7
Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
8
These were his instructions:
“Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.
9
Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.
10
Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.
11
And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
12
They went out and preached that people should repent.
13
They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
15
Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
16
But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
17
For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.