Matthew, Chapter 14

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, ²And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. ³For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. ⁵And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. ⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. ⁸And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.

⁹And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. ¹⁰And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. ¹³When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. ¹⁴And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. ¹⁵And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. ¹⁶But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

¹⁷And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. ¹⁸He said, Bring them hither to me. ¹⁹And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. ²⁰And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. ²¹And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. ²²And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. ²³And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. ²⁴But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. ²⁷But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. ²⁸And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. ²⁹And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. ³¹And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? ³²And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

³³Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. ³⁴And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; ³⁶And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.