³⁰ The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) ³² They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Fed

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ^[a]ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “^[b]This place is desolate and it is already quite late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[c]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[d]denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” ³⁸ And He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He commanded them all to ^[e]sit down by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They ^[f]sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Jesus Walks on the Water

⁴⁵ Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. ⁴⁶ After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Seeing them ^[g]straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the ^[h]fourth watch of the night He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. ⁴⁹ But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were ^[i]terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for they ^[j]had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but ^[k]their heart was hardened.

Healing at Gennesaret

⁵³ When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to ^[l]the place they heard He was. ⁵⁶ Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.

A Prophecy against Zedekiah

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. ³ You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you ^[a]face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵ You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you; and they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares the Lord.

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, Lachish and Azekah, for they alone remained as fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

⁸ The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim ^[b]release to them: ⁹ that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage. ¹⁰ And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ “At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who ^[c]has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. ¹⁵ Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming ^[d]release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man ^[e]took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.”’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming ^[f]release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a ^[g]release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone away from you. ²² Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”