8. Others said, “Elijah has come to us.” And still others said, “One of the prophets who lived long ago has risen from the dead.”
9. Herod said, “I cut off John’s head, so who is this man I hear such things about?” And Herod kept trying to see Jesus.
10. When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then Jesus took them with him to a town called Bethsaida where they could be alone together.
11. But the people learned where Jesus went and followed him. He welcomed them and talked with them about God’s kingdom and healed those who needed to be healed.
12. Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, “Send the people away. They need to go to the towns and countryside around here and find places to sleep and something to eat, because no one lives in this place.”
13. But Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.”They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish, unless we go buy food for all these people.”
14. (There were about five thousand men there.)Jesus said to his followers, “Tell the people to sit in groups of about fifty people.”