because Herod was afraid of John. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man, and so he protected him. Whenever he listened to John, he did much of what he said. In fact, he liked listening to him.

And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

nay, he ratified his promise with an oath, "I will give you whatever you require, said he, tho' it be even the half of my kingdom."

And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

Immediately she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter—right now!”

And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

So they set off privately in their boat for a lonely spot.

On getting out of the boat, Jesus saw a great crowd, and his heart was moved at the sight of them, because they were 'like sheep without a shepherd'; and he began to teach them many things.

And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:

He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five [loaves], and two fish.”

And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

And [after he] had said farewell to them, he went away to the mountain to pray.

but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and shrieked aloud ??50 for they all saw him and were terrified. Then he spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

for they all saw Him and were shaken and terrified. But He immediately spoke with them and said, “Take courage! It is I (I Am)! Stop being afraid.”

And when they had [finally] crossed over [i.e., to the west side of Lake Galilee], they arrived in the district of Gennesaret and moored the boat on shore.

And went running through all the country round about, and took on their beds those who were ill, to where it was said that he was.

And wherever he went, in towns, or cities; or fields, they set the sick in the market places, and besought him that they might even touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched him were saved.

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

"For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things."

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

and so you nullify what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many such practices."

And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

And He said to them, “Are you, too, so foolish and lacking in understanding? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile and dishonor him,

because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said , making all meats clean.

And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

And from there he set out [and] went to the region of Tyre. And [when he] entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and [yet] he was not able to escape notice.

But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

And he took him on one side from the people privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he put water from his mouth on the man's tongue with his finger;

and looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” which [in Aramaic] means, “Be opened and released!”

They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well! He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk!”

In those days there was again a large crowd, and they did not have anything they could eat. Summoning the disciples, he said to them,

"My heart yearns over the people," He said; "for this is now the third day they have remained with me, and they have nothing to eat.

And his disciples said in answer, How will it be possible to get enough bread for these men here in a waste place?

And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.

And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.

And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.

Immediately He boarded a boat with His disciples and crossed [to the west side of the lake], to the region of Dalmanutha. [Note: Matt. 15:39 says "Magadan," which was probably in the same vicinity as Dalmanutha].

He groaned and sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? I assure you and most solemnly say to you, no sign will be given to this generation!”

And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.

And he said to them, Take care to be on the watch against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

And they said to one another, We have no bread.

Jesus, aware of this [discussion], said to them, “Why are you discussing [the fact] that you have no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

Though you have eyes, do you not see? And though you have ears, do you not hear and listen [to what I have said]? And do you not remember,

when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They answered, “Twelve.”

And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

And they came to Beth-saida. And they took a blind man to him, requesting him to put his hands on him.

And he took the blind man by the hand, and went with him out of the town; and when he had put water from his mouth on his eyes, and put his hands on him, he said, Do you see anything?

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

Then for the second time He put His hands on the man's eyes, and the man, looking steadily, recovered his sight and saw everything distinctly.

And he sent him away to his house, and said: Neither go into the village, nor tell it to any one in the village.

Then Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he was asking his disciples, "Who do people say I am?"

They said, "John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets."

And he asked them, "But who do you say [that] I am?" Peter answered [and] said to him, "You are the Christ!"

And teaching them, he said that the Son of man would have to undergo much, and be hated by those in authority, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be put to death, and after three days come back from the dead.

He was stating the matter plainly [not holding anything back]. Then Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him.

But turning around [with His back to Peter] and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan; for your mind is not set on God’s will or His values and purposes, but on what pleases man.”

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

And wist not what he said, for they were afraid.

Then a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, "This is my Son, whom I love. Keep on listening to him!"

As they were going down the mountain-side, Jesus cautioned them not to relate what they had seen to any one, till after the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead.

And they did not forget what he said, but discussed with one another what he meant by the rising from the dead.

And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.

And he said, What are you questioning them about?

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

And when he may take him, he lacerates him: and he froths, and gnashes his teeth, and pines away. And I said to thy disciples, that they should cast him out; and they were not able.

And he answering him, said, 'O generation unbelieving, till when shall I be with you? till when shall I suffer you? bring him unto me;'

And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Then Jesus, seeing that an increasing crowd was running towards Him, rebuked the foul spirit, and said to it, "Dumb and deaf spirit, *I* command you, come out of him and never enter into him again."

And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

And when he had gone into the house, his disciples said to him privately, Why were we unable to send it out?

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

But they understood not what he said, and were afraid to ask him.

But they said nothing: because they had had an argument between themselves on the way, about who was the greatest.

And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,

John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followed not us.

But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

For whoever is not against us is on our side.

And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.

And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

"wherefore, 'tis said, a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."

When indoors the disciples began to question Jesus again about this, and he said:

And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;

And they took to him little children, so that he might put his hands on them: and the disciples said sharp words to them.