Mark 6:13-14

¹³Those men sent a lot of bad spirits out of people. And they put olive oil on a lot of sick people, like medicine for them, and those sick people got better.

¹⁴This is the story about what happened to John the Baptiser. The big boss called King Herod had a brother called Philip. Philip had a wife called Herodias. Herodias didn’t want to live with Philip any more, so she left him, and married Herod. John kept on telling Herod, “You are breaking God’s law. You shouldn’t have your brother’s wife.” Herodias hated John for saying this and she wanted to kill him, but Herod sent some soldiers to grab John and keep him in jail, so Herodias couldn’t do anything to him. John was a good man and lived God’s way all the time, so Herod was frightened of him. And Herod liked to talk with John, but John’s words confused him and upset him. Some time later Herod had a birthday party, and Herodias got her chance to hurt John. All the leaders of Herod’s army and the government bosses from Galilee country were there at Herod’s party. The daughter of Herodias danced for them at that party. Everybody was really happy with her dancing, so Herod made a strong promise to her, he told her, “I want to give you a really good present. You can ask for anything. I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half of this country. This is true. I’m not lying.” That young girl went outside and asked her mother, “What will I ask for?” Her mother said, “Go back in and ask the big boss to send a soldier to cut off John the Baptiser’s head, and give it to you as a present.” The girl ran back into the party and said to King Herod, “I want you to give me John the Baptiser’s head on a big plate, and I want it right now.” When Herod heard these words he was really sad. But he didn’t want to break his promise and be ashamed, so he sent a soldier to cut off John’s head and bring it back to the girl on a big plate. The soldier went to the jail and cut off John’s head and brought it back to the party, and he gave it to the young girl, and then she gave it to her mother. John’s friends heard this bad news. They came and got his body, then they took it away and buried it. Later lots of people heard about what Jesus was doing and they talked about him all the time. Some people said, “Jesus is really Elijah, that old man that told God’s message a long time ago. God made him alive again.” Some other people said, “Jesus is a man talking for God, just like those other men that told God’s message a long time ago.” But some people reckoned, “Jesus is really John the Baptiser. God made John alive again and gave him power to do great things.” King Herod heard these stories and said, “I got my soldiers to cut John’s head off, but this man now, he has to be John the Baptiser. I reckon God made him alive again.”