25
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.
27
So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison,
28
and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother.
29
On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.
31
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32
So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
33
But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
34
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late.