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He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
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And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.
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Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.
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And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."
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So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
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Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,
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and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.
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Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?" So he sought to see Him.
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And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
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But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.
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When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."
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But He said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."
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For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."
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And they did so, and made them all sit down.
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Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.
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So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.
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And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
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So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."
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He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."
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And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,
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saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."