22While they were eating, Herodias' daughter came into the room and danced, and that pleased King Herod and his guests. So the king said to her, “Ask me for whatever you desire and I will give it to you!”
23He said to her, “Whatever you ask, I will give it to you! I will give you up to half of what I own and rule, if you ask for it. May God punish me if I do not do what I have promised!”
24The girl immediately left the room and went to her mother. She told her what the king had said, and asked her, “What shall I ask for?” Her mother replied, “ Ask the king to give you the head of John the Baptizer!”
25The girl quickly entered the room again. She went to the king and she requested, “I want you to command someone to cut off the head of John the Baptizer and give it to me at once on a platter, so that my mother can know he is dead!”
26The king became very distressed when he heard what she asked for, because he knew John was a very righteous man (OR, because he now knew that he should not have made that promise to her). But he could not refuse what she requested because he had promised that he would give her anything she asked for, and because his guests had heard him promise that.
27So the king at once ordered the man who executes prisoners to go and cut off John's head and bring it to the girl. That man went to the prison and cut off John's head.
28He put it on a platter, brought it back, and gave it to the girl. The girl took it to her mother.
29After John's disciples heard what happened, they went to the prison and took John's body and then they buried it in a burial cave.
30The twelve apostles returned to Jesus from the places to which they had gone. They reported to him what they had done and what they had taught to people.
31He said to them, “Come with me to a place where no people are living, in order that we can be alone and rest a little while!” He said this because many people were continually coming to them and going away again, with the result that Jesus and his disciples did not have time to eat or do anything else.
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a place where no people were living.
33But many people saw them leaving. They also recognized that they were Jesus and the disciples, and they saw where they were going. So they ran ahead on land from all the nearby towns to the place where Jesus and his disciples were going. They actually arrived there before Jesus and the disciples.
34As Jesus and his disciples got out of the boat, Jesus saw this large crowd. He felt sorry for them because they were confused, like sheep that do not have a shepherd. So he taught them many things.
35Late in the afternoon, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a place where no people live and it is very late.
36So send the people away in order that they may go to the surrounding farms and villages in order that they can buy for themselves something to eat!”
37But he replied, “ No, you yourselves give them something to eat!” They replied, “◄We could not buy enough bread to feed this crowd, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days!/How could we buy enough bread to feed this mob, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days?►” RHQ
Mark 6
Mark 6:22-37