6 Then the apostles started out. They went to visit all the villages. In every place they told people the good news about Jesus and they made sick people well.
A ruler hears about Jesus
7 People told the ruler, Herod, about all the things that were happening. His mind was confused because people were saying lots of different things about Jesus. Some people were saying, ‘John the Baptist died but now he has become alive again.’ 8 Other people were saying, ‘It is Elijah that has come back.’ Some other people were saying, ‘This is one of God's prophets who lived a long time ago. Now he has become alive again.’
9:7This was Herod Antipas. See Luke 3:1. 9:8Elijah was a man that spoke messages from God. He lived about 850 years before Jesus was born. God took Elijah up to heaven while he was still alive. See 2 Kings 2. 9 Herod said, ‘I sent a soldier to cut off John's head. So who is this man? I hear many things about him.’ After that, Herod was trying to meet Jesus.
9:9You can read about the death of John the Baptist in Mark 6. Jesus feeds 5,000 men and their families
10 The 12 apostles that Jesus had sent out returned. They told him what they had done. Then he took them away from the crowd, so that he could be alone with them. They went to a town called Bethsaida.
