He goes away from there, and comes to his own region, and his students follow him. Come Shabbat, he begins to teach in the synagogue, and the many, hearing, are struck, saying — From where [did] these things [come] to this [one], and what wisdom [is] given to this [one], that these kinds of deeds by his hands came about? Is this not the laborer, the son of Maryam, and the brother of Yaakov and Yoses and Youdas and Shimon? And are not his sisters here before us? They are confused by him.
Yoshua says to them — A prophet is not without honor, except in his homeland, among his kin, and in his house. And he is unable to exercise any abilities there, except, laying his hands on a few sick [people], he attends to them. He is amazed at their distrust.
He goes in a circuit around the villages teaching. He calls the Twelve to him, and begins sending them out by twos, giving them authority over the unclean æthers. He sends them with [orders] to take nothing on the way, except a [walking] stick: no bread, no bag, no copper in the belt; but to strap on sandals, and not to carry [more than one] tunic.
And he says to them — Wherever you go into a house, stay there until you leave. And whatever place does not accept you or listen to you, when you leave, shake out the dust from under your feet as proof to them.
They go out, and they preach reconceptualization, and dispel many influences, and rub olive oil on many sick [people], and attend to them.
Herod the king hears [about these things], for his name has become prominent, and he says — Yohanan the abluter has risen from [among] the dead, and because of this, these abilities [are at] work in him.
Others say he is Elias, and others say a prophet from among the prophets, but Herod, hearing, says — Yohanan, whom I beheaded, this one is [him] risen. For Herod himself had ordered Yohanan seized and guarded because of Herodias, the woman of Phillipos his brother, because he married her. Yohanan had said to Herod — It is not permitted for you to have your brother’s woman.
Herodias held it [against] him, and wished to kill him, but was unable. For Herod was afraid of Yohanan, knowing him [to be] an upright and sacred man, and kept him [safe], and listened to him regarding many things, and he heard him with pleasure.
[There] came a timely day, when Herod on his [ancestor’s] birthday had a dinner for his courtiers and his captains, and the prominent [men] of Galilaia. The daughter of Herodias herself, coming in and dancing, pleased Herod and those reclining with him. The king said to the little girl — Ask me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. He swore to her — Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.
She went out, and said to her mother — What should I ask? And she said — The head of Yohanan the abluter.
Then coming swiftly before the king she begged — I wish you would at once give me on a platter the head of Yohanan the abluter. Becoming grieved, the king, because of that by which he swore, and those reclining [to dine], did not wish to disregard her. Then the king sent a guard, and ordered [him] to bring his head.
He went out and beheaded him in the guardhouse, and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the little girl, and the little girl gave it to her mother. Hearing [this], his students came and took his fallen [body] and put it in a tomb.
So the envoys gather before Yoshua, and report to him all that they did and what they taught. And he says to them — Come here by yourselves to an empty place and pause a little.
For there are many coming and going, and they have no good time to eat. So they go away in the boat to an empty place by themselves. They see them going, and many observing them also run there on foot, from all the cities, and come to them.
Getting out, he sees the great crowd, and is impassioned for them, because they are like livestock without a herder, and he begins to teach them many things.
[After] a long time his students come before him and say — This is an empty place, and already much time [has passed]; release them, so they [can] go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.
— You give them [something] to eat, he responds.
They say to him — We should go spend two hundred denarii on bread and give [it] to them to eat?
He says to them — How much bread do we have? Go and see. They find out: five [loaves], and two fish.
He directs them all to rest, party by party, on the green meadow. They sit, row by row, in fifties and hundreds.
He takes the five loaves and the two fish, and he looks up to the sky and gives praise, and breaks the loaves and gives them to his students to set before them, and the two fish he distributes to all. And they eat everything, and are fed, and they pick up twelve baskets full of scraps, apart from the fish. Those who eat the bread are five thousand men.
Then he makes his students get in the boat and go across to the other side near Beth-Tsaida, while he sends the crowd away. Withdrawing from them he goes away to the hill to pray. Come evening, the boat is in the middle of the lake, but he is alone on land. He sees their progress is difficult, for the wind is against them. Around the fourth watch of the night he comes near them, walking on the lake, but he wishes to go by them.
They see him walking on the lake, and they consider it an apparition, and cry out, for they all see him and are alarmed. Then he speaks to them, and says to them — Courage! It is me; don’t be afraid.
He goes up to them in the boat, and the wind weakens. They are greatly disturbed among themselves, for they have not taken in the [matter of the] bread, and their hearts are calcified. Crossing over, they come to land at Gennesareth, and anchor near there.
When he gets out of the boat, then they recognize him, and run around the whole of that region and begin to carry around on pallets those with illnesses, to where they hear that he is. And wherever he goes, either in villages or cities or farms, they lay the sick [ones] in the public squares, and beg him [to allow] them to touch even the edge of his cloak, and those who touch him are rescued.