Mark 6:22-56 ▼

22 and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

23 And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.”

24 And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

25 And immediately she came in haste before the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me right away the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

27 And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded 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 about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

30 And the apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.

31 And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)

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

33 And the people saw them going, and many recognized them, and they ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

34 And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

35 And when it was already quite late, His disciples came up to Him and began saying, “The place is desolate and it is already quite late;

36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

38 And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five and two fish.”

39 And He commanded them all to recline by groups on the green grass.

40 And they reclined in companies of hundreds and of fifties.

41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.

42 And they all ate and were satisfied.

43 And they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.

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

45 And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away.

46 And after bidding them farewell, He departed to the mountain to pray.

47 And when it was evening, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He was alone on the land.

48 And seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.

49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;

50 for they all saw Him and were frightened. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.”

51 And He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were greatly astonished,

52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

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

54 And when they had come out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,

55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry about on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.

56 And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and entreating Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.