Mark 6:7-25

⁷One day he summoned the twelve disciples, and then he told them that he was going to send them out two-by-two to teach people in various towns. He gave them power to expel evil spirits from people.

⁸He also instructed them to wear sandals and to take along a walking stick when they were traveling. He told them not to take food, nor a bag in which travelers carry supplies, nor any money for their journey. He also did not allow them to take extra clothing. He wanted the people who heard their message to give them what they needed.

¹⁰He also instructed them, “After you enter a town, if someone invites you to stay in his house, go into his house. Eat and sleep in that same home until you leave that town.

¹¹Wherever the people do not welcome you and wherever the people do not listen to you, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that place. By doing that, you will warn them that God will punish them for rejecting your message.”

¹²So after the disciples went out to various towns, they were preaching that people should stop their sinful behavior.

¹³They were also expelling many evil spirits from people, and they were anointing many sick people with olive oil and healing them.

¹⁴King Herod Antipas heard about what Jesus was doing, because many people were talking about it. Some people were saying about Jesus, “ He must be John the Baptizer! He has come back to life! That is why he has God's power to perform these miracles!”

¹⁵Others were saying about Jesus, “He is the former prophet Elijah, whom God promised to send back again.” Others were saying about Jesus, “ No, he is a different prophet, like one of the other prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶Having heard what the people were saying, King Herod Antipas himself repeatedly said, “The man performing those miracles must be John! I commanded my soldiers to cut off his head, but he has come back to life again to get revenge for my killing him!”

¹⁷The reason King Herod concluded that John wanted revenge is as follows: Some time before this, Herod married Herodias, while she was still the wife of his younger brother, Philip.

¹⁸John kept telling Herod, “ God's law does not permit you to marry the wife of your brother while he is still alive.” Then, because Herodias urged him to put John in prison, Herod himself sent soldiers to John. They seized John and put him in prison.

¹⁹But because Herodias wanted to get further revenge on John, she wanted someone to execute him. But she could not do that because while John was in prison, Herod kept John safe from her.

²⁰Herod did this because he respected/feared John, because he knew that he was a righteous and holy man. The king did not know what he should do, but he liked to listen to him.

²¹But Herodias was able to have someone execute John when they honored/celebrated the day when Herod was born. On that day, he invited the most important government officials, the most important army leaders, and the most important men in Galilee district in order that they might eat and celebrate with him.

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!”