25
The girl hurried back at once to the king and demanded, "I want you to give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!"
26
This made the king very sad, but he could not refuse her because of the vows he had made in front of all his guests.
27
So he sent off a guard at once with orders to bring John's head. The guard left, went to the prison, and cut John's head off;
28
then he brought it on a plate and gave it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.
29
When John's disciples heard about this, they came and got his body, and buried it.
30
The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught.
31
There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time to eat. So he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while."
32
So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.
33
Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples.
34
When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.
1
35
When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, "It is already very late, and this is a lonely place.