Passage
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:18 (KJV)
Nearby Context
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "shall", "take", "serpents", "drink", "deadly", and "hurt". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "take", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "And these signs shall follow them that..." into verse 19's "So then after the Lord had spoken...", so "shall" and "take" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "take" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.