Mark 6:14-44
New Testament for Everyone
The speculations of Herod
14 Jesus’ name became well known, and reached the ears of King Herod.
“It’s John the Baptist,” he said, “risen from the dead! That’s why these powers are at work in him.”
15 Other people said, “It’s Elijah!”
Others said, “He’s a prophet, like one of the old prophets.”
16 “No,” said Herod when he heard this. “It’s John. I cut off his head, and he’s been raised.”
Herod and John the Baptist
17 What had happened was this. Herod had married Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 18 John regularly told Herod it wasn’t right for him to take his brother’s wife; so Herod gave the word, arrested him and tied him up in prison. 19 Herodias kept up a grudge against him and wanted to kill him, but couldn’t; 20 Herod knew that John was a just and holy man, and he was afraid of him. So he protected him, and used to listen to him regularly. What he heard disturbed him greatly, and yet he enjoyed listening to him.
21 And then, one day, the moment came. There was a great party. It was Herod’s birthday, and he gave a feast for his leading retainers, militia officers, and the great and good of Galilee. 22 Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, and Herod and his guests were delighted.
“Tell me what you’d like,” said the king to the girl, “and I’ll give it you!”
23 He swore to her, over and over again, “Whatever you ask me, I’ll give it you—right up to half my kingdom!”
24 She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she replied.
25 So she went back at once to the king, all eager, and made her request: “I want you to give me, right now, on a dish—the head of John the Baptist!”
26 The king was distraught. But his oaths on the one hand, and his guests on the other, meant he hadn’t the guts to refuse her. 27 So he sent a jailer straight away with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 brought the head on a dish, and gave it to the girl. The girl gave it to her mother.
29 When John’s followers heard about it, they came and took his body, and buried it in a tomb.
The feeding of the five thousand
30 The apostles came back to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. 31 “All right,” he said, “it’s time for a break. Come away, just you, and we’ll go somewhere lonely and private.” (Crowds of people were coming and going and they didn’t even have time to eat.)
32 So they went off privately in the boat to a deserted spot. 33 And . . . crowds saw them going, realized what was happening, hurried on foot from all the towns, and arrived there first. 34 When Jesus got out of the boat he saw the huge crowd, and was deeply sorry for them, because they were like a flock without a shepherd. So he started to teach them many things.
35 It was already getting late when his disciples came to him and said, “Look: there’s nothing here. It’s getting late. 36 Send them away. They need to go off into the countryside and the villages and buy themselves some food.”
37 “Why don’t you give them something?” Jesus replied.
“Are you suggesting,” they asked, “that we should go and spend two hundred dinars and get food for this lot?”
38 “Well,” said Jesus, “how many loaves have you got? Go and see.”
They found out, and said, “Five, and a couple of fish.”
39 Jesus told them to sit everyone down, group by group, on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in companies, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, looked up to heaven, blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples to give to the crowd. Then he divided the two fish for them all. 42 Everyone ate, and had plenty. 43 They picked up the leftovers, and there were twelve baskets of broken pieces, and of the fish.
44 The number of men who had eaten was five thousand.
Read full chapterScripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
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