."
23And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to ahalf of my kingdom."
24And she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."
25Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
26And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of 1his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.
27Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison,
28and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.
29When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
30aThe bapostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.
31And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and athey did not even have time to eat.)
32aThey went away in bthe boat to a secluded place by themselves.
The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.
34When Jesus went 1ashore, He asaw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because bthey were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
35When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, " 1This place is desolate and it is already quite late;
36send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves 1something to eat."
37But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" aAnd they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred 1 bdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?"
38And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish."
39And He commanded them all to 1sit down by groups on the green grass.
40They 1sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.
41And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ablessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.
42They all ate and were satisfied,
43and they picked up twelve full abaskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.
44There were afive thousand men who ate the loaves.
aImmediately Jesus made His disciples get into bthe boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to cBethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.
46After abidding them farewell, He left bfor the mountain to pray.
47When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.
48Seeing them 1straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the 2 afourth watch of the night He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.
49But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;
50for they all saw Him and were 1terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, " aTake courage; it is I, bdo not be afraid."
51Then He got into athe boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,
52for athey 1had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but 2their heart bwas hardened.
aWhen they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.
54When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,
55and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to 1the place they heard He was.
56Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just atouch bthe fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.