Mark 6

¹He went away from there and came to his hometown , and his disciples followed him .

²And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue , and many who heard him were astonished , saying , Where did this man get these things ? What is the wisdom given to him ? How are such mighty works done by his hands ?

³Is not this the carpenter , the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon ? And are not his sisters here with us ? And they took offense at him .

⁴And Jesus said to them , A prophet is not without honor , except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household .

⁵And he could do no mighty work there , except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And he marveled because of their unbelief . And he went about among the villages teaching .

⁷And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two , and gave them authority over the unclean spirits .

⁸He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff — no bread , no bag , no money in their belts —

⁹but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics .

¹⁰And he said to them , Whenever you enter a house , stay there until you depart from there .

¹¹And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you , when you leave , shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them .

¹²So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent .

¹³And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard of it, for Jesus ’ name had become known . Some said , John the Baptist has been raised from the dead . That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him .

¹⁵But others said , He is Elijah . And others said , He is a prophet , like one of the prophets of old.

¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he said , John , whom I beheaded , has been raised .

¹⁷For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias , his brother Philip’s wife , because he had married her .

¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod , It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife .

¹⁹And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death . But she could not ,

²⁰for Herod feared John , knowing that he was a righteous and holy man , and he kept him safe . When he heard him , he was greatly perplexed , and yet he heard him gladly .

²¹But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee .

²²For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced , she pleased Herod and his guests . And the king said to the girl , Ask me for whatever you wish , and I will give it to you .

²³And he vowed to her , Whatever you ask me , I will give you , up to half of my kingdom .

²⁴And she went out and said to her mother , For what should I ask ? And she said , The head of John the Baptist .

²⁵And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked , saying , I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter .

²⁶And the king was exceedingly sorry , but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her .

²⁷And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head . He went and beheaded him in the prison

²⁸and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl , and the girl gave it to her mother .

²⁹When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb .

³⁰, The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught .

³¹And he said to them , Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while . For many were coming and going , and they had no leisure even to eat .

³²And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves .

³³Now many saw them going and recognized them , and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them .

³⁴When he went ashore he saw a great crowd , and he had compassion on them , because they were like sheep without a shepherd . And he began to teach them many things .

³⁵And when it grew late , his disciples came to him and said , This is a desolate place , and the hour is now late .

³⁶Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat .

³⁷But he answered them , You give them something to eat . And they said to him , Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat ?

³⁸And he said to them , How many loaves do you have? Go and see . And when they had found out , they said , Five , and two fish .

³⁹Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass .

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups , by hundreds and by fifties .

⁴¹And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people . And he divided the two fish among them all .

⁴²And they all ate and were satisfied .

⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish .

⁴⁴And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men .

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side , to Bethsaida , while he dismissed the crowd .

⁴⁶And after he had taken leave of them , he went up on the mountain to pray .

⁴⁷And when evening came , the boat was out on the sea , and he was alone on the land .

⁴⁸And he saw that they were making headway painfully , for the wind was against them . And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them , walking on the sea . He meant to pass by them ,

⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost , and cried out ,

⁵⁰for they all saw him and were terrified . But immediately he spoke to them and said , Take heart ; it is I . Do not be afraid .

⁵¹And he got into the boat with them , and the wind ceased . And they were utterly astounded ,

⁵²for they did not understand about the loaves , but their hearts were hardened .

⁵³When they had crossed over , they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore .

⁵⁴And when they got out of the boat , the people immediately recognized him

⁵⁵and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was .

⁵⁶And wherever he came , in villages , cities , or countryside , they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment . And as many as touched it were made well .