The Death of John the Baptist

141 At that time news of Jesus came to Herod the king; 2 And he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has come back from the dead, and so these powers are working in him. 3 For Herod had taken John and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. 4 Because John had said to him, It is not right for you to have her. 5 And he would have put him to death, but for his fear of the people, because in their eyes John was a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias was dancing before them, and Herod was pleased with her. 7 So he gave her his word with an oath to let her have whatever she might make request for. 8 And she, at her mother's suggestion, said, Give me here on a plate the head of John the Baptist. 9 And the king was sad; but because of his oaths and because of his guests, he gave the order for it to be given to her; 10 And he sent and had John's head cut off in the prison. 11 And his head was put on a plate and given to the girl; and she took it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came, and took up his body and put it in the earth; and they went and gave Jesus news of what had taken place.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

13 Now when it came to the ears of Jesus, he went away from there in a boat, to a waste place by himself: and the people hearing of it, went after him on foot from the towns. 14 And he came out and saw a great number of people and he had pity on them, and made well those of them who were ill. 15 And when evening had come, the disciples came to him, saying, This place is waste land, and the time is now past; send the people away so that they may go into the towns and get themselves food. 16 But Jesus said to them, There is no need for them to go away; give them food yourselves. 17 And they say to him, We have here but five cakes of bread and two fishes. 18 And he said, Give them to me. 19 And he gave orders for the people to be seated on the grass; and he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing, and made division of the food, and gave it to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the people. 20 And they all took of the food and had enough: and they took up twelve baskets full of broken bits which were not used. 21 And those who had food were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

22 And straight away he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, till he had sent the people away. 23 And after he had sent the people away, he went up into the mountain by himself for prayer: and when evening was come, he was there by himself. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, and was troubled by the waves: for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when they saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they gave cries of fear. 27 But straight away Jesus said to them, Take heart; it is I, have no fear. 28 And Peter, answering, said to him, Lord, if it is you, give me the order to come to you on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And Peter got out of the boat, and walking on the water, went to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind he was in fear and, starting to go down, he gave a cry, saying, Help, Lord. 31 And straight away Jesus put out his hand and took a grip of him, and said to him, O man of little faith, why were you in doubt? 32 And when they had got into the boat, the wind went down. 33 And those who were in the boat gave him worship, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

34 And when they had gone across, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place had news of him, they sent into all the country round about, and took to him all who were ill, 36 With the request that they might only put their hands on the edge of his robe: and all those who did so were made well.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

61 And he went away from there, and came into his country; and his disciples went with him. 2 And when the Sabbath day had come, he was teaching in the Synagogue; and a number of people hearing him were surprised, saying, From where did this man get these things? and, What is the wisdom given to this man, and what are these works of power done by his hands? 3 Is not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against him. 4 And Jesus said to them, A prophet is nowhere without honour, but in his country, and among his relations, and in his family. 5 And he was unable to do any work of power there, but only to put his hands on one or two persons who were ill, and make them well. 6 And he was greatly surprised because they had no faith. And he went about the country places teaching.

The Mission of the Twelve

7 And he gave orders to the twelve, and sent them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 And he said that they were to take nothing for their journey, but a stick only; no bread, no bag, no money in their pockets; 9 They were to go with common shoes on their feet, and not to take two coats. 10 And he said to them, Wherever you go into a house, make that your resting-place till you go away. 11 And whatever place will not take you in and will not give ear to you, when you go away, put off the dust from your feet as a witness against them. 12 And they went out, preaching the need for a change of heart in men. 13 And they sent out a number of evil spirits, and put oil on a great number who were ill, and made them well.

The Death of John the Baptist

14 And king Herod had news of him, because his name was on the lips of all; and he said, John the Baptist has come back from the dead, and for this reason these powers are working in him. 15 But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is a prophet, even like one of the prophets. 16 But Herod, when he had news of it, said, John, whom I put to death, has come back from the dead. 17 For Herod himself had sent men out to take John and put him in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had taken for himself. 18 For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife. 19 And Herodias was bitter against him, desiring to put him to death; but she was not able; 20 For Herod was in fear of John, being conscious that he was an upright and holy man, and kept him safe. And hearing him, he was much troubled; and he gave ear to him gladly. 21 And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; 22 And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you. 23 And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom. 24 And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 25 And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her. 27 And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison, 28 And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 And when his disciples had news of it, they came and took up his body, and put it in its last resting-place.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

30 And the twelve came together to Jesus; and they gave him an account of all the things they had done, and all they had been teaching. 31 And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a quiet place, and take a rest for a time. Because there were a great number coming and going, and they had no time even for food. 32 And they went away in the boat to a waste place by themselves. 33 And the people saw them going, and a number of them, having knowledge who they were, went running there together on foot from all the towns, and got there before them. 34 And he got out, and saw a great mass of people, and he had pity on them, because they were like sheep without a keeper: and he gave them teaching about a number of things. 35 And at the end of the day, his disciples came to him and said, This place is waste land, and it is late: 36 Send them away, so that they may go into the country and small towns round about, and get some food for themselves. 37 But he said to them in answer, Give them food yourselves. And they said to him, Are we to go and get bread for two hundred pence, and give it to them? 38 And he said to them, How much bread have you? go and see. And when they had seen, they said, Five cakes of bread and two fishes. 39 And he made them all be seated in groups on the green grass. 40 And they were placed in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them; and when the cakes were broken, he gave them to the disciples to put before the people; and he made division of the two fishes among them all. 42 And they all took of the food and had enough. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken bits and of the fishes. 44 And those who took of the bread were five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

45 And straight away he made his disciples get into the boat, and go before him to the other side to Beth-saida, while he himself sent the people away. 46 And after he had sent them away, he went up into a mountain for prayer. 47 And by evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he by himself on the land. 48 And seeing that they had trouble in getting their boat through the water, because the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea; and he would have gone past them; 49 But they, when they saw him walking on the sea, took him for a spirit, and gave a loud cry: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. But straight away he said to them, Take heart, it is I, have no fear. 51 And he went to them into the boat, and the wind went down, and they were full of wonder in themselves; 52 For it was not clear to them about the bread; but their hearts were hard.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

53 And when they had gone across, they came to Gennesaret, and got their boat to land. 54 And when they had got out of the boat, the people quickly had news of him, 55 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. 56 And wherever he went, into small towns, or great towns, or into the country, they took those who were ill into the market-places, requesting him that they might put their hands even on the edge of his robe: and all those who did so were made well.

The Mission of the Twelve

91 And getting the twelve together, he gave them power and authority over all evil spirits and over diseases, to make them well. 2 And he sent them out to be preachers of the kingdom of God, and to make well those who were ill. 3 And he said to them, Take nothing for your journey, no stick or bag or bread or money, and do not take two coats. 4 And if you go into a house, let that house be your resting-place till you go away. 5 And if any people will not take you in, when you go away from that town, put off its dust from your feet for a witness against them. 6 And they went away, journeying through all the towns, preaching the good news and making people free from diseases in all places.

The Death of John the Baptist

7 Now Herod the king had news of all these things: and he was in doubt, because it was said by some people that John had come back from the dead; 8 And by some, that Elijah had come; and by others, that one of the old prophets had come back to life. 9 And Herod said, I put John to death: but who is this, of whom such stories are given to me? And he had a desire to see him.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

10 And the twelve, when they came back, gave him an account of what they had done. And he took them with him and went away from the people to a town named Beth-saida. 11 But the people, getting news of it, went after him: and he was pleased to see them, and gave them teaching about the kingdom of God, and made those well who were in need of it. 12 And the day went on; and the twelve came to him and said, Send these people away so that they may go into the towns and the country round about and get resting-places and food for themselves, for we are in a waste place. 13 But he said, Give them food yourselves. And they said, We have only five cakes of bread and two fishes, if we do not go and get food for all these people. 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them be seated in groups, about fifty to a group. 15 And they did so, and made them all be seated. 16 And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them, and when they had been broken, he gave them to the disciples to give to the people. 17 And they all took the food and had enough; and they took up of the broken bits which were over, twelve baskets full.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 9:1-17

Commentary on Luke 9:1-9

(Read Luke 9:1-9)

Christ sent his twelve disciples abroad, who by this time were able to teach others what they had received from the Lord. They must not be anxious to commend themselves to people's esteem by outward appearance. They must go as they were. The Lord Jesus is the fountain of power and authority, to whom all creatures must, in one way or another, be subject; and if he goes with the word of his ministers in power, to deliver sinners from Satan's bondage, they may be sure that he will care for their wants. When truth and love thus go together, and yet the message of God is rejected and despised, it leaves men without excuse, and turns to a testimony against them. Herod's guilty conscience was ready to conclude that John was risen from the dead. He desired to see Jesus; and why did he not go and see him? Probably, because he thought it below him, or because he wished not to have any more reprovers of sin. Delaying it now, his heart was hardened, and when he did see Jesus, he was as much prejudiced against him as others, Luke 23:11.

Commentary on Luke 9:10-17

(Read Luke 9:10-17)

The people followed Jesus, and though they came unseasonably, yet he gave them what they came for. He spake unto them of the kingdom of God. He healed those who had need of healing. And with five loaves of bread and two fishes, Christ fed five thousand men. He will not see those that fear him, and serve him faithfully, want any good thing. When we receive creature-comforts, we must acknowledge that we receive them from God, and that we are unworthy to receive them; that we owe them all, and all the comfort we have in them, to the mediation of Christ, by whom the curse is taken away. The blessing of Christ will make a little go a great way. He fills every hungry soul, abundantly satisfies it with the goodness of his house. Here were fragments taken up: in our Father's house there is bread enough, and to spare. We are not straitened, nor stinted in Christ.