Open English Translation MARK Chapter 6

6 So Yeshua left Capernaum and went back with his followers to Nazareth, his birthplace. 2 It was now the Rest Day and when he started teaching in the meeting hall, many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did he learn all this? How could he have such wisdom and be able to do these miracles? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Maria, and the brother of Yacob and Yosef and Yudas and Simon? Don’t his sisters live around here?” And they were offended by his teaching.

4 [ref]Yeshua told them, “A prophet is only dishonoured in his own home town, and among his own relatives, and in his own home.”

5 And he wasn’t able to do even one miracle there, except for placing his hands on a few sick people and healing them. 6 He was amazed at how they wouldn’t believe him as he went around the villages teaching.

7 Then he called his twelve apprentices and started sending them out in pairs and giving them authority over demons. 8 He insisted that they can carry a walking stick but not to take food, a backpack, or money. 9 They could wear one pair of sandals, but not take changes of clothes. 10 And he told them, “Whenever you are invited into a home, stay at that one place until you leave that town. 11 [ref]But if any places don’t want you or don’t want to hear what you have to say, just leave that place. As you go, shake the dust off your sandals so they can see that you pass the responsibility of what happened to them.”

12 So the apprentices went off and started telling people to repent. 13 [ref]And they drove out many demons, and anointed many sick people with olive oil and healed them.

14 [ref]Yeshua was now becoming well known and King Herod Antipas heard about him. He thought that maybe Yohan-the-Immerser had come back to life and that’s why he was able to do miracles.

15 But others thought it was the promised return of Eliyah, and yet others thought he must be another prophet like the ones in the Scriptures.

16 But hearing about Yeshua, Herod was telling people, “That Yohan who I had beheaded, he must have come back to life!” 17 [ref]Because Herod himself had had Yohan arrested and put in prison because he had married Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 18 Yohan had been telling him that it was wrong for him to marry his brother’s wife, 19 and so Herodias resented him enough to want to kill him, but Herod hadn’t be able to 20 because he respected Yohan as a righteous and holy teacher and so he kept him alive. He often enjoyed hearing from Yohan and thought a lot about what he said.

21 However, an opportunity came at Herod’s birthday celebration, when he threw a feast for his top officials and generals and for the leaders in Galilee. 22 The daughter of Herodias came in and danced for them, and the king and his party guests all enjoyed it. So the king said to the young woman, “Just ask me for anything and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he made an oath, “Even if you asked for half of my kingdom, I’d give it to you!”

24 So she went out and asked her mother what she should ask for. Her mother told her that she should ask for Yohan’s head.

25 So going back into the party, she said seriously to the king, “I would like the head of Yohan-the-Immerser on a plate!”

26 The king was really upset with that, but because he had made loud oaths in front of all his guests, he couldn’t say no. 27 So he ordered an executioner to go out and return with Yohan’s head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought the head into the party on a plate and gave it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 When Yohan’s followers heard about this, they came and fetched his body and put it into a tomb.

30 Now the apprentices who had been sent out returned back to Yeshua and they reported back everything they had done and what they had been teaching people. 31 Then he told them, “Let’s just all of us head for a quiet place and take a break.” This was because there were so many people always coming and going, and sometimes they didn’t even have a chance to eat. 32 So they went by boat away to a quiet place by themselves.

33 But people from towns all around had seen them going and recognised who they were, so they ran around the lake on foot and got there ahead of them. 34 [ref]So when Yeshua got out of the boat, he saw a big crowd and felt sorry for them because they seemed like sheep without a shepherd, so he started teaching them many things. 35 Then, when it was already getting late, his apprentices came up and said, “This place is pretty isolated and it’s already late. 36 Send these people off now so they can go to the nearby settlements and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But Yeshua answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

They complained, “If we go, should we buy several months wages worth of bread so we can give all of them something to eat?”

38 But he asked, “Go and find out how much bread you have.”

When they’d found out they said, “Five buns and two fish.”

39 Yeshua told all the people to line up in rows and sit down on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in rows of fifty to a hundred. 41 Then holding the five buns and two fish, he looking up to the sky and blessed God, and then broke up the buns and gave pieces to his apprentices so they could do likewise to the people, and he also divided up the two fish, 42 and all the people ate and were satisfied. 43 Then they collected the leftover pieces of bread, filling twelve baskets, as well as the leftover pieces of fish. 44 And the headcount of men who ate that evening was five thousand.

45 Straight after that, Yeshua sent his apprentices off in the boat to go across to Bethsaida while he sent the crowd home. 46 Then he said goodbye to everyone, and climbed the hill to pray. 47 Later in the night, the boat was out in the middle of the lake, and only Yeshua remained back there on the land. 48 He saw them struggling to row against the wind, and sometime after 3am he came out to them, walking on the lake surface as if to walk past them. 49 But they had seen someone walking on the lake and thought it was a ghost, and they yelled out 50 because they had all seen it and were terrified.

But Yeshua immediately spoke to them and said, “Hey, take heart, it’s me, don’t be afraid!” 51 Then he climbed up into the boat and the wind died down. And they were all totally astounded 52 because they hadn’t understood the implications of him feeding all the people because their minds were closed.

53 After completing their crossing, they anchored at Gennesaret. 54 And when they got out of the boat, again people recognised Yeshua 55 and ran around that region, so next minute people began bringing all of those who were sick, carrying them on pallets to wherever they heard that Yeshua was. 56 And whenever Yeshua entered villages or cities or fields or marketplaces, they laid the sick down there and were imploring him that they might even just touch the edge of his robe, and anyone who did so was healed.