Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea country. At that time, the big boss over that country was called Herod. There were some wise men in a country to the east of Judea. They always looked at the stars, and one night they saw a special star in the sky. So they went west to Jerusalem, the city in Judea country.
Luke 7:17Plain English VersionThen they went and told lots of other people what they saw. So people in the towns near there, and people everywhere in Judea country, they heard that story. (We have not yet translated 7:18-35. You can read those stories and messages in Matthew 11:1-19.) See the chapter |
8 Cross References
Then people started to tell other people about Jesus, so that people as far away as Syria country heard about the things he did, and they all started to bring lots of sick people to Jesus. And Jesus made them all better, no matter what sort of sickness they had. Some of them used to fall down and shake a lot, and some of them couldn’t move their arms or legs, and some of them had bad spirits in them. But Jesus made them all better.
This is the story about what happened to John, the man that baptised people. The big boss over that country was Herod, and his brother was Philip. Philip’s wife’s name was Herodias. But Herodias left Philip, and Herod married her. John kept on telling Herod, “You are breaking God’s law. You shouldn’t have your brother’s wife.” Herodias hated John for saying that, and she wanted to kill him, but Herod sent some soldiers to grab John and keep him in jail, so Herodias couldn’t do anything to him. John was a good man, one of God’s own men, so Herod respected John, and he was a bit frightened of him too. Herod used to talk with John. He didn’t really understand John’s message, but he liked to listen to him. Some time later, Herod had a birthday party. All the leaders of Herod’s army, and the government bosses from Galilee country, they were all there at Herod’s party. Herodias’s daughter danced for them at that party. Herod and everybody else really liked to watch her dance. She made them really happy, so Herod made a strong promise to her. He told her, “I want to give you something really good. You can ask for anything. I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half of this country. This is true. I’m not lying.” That young girl went outside and asked her mother, “What will I ask for?” Her mother said, “Go back in and ask the big boss to send a soldier to cut off John the Baptiser’s head and give it to you.” The girl ran back into the party and said to Herod, “I want you to give me John the Baptiser’s head on a big plate, and I want it right now.” When Herod heard her say that, he was really sad. But he didn’t want to break his promise. He didn’t want to feel shame in front of his friends, so he sent a soldier to cut off John’s head, and to bring it back to the girl on a big plate. The soldier went to the jail, and he cut off John’s head, and he brought it back to the party, and he gave it to the young girl, and then she gave it to her mother. John’s friends heard the bad news, so they came and got his body, then they took it away and buried it. Later lots of people heard about what Jesus was doing, and they talked about him all the time. Some people said, “Jesus is really Elijah, that old man that told God’s messages a long time ago. God made him alive again.” Some other people said, “Jesus is a man talking for God, just like those other men that told God’s messages a long time ago.” But some people reckoned, “Jesus is really John the Baptiser. God made John alive again, and God gave him power to do great things.” Herod heard those stories, and he said, “I got my soldiers to cut John’s head off, but this man, Jesus, he has to be John the Baptiser. I reckon God made him alive again.”
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