Matthew 14:1-21 ▼

1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus,

2 and said to his servants, This is John the baptist, he is certainly risen from the dead, and therefore miraculous things are done by him:

3 for Herod had apprehended John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife;

4 for John said to Him, It is not lawful for thee to have her: and he would have put him to death,

5 but that he was afraid of the people; for they esteemed him as a prophet.

6 But when Herod's birth-day was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod, so

7 that he promised her with an oath to give her whatever she would ask:

8 and she, being before instructed by her mother, said, Give me here in a dish the head of John the baptist:

9 at which the king was distressed, but because of his oath, and of those who sat at table with him, he ordered it to be given her;

10 and he sent and beheaded John in the prison,

11 and his head was brought in a dish, and given to the young princess, who carried it to her mother:

12 and his disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and then went and told Jesus.

13 And when Jesus heard it, He departed from thence in a ship to a solitary place of retirement: but the people hearing where He was followed Him on foot from the cities:

14 and when Jesus came out of the ship, He saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them; and He healed their sick.

15 Now when it was evening his disciples came to Him and said, This is a desert place, and meal -time is now past; dismiss the people, that they may go away to the towns, and buy themselves victuals.

16 But Jesus said to them, they have no need to go away, do ye give them something to eat.

17 And they said, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes:

18 and He said, bring them hither to me.

19 And having ordered the multitudes to sit down upon the grass, and taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven and blessed them; and He brake the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the people: and they did all eat, and were satisfied;

20 and they took up what was left even of fragments twelve baskets full.

21 Now they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.