Mark 6
1 Jesus left that place and went to his hometown, and his students followed him. 2 When it came to be Shabbat, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many people who were listening were shocked and said, “Where did he get these things? What is this wisdom that was given to him, and what are these kinds of powerful actsa that have come to be from his hands? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter, Miriam’sb son, and Jacob,c Joses, Judah,d and Simeon’se brother? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” and they were tripped upf by him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not disregarded except in their own hometown, among their own family, and in their own home.” 5 He wasn’t able to do any powerful actsg there, except he healed a few people who were sick, placing his hands on them. 6 He was dismayed because of their mistrustfulness, and he went around in the surrounding villages teaching.
7 He called the Twelve over and began to send them two-by-two, and he gave them authority over unclean spirit-breaths, 8 and informed them that they would be carrying nothing for the road except a single staff—no food, no pack, no money in their belts— 9 wearing sandals but not wearing two tunics.
10 “Wherever you go into a house,” he said to them, “Stay there until you leave the area. 11 Whenever a place does not welcome you or listen to you, after you’ve gone from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a reporth againsti them.” 12 After going out, they made public announcementsj so that people would transform their minds.k 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many people who were sick with olive oil and healed them.
14 King Herod heard about it since Jesus’ name had come to be well known. Some people were saying, “John the Submerserl has been raised from among the dead, and that’s why powerful acts are at work in connection with him.” 15 Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the Prophets.”m 16 When Herod heard about it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!”
17 You see, Herod himself sent people who seized John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philipp’s wife, because Herod took her as his wife. 18 John had told Herod repeatedly, “It isn’t in accordance with Torah for you to possess your brother’s wife.”n 19 However, Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she was not able to do so 20 because Herod was afraid of John, understanding that he was a man of justice and designated for sacred purposes, and he had been protecting him. Whenever he had listened to John, Herod had been at a loss,o but he was open to listening to him.p
21 The opportune day came when Herod hosted a feast on his birthday for his courtiers, military commanders, and the leaders of Galilee. 22 When his and Herodias’ daughterq entered and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl,r “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you,” 23 and he swore to her, “Whatever you ask me for, I will give it to you—up to half of my kingdom.”
24 After going out to her mother, she said, “What should I ask for?”
“The head of John the Submerser,” said her mother.
25 Dutifully, going straightaway back inside to the king, she made her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Submerser on a platter right now.” 26 Though the king was grieved, he did not want to refuse her request because of the oath and the guests. 27 Straightaway, the king sent an executioner to bring his John’s head. The executioner left and beheaded John in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 After hearing about it, John’s students came and took his bodys and put it in a tomb.
30 The emissaries were gathered around Jesus, and he informed them about everything he had done and taught.
31 “Come with me” he said to them, “Just you on your own, to a remote place, and rest a little while.” (You see, many people were coming and going, and there was no opportunity to eat.) 32 So, they went away on their own to a remote place in the boat. 33 Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them. 34 When Jesus got out of the boat,t he saw the large crowd and felt compassionu for them because they were like sheep who didn’t have a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
35 When it had already been several hours, his students came to him saying, “This place is remote, and it’s already been several hours. 36 Send them awayv so they can go into the area around here and the towns and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
“Should we go and buy 200 denariiw worth of breadx and give it to them to eat?” they said.
38 “How many loaves of bread do you have?” he said to them. “Go and see.”
After finding out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
39 He directed everyone to sit in groups on the green grass. 40 They reclined,y group by group, in hundreds and fifties. 41 After taking the five loaves of bread and the two fish, he looked up to the heavens, spoke praisez and broke the bread in pieces. He gave them to the students to hand out to the people. He also divided the two fish for everyone. 42 Everyone ate and was satisfied, 43 and they picked up 12 baskets full of the leftover breadaa and fish. 44 There were 5,000 menbb who ate the bread.
45 Straightaway, Jesus had his students get into the boat and travel ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After he dismissed them, he left for the mountain to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 He had seencc them straining with the oars because the wind was against them, and around the fourth watch of the night,dd he came to them walking on the sea because he wanted to catch up with them.
49 When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought he was an apparition,ee and they screamed 50 because they all saw him and were horrified.
However, he spoke to them straightaway, and said, “Take heart!ff It’s me!gg Don’t be scared!” 51 He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind calmed. They were overwhelmingly stunned among themselves. 52 You see, they had not made the connections about the loaves of bread, and instead, their hearts were numb.hh
53 When they crossed to the other side, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 When they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus straightaway 55 and ran around that whole region and began to bring the sick,ii carrying them on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. 56 Wherever he traveled—to towns or cities or countryside, into the marketplaces—they would present the sickjj and plead with him just to hold onto the tasselkk of his clothing, and whoever held it was restored.ll
FOOTNOTES:
a Traditionally, ‘miracles’
b ‘Mary’ is the English version of the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Miriam.’ Many names were de-Jewish-ized and then passed down as tradition so that now it seems strange to translate them as it originally was.
c Traditionally, ‘James’
d Traditionally, ‘Judas’
e Traditionally, ‘Simon’
f Traditionally, ‘offended’ here. This is the word that is also often traditionally translated as ‘caused to stumble’
g Traditionally, ‘miracles’
h Traditionally, ‘testimony’
i Or ‘about’ or ‘for.’ The preposition is not specified in the Greek. It is indicated by the form of the word for ‘them’ that it is the direct object, and English requires a preposition.
j Traditionally, ‘they preached.’ The word is what describes the actions of a herald, which was a role in the ancient world for spreading news before the printing press or radio, TV, or internet.
k Traditionally, ‘repent,’ which misleadingly implies an emotional experience of guilt and a crisis of change. Metanoia literally means ‘a change of mind’ and is typically about a full transformation about how people perceive the world and their role in it, rather than a moment of thinking a different thought.
l In English, translations have traditionally simply taken the Greek word and put it in English letters: ‘Baptizer.’ The historical reason for this was that the first translators of the Bible into English practiced infant baptism, and the Greek word literally means ‘dip,’ so it didn’t fit with their doctrine and practice. Other languages don’t do the same thing, so in Dutch, for example, John is known as ‘John the Dipper.’ ‘Dipper’ sounds a little flippant in English, so I chose ‘Submerser’ as a synonym, being defined as ‘someone who submerses.’
m This is in reference to the many prophets discussed in the section of the Hebrew Bible called Ketuvim, which translates into English as ‘Prophets.’ It includes 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 Minor Prophets.
n Probably a reference to Leviticus 18:16 and Leviticus 20:21
o Or ‘completely confused’
p Or ‘he listened to him gladly’ or ‘he was happy to listen to him’
q The Greek is uncertain here, with multiple versions across manuscripts. The context makes it clear that this is Herodias’ daughter, but the specific wording here is difficult to know. Most translations have either “When the daughter of Herodias herself entered” or “When his daughter Herodias entered.” The word ‘Herodias’ is in the Genitive case, ‘of Herodias’ which makes what seems to be the most reliable Greek version translate very literally into English as “When the daughter of him of Herodias entered.”
r This is the same word used of the synagogue leader, Jairus’, daughter who was identified as 12 years old in Mark 5:42.
s Literally, ‘his fallen,’ referring to a corpse, a body that has fallen and will never get up.
t “Of the boat” is added for clarity.
u Literally related to lower abdominal organs, including the uterus and intestines. It is often said to describe ‘motherly love,’ relating it to the care of the womb.
v Or ‘release them.’ This is the same word traditionally translated as ‘forgive’ and ‘divorce’ in other contexts.
w A denarius was a coin valued at one day’s labor. If we estimate a $15/hour minimum wage and an 8-hour work day, then this would be equivalent to $24,000.
x This word literally means ‘bread’ but was also used to refer to food in general.
y In addition to sitting on the ground because of the specific circumstances, the cultural custom was always to recline on the ground or on cushions at meals.
z This is not the wording for ‘gave thanks’ used in Mark 8:6. It is the word for speaking praise or well-wishes.
aa “Bread” is added for clarity. Literally, it says, “of the leftovers and from the fish.”
bb The word here is aner, ‘man,’ not anthropos, ‘person.’ The Matthew 14:21 account of this story specifies that there were 5000 men, plus an unknown number of women and children.
cc This word literally means ‘see’ but is often used in the sense of ‘understood’ or ‘knew’ or ‘realized.’ It could be that he didn’t ‘see’ them but that he realized they would be straining against the wind because the wind had come up.
dd The night was divided into four “watches,” so this was the period of the night just before dawn, indicating they had been rowing hard the whole night.
ee The Greek word phantasma is often translated ‘ghost’ but it does not refer to the disembodied soul of person after they die as the English word ‘ghost’ does. The Greek word was a broad term for to an apparition, vision, or a ghostly figure, often seen in dreams or supernatural appearances.
ff Or perhaps “Have courage!” or “Be brave!” or “Cheer up!”
gg Literally, “I am.” It was a common way to convey what is expressed in English as “It’s me” or “I am here.” Though technically, “It is I” is the more grammatically correct, “It’s me” is the way most English speakers would phrase it here.
hh Or ‘calloused’ or ‘unfeeling.’ It’s a metaphor using a word for growing a protective covering of skin, a callus, after repeated friction.
ii Literally, ‘ill’ or ‘unwell’ or ‘people who appeared to be in poor condition.’
jj This is the word that is more commonly translated as ‘sick’ than the previous example. It literally means ‘weak’ and was used to refer to people weak with illness, powerless in society, lacking money and resources, or disadvantaged in many ways.
kk Jewish men wore tassels on their clothing as a reminder to themselves to adhere to the teaching of the Torah. The choice to reach for his tassel was highly symbolic of reaching for his spiritual status in the hopes that it would restore their own condition.
ll Or ‘saved’ or ‘healed’ or ‘liberated’ or ‘protected’ or ‘rescued’ or ‘preserved’