Matthew 14 is the fourteenth chapter in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

section of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee and recounts the circumstances leading to the death of

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 36 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 103 (~200; extant verses 3–5) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325-350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330-360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(~400) *

Codex Washingtonianus The Codex Washingtonianus or Codex Washingtonensis, designated by W or 032 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 014 ( Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Gospels'', and ''The Freer Gospel'', contains the four biblical gospels an ...

(~400) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450) * Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (6th century) * Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (6th century; extant verses 1–5, 23–36) * Codex Sinopensis (6th century; extant verses 1–4, 13–20)

Structure

This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to parallel passages in the other gospels): * = Death of John the Baptist (}; ) * =

Feeding the 5000 In Christianity, the feeding the multitude is two separate miracles of Jesus reported in the Gospels. The first miracle, the "Feeding of the 5,000", is the only miracle—aside from the resurrection—recorded in all four gospels ( Matthew 14: ...

(}; ; ) * = Jesus' walk on water (; ) * = Jesus healing in the land of Gennesaret ()

The reaction of Herod Antipas (14:1–12)

Herod Antipas (''Herod the tetrarch'') was the son of Herod who was king when Jesus was born ( Matthew 2:1) and reigned over Galilee when Jesus performed his ministry in the area (cf. ; ; ). His 'tender conscience over the reluctant execution of

made him treating the report of Jesus' miracles with a 'bizarre idea' that Jesus was John who was ''risen from the dead''.

Dale Allison Dale C. Allison (born November 25, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar, historian of Early Christianity, and Christian theologian who for years served as Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity at Pittsb ...

notes the multiple parallels between the

Passion of Jesus In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

and the account of John the Baptist in this section. * Both are captured (14:3; 21:46), bound (14:3; 27:2) and 'suffer the shameful deaths of criminals'. * Both are executed at the command of a government official (Herod the tetrarch;

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

) who 'acts reluctantly at the request of others' (14:6-11; 27:11-26). * Both are buried by their disciples ( 14:12; 27:57- 61), and in each case opponents fear what the crowds might do because they hold John and Jesus to be prophets (14:5; 21:46). * Both ends are foreshadowed, as in 2:1– 23 (against

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

, the father of Herod the tetrarch); 5:38- 42; and 10:17-23, so John's martyrdom (as the forerunner) is a Christological martyrdom prophecy of the coming one (cf. 17:12). * John has been identified with

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

(11:14), who in accuses King

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

of misdeeds while the evil Queen

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

tries to have him killed (likely applicable to Herod as Ahab and Herodias as Jezebel). In the very next

pericope A pericope (; Greek , "a cutting-out") in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture. Also can be used as a way to identify certain themes in a cha ...

, Jesus suggestively acts like Elisha, Elijah's successor ().

Verse 12

:''Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.'' This is a further mission of John's disciples to Jesus in Galilee, following on from the one reported in

Matthew 11 Matthew 11 is the eleventh chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. It continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee. Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is d ...

. For Ernest Bengel, interpreting the words of

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Pietist Johann Bengel, "the death of their master becomes the means of leading ohn's disciplesto Jesus".

Jesus' withdrawal to a 'deserted place' (14:13–15)

and refer to a 'deserted' (

NKJV The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

) or 'secluded' (

Amplified Bible ''The Amplified Bible'' (AMP) is an English language translation of the Bible produced jointly by Zondervan and The Lockman Foundation. The first edition as a complete volume was published in 1965. “Amplifications” are words or phrases int ...

) place, clarified as 'a place where no one lived' in the Easy-to-Read Version. In

Luke's gospel The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

, he goes at this point in the narrative to 'a town called Bethsaida', i.e. an inhabited place, but nevertheless one where 'he and his apostles could be alone together.

Miraculous feeding of a large crowd (14:16–21)

Eating together was a symbol of unity and Jesus was acting as the host of a large family gathering, welcoming the crowd into a new community.

Verse 19

:''Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.''

''Looked up to heaven, blessed, broke,'' and ''gave'' indicate a 'communal, liturgical context' which is found in the early church; the same actions are to be seen in the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

in .

Walking on water (14:22–33)

After the public miracle of loaves, the disciples witnessed in private one miracle that showed Jesus' authority over material things.

Jesus the Healer (14:34–36)

When they were back in Herod's territory, Jesus' popularity was shown again in his healing ministry, which was more extensive than so far recorded.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Matthew 14 Gospel of Matthew chapters Bethsaida