Mark 6:15-53

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

¹⁶But Herod, when he had news of it, said, John, whom I put to death, has come back from the dead.

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent men out to take John and put him in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had taken for himself.

¹⁸For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife.

¹⁹And Herodias was bitter against him, desiring to put him to death; but she was not able;

²⁰For Herod was in fear of John, being conscious that he was an upright and holy man, and kept him safe. And hearing him, he was much troubled; and he gave ear to him gladly.

²¹And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;

²²And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you.

²³And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom.

²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

²⁵And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist.

²⁶And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her.

²⁷And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison,

²⁸And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹And when his disciples had news of it, they came and took up his body, and put it in its last resting-place.

³⁰And the twelve came together to Jesus; and they gave him an account of all the things they had done, and all they had been teaching.

³¹And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a quiet place, and take a rest for a time. Because there were a great number coming and going, and they had no time even for food.

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

³³And the people saw them going, and a number of them, having knowledge who they were, went running there together on foot from all the towns, and got there before them.

³⁴And he got out, and saw a great mass of people, and he had pity on them, because they were like sheep without a keeper: and he gave them teaching about a number of things.

³⁵And at the end of the day, his disciples came to him and said, This place is waste land, and it is late:

³⁶Send them away, so that they may go into the country and small towns round about, and get some food for themselves.

³⁷But he said to them in answer, Give them food yourselves. And they said to him, Are we to go and get bread for two hundred pence, and give it to them?

³⁸And he said to them, How much bread have you? go and see. And when they had seen, they said, Five cakes of bread and two fishes.

³⁹And he made them all be seated in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰And they were placed in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.

⁴¹And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them; and when the cakes were broken, he gave them to the disciples to put before the people; and he made division of the two fishes among them all.

⁴²And they all took of the food and had enough.

⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken bits and of the fishes.

⁴⁴And those who took of the bread were five thousand men.

⁴⁵And straight away he made his disciples get into the boat, and go before him to the other side to Beth-saida, while he himself sent the people away.

⁴⁶And after he had sent them away, he went up into a mountain for prayer.

⁴⁷And by evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he by himself on the land.

⁴⁸And seeing that they had trouble in getting their boat through the water, because the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea; and he would have gone past them;

⁴⁹But they, when they saw him walking on the sea, took him for a spirit, and gave a loud cry:

⁵⁰For they all saw him, and were troubled. But straight away he said to them, Take heart, it is I, have no fear.

⁵¹And he went to them into the boat, and the wind went down, and they were full of wonder in themselves;

⁵²For it was not clear to them about the bread; but their hearts were hard.

⁵³And when they had gone across, they came to Gennesaret, and got their boat to land.