Herod, who was the ruler in the area, heard about Jesus.
He said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has come back to life because he has amazing powers!”

Herod had captured John and tied him up in prison because his brother Phillip’s wife Herodias asked him to.
John had been telling Herod, “It’s not lawful for you to be with her.”
Herod wanted to kill him, but he was worried the citizens would get upset because they thought John was a prophet. At Herod’s birthday party, Herodias’ daughter danced for him. Herod liked what he saw and promised to give her whatever she wanted. Her mother gave her a suggestion. Herodias’ daughter requested, “Give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter”
Herod didn’t like this request, because of what he had promised the citizens, and there were other people there at the party, but he commanded that it be done anyway. He sent orders to the prison to behead John. John’s head was put on a platter and given to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. John’s followers came and took his body and buried it. They went and told Jesus what had happened.

When he heard what had happened to John, Jesus left from there and went by himself in a boat to a secret place. The crowds followed him on foot from their towns. When he got back on the beach, he saw all the people and felt compassion for them and healed the sick.

In the late afternoon, his followers said to him, “This place is deserted, and it’s been a long time. Tell everyone to go back to the villages to get food.”
Jesus replied, “They don’t need to go away. Find something for them to eat.”
The followers told him, “We don’t have anything here except for five loaves of bread and two fish.”
“Bring them here,” Jesus said.
Jesus told the crowds to sit down on the grass. He held the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up to the heavens, said a prayer and broke the bread. He gave his followers the bread and his followers passed the bread out to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full. They took the leftovers and found there were 12 baskets full of food left. There were about 5000 men that ate, not including the women and the children.
As soon as they finished eating, Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the lake, so they couldn’t tell the crowd to go away.

Later, after sending the crowds away, Jesus went up a mountain alone to pray. It was now evening and he was alone. The boat was now in the middle of the lake and being tossed around by the wind and waves.

In the early hours of the morning, Jesus walked across the lake to the boat. His followers saw him walking on the water and were freaked out. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and screamed.
Jesus called to them, “Don’t be scared! It’s me. Don’t worry.”
Peter replied, “Lord if it’s you, tell me to come and meet you on the water.”
Jesus said, “Come.”
Peter got out from the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind blowing around him, Peter was scared and began to sink into the water. He cried out “Lord, save me!”.
Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and took hold of Peter. “You have hardly any faith. Why did you doubt?”
They both got into the boat and the wind stopped. Everyone in the boat worshipped Jesus and said, “You really are God’s son!”

They finished crossing the lake and came to the land of Gennesaret. The men there recognised Jesus. They sent messages to all the surrounding areas for the sick to be brought to him. The people begged Jesus to let them touch the fringe of his clothes. Those that did were cured.

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Continue exploring Matthew 14

If you’d like to read Matthew 14 in other translations, here are a few BibleHub links:
For a translation that aims to be word-for-word, try Matthew 14 in the English Standard Version.
For a translation that aims to be more thought-for-thought, try Matthew 14 in the New International Version.
For a translation that aims to communicate the overall meaning, try Matthew 14 in the Contemporary English Version.

If you prefer to read the Bible in a hard-copy format, here are cheaper versions from Amazon:
[These are Amazon affiliate links which support the production of this blog]
For a translation that aims to be word-for-word, ESV Economy Bible
For a translation that aims to be more thought-for-thought, NIV, Economy Bible, Paperback: Accurate. Readable. Clear.
For a translation that aims to communicate the overall meaning, Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version

If you’d like to explore Matthew in more depth, here are some commentaries I would recommend:
[These are Amazon affiliate links which support the production of this blog]
Easy to access commentaries that include life applications:
The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew
Matthew (The Story of God Bible Commentary)
For a commentary that goes into more depth:
The Gospel of Matthew (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)