Mark 6:1-56
6 And he went out from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him;
2 and when a sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue. And as they listened most of them were astonished, saying “Where does this man get this? and what wisdom is it that is given to this man, and such miracles done by his hands?
3 why, this is the carpenter, Mary’s son, the brother of James and Jose and Judah and Simon, and his sisters are here among us”; and they were staggered at him.
4 And Jesus told them “A prophet is not unhonored anywhere but in his hometown and among his relatives and in his house”;
5 and he could not do any miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few invalids and cured them.
6 And he wondered at their unbelievingness.
7 And he went about the surrounding villages teaching. And he called the Twelve to him, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over unclean spirits,
8 * and instructed them not to take anything for the journey but only a walking-stick, “no bread, no wallet, no small change in your belts,
9 but go shod with sandals and do not put on two coats.”
10 And he said to them “Wherever you come into a house, stay there till you come out from the place.
11 And whatever place does not receive you and they do not listen to you, in going out from there shake out the dust underneath your feet for an attestation to them.”
12 And they went out and proclaimed that men should repent,
13 and expelled many demons, and rubbed many invalids with oil and cured them.
14 And King Herod heard of it; for his name had become known, and they were saying that John the Baptizer had risen from the dead and this was why the powers were operating in him,
15 and others were saying it was Elijah, and others that it was a prophet, such as the prophets used to be.
16 But Herod, when he heard, said “John that I beheaded—he has risen.”
17 For he, Herod, had sent and seized John and put him in prison in chains on account of Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her;
18 for John had been saying to Herod “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19 And Herodias held a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him and could not—
20 for Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be an honest and holy man, and kept him in security, and had a great deal of perplexity at hearing him, and liked to hear him.—
21 And when there came a favorable day, when Herod gave a dinner on his birthday to his grandees and chiliarchs and the leading men of Galilee,
22 and her daughter, Herodias’s, went in and danced, she pleased Herod and those who were at the table with him; and the king said to the girl “Ask me for anything you choose, and I will give it to you”;
23 and he swore to her “Whatever you ask me for I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
24 And she went out and said to her mother “What shall I ask for?” and she said “John the Baptizer’s head!”
25 And at once she went in to the king with a rush and asked him “I choose to have you give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter instantly”;
26 and the king, though it made him sad, was not willing to disregard her on account of his oaths and of the guests at the table.
27 And at once the king sent a guardsman with orders to bring his head; and he went and beheaded John in the prison
28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
30 And the apostles rejoined Jesus, and reported to him all that they had been doing and teaching.
31 And he said to them “Come to a lonely place, you by yourselves, and rest a little” (for there were many coming and going, and they had not even opportunity to eat);
32 and off they went in the boat to a lonely place by themselves.
33 And many saw them going and recognized them, and ran together there by land from all the cities and came there before them;
34 and upon landing he saw a great crowd, and felt for them because they were like sheep that had no shepherd, and began to teach them a great many things.
35 And when it had now come to be a late hour his disciples approached him and said “The place is lonely, and it is already a late hour:
36 dismiss them, that they may go to the farmlands and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered them “Give them something to eat yourselves.” And they said to him “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 But he said to them “How many cakes of bread have you? go see.” And they found out and told him “Five, and two fishes.”
39 And he ordered them to take their places on the green grass,
40 all of them, by parties; and they took their places, by hundreds and by fifties, like beds in a garden.
41 And he took the five cakes and the two fishes and looked up to the sky and pronounced the blessing, and broke up the cakes and gave them to the disciples to set before them; and he divided the two fishes among them all;
42 and they all ate and had their fill.
43 And they took up fragments of the bread to the amount of twelve basketfuls—also of the fishes;
44 and it was five thousand men that had eaten the bread.
45 And at once he made the disciples get into the boat and go to Bethsaida, on the other side, ahead of him, while he dismissed the crowd;
46 and when he had bidden them farewell he went off to the mountain to pray.
47 And when evening came the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he on the land alone; and,
48 as he saw them having a hard time in rowing,—for the wind was against them,—about the fourth watch of the night he came toward them walking on the sea. And he was on the point of passing by them;
49 but they, seeing him walking on the sea, thought it was an apparition, and screamed out;
50 for they all saw him and were alarmed. But he spoke with them at once, and said to them “All right, it is I; do not be afraid.”
51 And he stepped into the boat with them, and the wind lulled; and they were most exceedingly surprised,
52 for they had not understood in the matter of the bread, but their hearts were lumpish.
53 And when they got across to land they came to Gennesaret and moored there;
54 and when they came out of the boat, at once people recognized him
55 and ran all around that country and began to carry those who were ill around on pallets where they heard that he was.
56 * And wherever he went into villages or into cities or into country districts, they put the sick in the marketplaces and appealed to him that they might touch even the tassel of his cloak; and as many as touched him recovered.
