Mark 6

₁Jesus went away from there. He came to the town of Nazareth, the town where He had lived as a child. His disciples went with Him. ₂On the Sabbath day He started to teach the people in the synagogue. Many people listened to Him. They were surprised and said: ‘Where did He learn all these things that He teaches us? Where did He get so much wisdom and power to do these miracles? ₃We know that Jesus is a carpenter. He is Mary's son and He is the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. His sisters are here with us.’ The people did not like what Jesus said and did. They were upset.

₄Jesus told them: ‘People in other towns listen to a prophet and they respect him. But the people in his own town, in his own house and his family, do not accept him.’

₅Jesus could not do miracles in Nazareth. He put his hands on only a few sick people and He healed them. ₆Jesus was amazed because the people did not believe in Him.

Jesus continued to teach people from one town to another town. ₇Then He called his 12 disciples and He sent them to the people to go and preach. He said they must go in pairs of 2. Jesus gave them the power to chase_evil_spirits_out of people. ₈He said they could take a staff, but they should not take any food with them or a bag or any money. ₉He said they could wear sandals, but they should not take any extra clothes.

₁₀Jesus also said: ‘If people invite you to come and stay in their home, you must stay there until you go away from that town. ₁₁And if you come to a town where the people do not welcome you and they do not want to listen to you, then you must go out of that town. Clean the sand and dust of that town from your feet. Shake it off. That will warn them that God will punish them.’

₁₂The disciples went to the people and they preached to them. They said the people must turn their lives to God and do what He wants. ₁₃The disciples chased_out_many_demons and they healed a lot of sick people and put olive oil on them.

₁₄All the people started to talk about Jesus, and King Herod also heard what they said about Him. Some people said Jesus was John the Baptist. They said John had died but he lived again. That was why He could do those miracles. ₁₅Some people said Jesus was Elijah. Others said Jesus was a prophet who had lived long before. ₁₆But when they told King Herod about Jesus, he said: ‘Jesus is John the Baptist. I told my men to cut off his head and now he has come back. He lives again.’

_17-18Long before this, King Herod had married the wife of his brother Philip. Her name was Herodias. John had said to King Herod: ‘It is wrong for you to take your brother's wife.’ Then King Herod sent soldiers to arrest John and to keep him in jail. ₁₉Herodias hated John. She wanted to kill him but she could not do it ₂₀because King Herod protected John. He was afraid of John. He knew that John was a good and righteous man who listened to God. King Herod visited John many times in jail. He listened to John and then he became worried. ₂₁One day Herodias saw that she could do something to kill John. It was King Herod's birthday and he had a big feast for all his officials and the officers of his army and the important people of the province of Galilee. ₂₂The daughter of Herodias came in and she danced for Herod and his guests. King Herod and all the guests liked it very much and the king said to the girl: ‘You may ask me anything that you want, and I will give it to you.’ ₂₃He said it again and he promised her: ‘I will give you anything you ask me. Even if you ask me to give you half of my land, I will give it to you.’

₂₄The daughter went to her mother and she asked her: ‘What do you think I must ask the king to give me?’ Herodias answered: ‘Tell him you want the head of John the Baptist.’

₂₅The daughter went to the king and she said to him: ‘I want you to bring me the head of John the Baptist on a plate, immediately.’

₂₆The king was very sad but all the people who were there had heard what he had promised. He did not want to break his promise. ₂₇The king immediately sent a soldier and told him to bring John's head. The soldier went to the jail and he cut off John's head. ₂₈He put John the Baptist's head on a plate and he gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. ₂₉When they told John's disciples that he was dead, they came and took his body and buried it.

₃₀The apostles came back to Jesus. They told Him everything that they had done and what they had taught the people. ₃₁There were so many people coming to Jesus and going away again that Jesus and his disciples did not even have time to eat. Then Jesus said to them: ‘We must go away where we can be alone and you can rest for a while.’

₃₂They went away in a boat to a place where they could be alone. ₃₃Many people saw Jesus and his disciples going away and they knew where the disciples were going. Then people from different towns ran on the beach to that place and they were there before Jesus and his disciples. ₃₄When Jesus got out of the boat, He saw the big crowd of people who were like sheep that do not have a shepherd. Jesus felt sorry for them and He was worried about them. Then He started to teach them many things.

₃₅Late in the afternoon, his disciples came to Jesus and said to Him: ‘It is very late now and we are far from a town. ₃₆Tell the people to go to the farms and towns so that they can buy food to eat.’

₃₇But Jesus said: ‘No, you must give them food to eat.’

The disciples said to Jesus: ‘If we must buy food for all these people, it will cost more than 200 silver_coins. Do You want us to do that?’ ₃₈Jesus asked them: ‘How much bread do you have? Go and look.’

The disciples went and looked and they said to Jesus: ‘We have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.’

₃₉Jesus told all the people to sit down on the green grass. They had to sit in groups to eat. ₄₀The people sat down. In some groups there were 100 people and in other groups there were 50 people. ₄₁Then Jesus took the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 fish and He looked up to heaven. He praised God and thanked Him for the food. Then He broke the bread into pieces and He gave it to his disciples and they gave it to the people. He also took the 2 fish and gave it to them all to eat. ₄₂Everyone ate enough. ₄₃When all the people had finished eating, the disciples picked up 12 big baskets of bread and fish that the people had not eaten. ₄₄There were many people who ate. There were about 5 000 men.

₄₅Jesus told his disciples to get into the boat immediately. He told them to go to the other side of the lake, to the town of Bethsaida. But Jesus did not go with them. He stayed there until all the people had gone home. ₄₆Jesus said goodbye to the people and then He went to the mountain to pray. ₄₇When it became dark that evening, the boat with the disciples was in the middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on the land. ₄₈He could see that the disciples were rowing very hard because there was a strong wind from the front. Early the next morning, before the sun came up, Jesus went to his disciples. He walked on the water and He wanted to go to them. He was walking on the water and He walked past the boat. ₄₉When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water they thought it was a ghost and they started to shout. ₅₀All the disciples saw Him and they were afraid. Jesus spoke to them and He said to them: ‘Don't worry. It is I, Jesus. Do not be afraid.’ ₅₁Jesus went to them and He got into the boat and then the wind stopped. The disciples were surprised. Their mouths were open. ₅₂They did not understand what it meant when Jesus had given bread to all the people. Their hearts were hard. They did not want to understand it.

₅₃Jesus and his disciples went to the other side of Lake Galilee to the town of Gennesaret. They tied the boat there. ₅₄When they got out of the boat, the people immediately saw that it was Jesus. ₅₅They ran to the towns to bring their sick people to Him on sleeping-mats. The people brought sick people to Jesus every day when someone told them where He was. ₅₆In every town and city and in every place where Jesus came, the people took the sick people and they put them in the market places. They asked Jesus if the sick people might touch the hem of his clothes and everyone who touched Him was healed.