Matthew 14:1-21

1At that time, people told Herod about the things that Jesus was doing.

2Herod said to his servants, ‘That man Jesus is really John the Baptist. John died but he has become alive again. That is the reason why this man can do these very powerful things.’

3Before that, Herod had commanded his soldiers, ‘Take hold of John. Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done this because of his wife Herodias. Before Herod married her, she was the wife of Herod's brother Philip.

4John had said to Herod, ‘Herodias was your brother's wife. So it is not right for you to have her as your wife.’

5Herod wanted to tell his soldiers that they must kill John. But the people thought that John was a prophet from God. So Herod was afraid to kill him.

6One day, when it was Herod's birthday, he asked people to come to a special meal. The daughter of Herodias danced in front of him and his visitors. Her dance caused Herod to become very happy.

7He said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I make a strong promise that I will give it to you.’

8Herodias suggested to her daughter, ‘Ask Herod to give you John's head.’ So the girl said to Herod, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist on a plate.’

9Then Herod felt sad. But he had made a special promise to the girl, and his visitors had heard him. So he sent his men to do what she had asked for.

10He said to a soldier, ‘Go to the prison and cut off John's head.’

11The soldier did this. Then he brought the head on a plate and he gave it to the girl. The girl took it and gave it to her mother.

12After this, John's disciples went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it. Then they went and they told Jesus what had happened.

13Jesus heard about what had happened to John. After that, he went away from that place. He sailed in a boat to a quiet place where he could be alone. But the crowd heard where Jesus had gone. So they left their towns and they went on land to the place where he was going.

14Jesus got out of the boat. He saw a large crowd there on the shore. He felt sorry for them. There were sick people among them and he made them well again.

15When it was almost evening, Jesus' disciples came to speak to him. They said to him, ‘We are in a place where there are no houses. It will soon be dark. Send the crowd away now, so that they can go to the villages near here. Then they can buy some food for themselves to eat.’

16Jesus said to them, ‘The people do not need to go away. You should give them some food to eat.’

17But the disciples said, ‘We only have five loaves of bread and two fish.’

18‘Bring the bread and fish here to me,’ Jesus said.

19Then he said to the large crowd, ‘Sit down on the grass.’ He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and he thanked God for the bread and the fish. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave the pieces of bread to his disciples, and they gave them to the crowd.

20Then everybody ate. They all had enough food and they were not hungry any more. Then the disciples picked up all the bits of food that people had not eaten. They filled 12 baskets with little bits of bread and fish.

21About 5,000 men ate the bread and fish. Women and children also ate it with them.