1 aJesus went out from there and came into bHis hometown; and His disciples followed Him. 2 When 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 miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 "Is not this athe carpenter, bthe son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not cHis sisters here with us?" And they took doffense at Him. 4 Jesus said to them, "aA prophet is not without honor except in bhis hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household." 5 And He could do no miracle there except that He alaid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief. 7 aAnd bHe summoned the twelve and began to send them out cin pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 aand He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff--no bread, no bag, no money in their belt-- 9 but to wear sandals; and He added, "Do not put on two tunics." 10 And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. 11 "Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, ashake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them." 12 aThey went out and preached that men should repent. 13 And they were casting out many demons and awere anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. 14 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." 15 But others were saying, "He is aElijah." And others were saying, "He is ba prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16 But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!" 17 For 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. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, "aIt is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19 aHerodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; 20 for 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; but he used to enjoy listening to him. 21 A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday agave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men bof Galilee; 22 and when the daughter of aHerodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you." 23 And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to ahalf of my kingdom." 24 And she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25 Immediately 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." 26 And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison, 28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb. 30 aThe bapostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And 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.) 32 aThey went away in bthe boat to a secluded place by themselves. 33 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. 34 When Jesus went ashore, 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. 35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" aAnd they said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred bdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?" 38 And He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." 39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 And 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. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full abaskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were afive thousand men who ate the loaves. 45 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. 46 After abidding them farewell, He left bfor the mountain to pray. 47 When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. 48 Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the afourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, "aTake courage; it is I, bdo not be afraid." 51 Then He got into athe boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, 52 for athey had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart bwas hardened. 53 aWhen they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. 56 Wherever 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.