Chronological Plan

¹At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus;

²and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

³For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

⁴because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.

⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod

⁷so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask.

⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

⁹The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given;

¹⁰he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

¹¹The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother.

¹²His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

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

¹⁸And he said, “Bring them here to me.”

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.

²¹And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.

²⁵And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.

²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.

³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

³⁵After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him,

³⁶and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

¹He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

²On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!

³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”

⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.

⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief. The Mission of the Twelve Then he went about among the villages teaching.

⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;

⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.

¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.

¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

¹⁴King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her.

¹⁸For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not,

²⁰for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.

²²When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.”

²³And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”

²⁴She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.”

²⁵Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.

²⁷Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,

²⁸brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.

³¹He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

³²And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

³⁴As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late;

³⁶send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.”

³⁷But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.

⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²And all ate and were filled;

⁴³and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.

⁴⁴Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by.

⁴⁹But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out;

⁵⁰for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

⁵¹Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded,

⁵²for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.

⁵⁴When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,

⁵⁵and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

¹Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,

²and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

³He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money — not even an extra tunic.

⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.

⁵Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

⁶They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

⁷Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,

⁸by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

⁹Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.

¹⁰On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida.

¹¹When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

¹²The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.”

¹³But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”

¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

¹⁵They did so and made them all sit down.

¹⁶And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

¹⁷And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.