1 Jesus left Capernaum city and went to his hometown, Nazareth. His disciples went with him. 2 ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day►, he entered the Jewish worship house and taught the people. Many who were listening to him were astonished. But some were saying, “This man is just an ordinary person like we are! So ◄we cannot believe that this man is able to teach us about these things and that he has been made very wise {that God has made him very wise} and that he is performing such miracles!/how is it that [RHQ] this man is able to teach us about these things and that he has been made very wise {that God has made him very wise} and that he is performing such miracles?► [RHQ] 3 ◄We know that he is just an ordinary carpenter!/Isn’t he just an ordinary carpenter [RHQ]?► We know him and his family! We know Mary his mother! ◄We know his younger brothers James, Joses, Judas and Simon!/Are not his younger brothers James, Joses, Judas and Simon?► [RHQ] And ◄his younger sisters also live here in this town!/do not his younger sisters also live here in this town?► [RHQ]” So they despised him. 4 Jesus knew that they refused to believe in him. So he said to them, “It is certainly true that people honor me and other prophets in other places, but not in our hometowns! Even our relatives and the people who live in our own houses do not honor us!”

5  So, although he healed a few sick people there by touching them, he decided not to perform many other miracles in Nazareth because the people there did not believe that he was the Messiah. 6 He was amazed that they did not believe in him.

Jesus and his disciples went from town to town in that region teaching the people. 7  One day he summoned the twelve disciples, and then he told them that he was going to send them out two-by-two to teach people in various towns. He gave them power to expel evil spirits from people. 8-9 He also instructed them to wear sandals and to take along a walking stick when they were traveling. He told them not to take food, nor a bag in which travelers carry supplies, nor any money for their journey. He also did not allow them to take extra clothing. He wanted the people who heard their message to give them what they needed. 10 He also instructed them, “After you enter a town, if someone invites you to stay in his house, go into his house. Eat and sleep in that same home until you leave that town. 11 Wherever the people do not welcome you and wherever the people do not listen to you, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that place. By doing that, you will warn them that God will punish them for rejecting your message.” 12  So after the disciples went out to various towns, they were preaching that people should stop their sinful behavior. 13 They were also expelling many evil spirits from people, and they were anointing many sick people with olive oil and healing them.

14  King Herod Antipas heard about what Jesus was doing, because many people were talking about it. Some people were saying about Jesus, “He must be John the Baptizer! He has come back to life! That is why he has God’s power to perform these miracles!” 15 Others were saying about Jesus, “He is the former prophet Elijah, whom God promised to send back again.” Others were saying about Jesus, “No, he is a different prophet, like one of the other prophets who lived long ago.” 16 Having heard what the people were saying, King Herod Antipas himself repeatedly said, “The man performing those miracles must be John! I commanded my soldiers to cut off his head, but he has come back to life again to get revenge for my killing him!” 17 The reason King Herod concluded that John wanted revenge is as follows: Some time before this, Herod married Herodias, while she was still the wife of his younger brother, Philip. 18 John kept telling Herod, “God’s law does not permit you to marry the wife of your brother while he is still alive.” Then, because Herodias urged him to put John in prison, Herod himself sent soldiers to John. They seized John and put him in prison. 19 But because Herodias wanted to get further revenge on John, she wanted someone to execute him. But she could not do that because while John was in prison, Herod kept John safe from her. 20 Herod did this because he respected/feared John, because he knew that he was a righteous and holy man. The king did not know what he should do, but he liked to listen to him. 21 But Herodias was able to have someone execute John when they honored/celebrated the day when Herod was born. On that day, he invited the most important government officials, the most important army leaders, and the most important men in Galilee district in order that they might eat and celebrate with him. 22  While they were eating, Herodias’ daughter came into the room and danced, and that pleased King Herod and his guests. So the king said to her, “Ask me for whatever you desire and I will give it to you!” 23 He said to her, “Whatever you ask, I will give it to you! I will give you up to half of what I own and rule, if you ask for it. May God punish me if I do not do what I have promised!” 24 The girl immediately left the room and went to her mother. She told her what the king had said, and asked her, “What shall I ask for?” Her mother replied, “Ask the king to give you the head of John the Baptizer!” 25 The girl quickly entered the room again. She went to the king and she requested, “I want you to command someone to cut off the head of John the Baptizer and give it to me at once on a platter, so that my mother can know he is dead!” 26 The king became very distressed when he heard what she asked for, because he knew John was a very righteous man (OR, because he now knew that he should not have made that promise to her). But he could not refuse what she requested because he had promised that he would give her anything she asked for, and because his guests had heard him promise that. 27 So the king at once ordered the man who executes prisoners to go and cut off John’s head and bring it to the girl. That man went to the prison and cut off John’s head. 28 He put it on a platter, brought it back, and gave it to the girl. The girl took it to her mother. 29 After John’s disciples heard what happened, they went to the prison and took John’s body and then they buried it in a burial cave.

30 The twelve apostles returned to Jesus from the places to which they had gone. They reported to him what they had done and what they had taught to people. 31 He said to them, “Come with me to a place where no people are living, in order that we can be alone and rest a little while!” He said this because many people were continually coming to them and going away again, with the result that Jesus and his disciples did not have time to eat or do anything else. 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a place where no people were living. 33  But many people saw them leaving. They also recognized that they were Jesus and the disciples, and they saw where they were going. So they ran ahead on land from all the nearby towns to the place where Jesus and his disciples were going. They actually arrived there before Jesus and the disciples. 34 As Jesus and his disciples got out of the boat, Jesus saw this large crowd. He felt sorry for them because they were confused, like sheep that do not have a shepherd. So he taught them many things.

35 Late in the afternoon, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a place where no people live and it is very late. 36  So send the people away in order that they may go to the surrounding farms and villages in order that they can buy for themselves something to eat!” 37 But he replied, “No, you yourselves give them something to eat!” They replied, “◄We could not buy enough bread to feed this crowd, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days!/How could we buy enough bread to feed this mob, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days?►” [RHQ] 38 But he replied to them, “How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and find out!” They went and found out and then they told him, “We have only five flat loaves and two cooked fish!” 39 He instructed the disciples to tell all the people to sit down on the green grass. 40 So the people sat in groups. There were 50 people in some groups and 100 people in other groups. 41 Jesus took the five flat loaves and the two fish. He looked up towards heaven and thanked God for them. Then he broke the loaves and fish into pieces and kept giving them to the disciples in order that they would distribute them to the people. 42 Everyone ate this food until they all had enough to eat! 43 The disciples then collected twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and of the fish that were left over. 44 There were approximately 5,000 men who ate the bread and fish. They did not even count the women and children.

45 Right away Jesus told his disciples to get into the boat and then go ahead of him to Bethsaida town, which was further around Lake Galilee. He stayed and dismissed the many people who were there. 46 After he said goodbye to the people, he went up into the hills in order to pray. 47 When it was evening, the disciples’ boat was in the middle of the lake and Jesus was by himself on the land. 48 He saw that the wind was blowing against them as they rowed. As a result, they were having great difficulty. He approached them early in the morning, when it was still dark, by walking on the water. He intended to walk by them. 49 They saw him walking on the water, but they thought that he was a ghost. They screamed 50 because they all were terrified when they saw him. But he talked to them. He said to them, “Be calm! Do not be afraid, because it is I!” 51 He got into the boat and sat down with them and the wind immediately stopped blowing. They were completely amazed about what he had done. 52  Although they had seen Jesus multiply the bread and the fish, they did not understand from that how powerful he was, as they should have. They did not think clearly about it.

53 After they went further around Lake Galilee in a boat, they came to the shore at Gennesaret town. Then they tied up the boat there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, the people there recognized Jesus. 55 So they ran throughout the whole district in order to tell others that Jesus was there. Then the people placed those who were sick on stretchers and carried them to any place where they heard people say that Jesus was. 56 In whatever village, town or other place where he entered, they would bring to the marketplaces those who were sick. Then the sick people would beg Jesus to let them touch him or even the edge of his clothes in order that Jesus might heal them. All those who touched him or his robe were healed.