because Herod stood in awe of ¹  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ³  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁴  and yet ⁵  he liked to listen to John. ⁶ 

Now John wore clothing made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. ¹ 

But John ¹  tried to prevent ²  him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

Then John’s ¹  disciples came to Jesus ²  and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees ³  fast often, ⁴  but your disciples don’t fast?”

and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead! And because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.”

For Herod had arrested John, bound him, ¹  and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

Six days later ¹  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, ²  and led them privately up a high mountain.

Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their ¹  boat mending nets.

to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, ¹  he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”);

So ¹  she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother ²  said, “The head of John the baptizer.” ³ 

Immediately she hurried back to the king and made her request: ¹  “I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.”

Then ¹  James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

But if we say, ‘From people – ’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet).

So ¹  while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, ²  and Andrew asked him privately,

during the high priesthood ¹  of Annas and Caiaphas, the word ²  of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ 

While the people were filled with anticipation ¹  and they all wondered ²  whether perhaps John ³  could be the Christ, ⁴ 

(Now ¹  all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, ²  acknowledged ³  God’s justice, because they had been baptized ⁴  with John’s baptism.

Now when he came to the house, Jesus ¹  did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, ²  and James, and the child’s father and mother.

Now Herod ¹  the tetrarch ²  heard about everything that was happening, and he was thoroughly perplexed, ³  because some people were saying that John ⁴  had been raised from the dead,