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Herod had John the Baptizer imprisoned and then killed because John criticized Herod for marrying his brother’s wife.
Matthew 14:1-13
1 During that time Herod Antipas, the ruler, heard reports about Jesus performing miracles. 2 He said to his servants: “That must be John the Baptizer. He must have risen from the dead, and that is why he has power to perform miracles.” 3-4 The reason Herod thought that was this: Herod had married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while Philip was still living. So John had been saying to him, “What you did by marrying your brother’s wife while your brother is still alive is against God’s law!” Then, to please Herodias, Herod told his soldiers to arrest John. They bound him with chains and put him in prison. 5 Herod wanted to have John executed, but he was afraid that the people who had accepted what John taught would riot if he did that, because they believed that John was a prophet.
6 But when Herod gave a party to celebrate his birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for his guests. This pleased Herod. 7 So he promised to give her whatever she asked, and he asked God to punish him if he did not do what he had promised. 8 So Herodias’ daughter went and asked her mother what to ask for. Her mother told her to ask for John the Baptizer’s head. So her daughter went back and said to Herod: “Cut off the head of John the Baptizer and please bring it here on a platter so that my mother can know for sure that he is dead!” 9 The king was distressed because he now knew he should not have made that promise to her. But because he had made an oath in front of his guests when he made that promise, and he did not want them to think that he would not do what he had promised, he commanded that the girl be given what she requested. 10 He sent the executioner to go to the prison and to cut off John’s head. 11 The executioner did that, and put John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl. Then the girl took it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples then went to the prison, took John’s body and buried it, and they reported to Jesus what had happened. 13 After Jesus heard that, he took just us disciples with him and we went by boat on Galilee Lake to an uninhabited place.
Jesus miraculously fed more than 5,000 people.
Matthew 14:13-21
After the crowds heard that we had gone to an uninhabited place, they left their towns and followed Jesus, walking along the shore. 14 When Jesus came to the shore, he saw a large crowd of people who had gathered there, waiting for him. He felt sorry for them, and he healed those among them who were sick.
15 When it was nearly evening, we disciples came to him and said, “This is a place where nobody lives, and it is very late. Dismiss the crowds so that they can go into the nearby towns. Have them do that so that they can buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to us, “They do not need to leave to get food. Instead, you yourselves give them something to eat!” 17 We said to him, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two cooked fish here!” 18 He said to us, “Bring them to me!” 19 He told the people who had gathered there to sit on the grass. Then he took the five flat loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. Then he gave them to us disciples, and we distributed them to the crowd. 20 All the people in the crowd ate until they had enough to eat. Then we disciples gathered the pieces that were left over, and we filled twelve baskets with them. 21 Those who ate were about 5,000 men. We did not count the women and children!
Jesus walked on Galilee lake, and then Peter tried to do the same.
Matthew 14:22-33
22 Right after that happened, Jesus told us disciples to get in the boat and to go ahead of him further around the lake while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After he dismissed them, he went up into the hills to pray by himself. When it was evening, he was still there alone. 24 By this time we were already many hundred meters from the shore. The boat was being severely tossed around by the waves {The waves were severely tossing the boat} because the wind was blowing against it. 25 Then Jesus came down from the hills to the lake. Some time between three and six o’clock in the morning he walked on the water toward our boat. 26 When we disciples saw someone walking on the water, we thought that we must be seeing a ghost. We were terrified, and we screamed out because we were afraid. 27 Immediately Jesus said to us, “Cheer up! It is I. Do not be afraid!” 28 Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to walk on the water to you!” 29 Then Jesus said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when Peter looked at the tossing waves which the strong wind caused, he became afraid. He began to sink, and cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and grabbed him. He said to Peter, “You only trust a little bit in my power ◄Why did you doubt that I could keep you from sinking?/You should not have doubted that I could keep you from sinking!► [RHQ]” 32 Then Jesus and Peter got in the boat, and the wind immediately stopped blowing. 33 All of us disciples who were in the boat worshipped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the ◄Son of/man two is also► God!”
Jesus healed many sick people in the Gennesaret region.
Matthew 14:34-36
34 When we had gone further around the lake in the boat, we came ashore at Gennesaret town. 35 The men of that area recognized Jesus. So they sent people to inform those who lived in that whole surrounding region [MTY] that Jesus was in their area. So the people brought to Jesus all the sick people who lived in that region. 36 The sick people kept begging him to allow them to touch him or just to touch the edge of his robe so that they would be healed. And all who touched him or his robe were healed {he healed all who touched him or his clothing}.

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© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.