Mark 6:17-19

6:17 For Herod himself had sent men, arrested John, and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod ¹  had married her. 6:18 For John had repeatedly told ²  Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ³  6:19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But ⁴  she could not

Mark 6:24-25

6:24 So ⁵  she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother ⁶  said, “The head of John the baptizer.” ⁷  6:25 Immediately she hurried back to the king and made her request: ⁸  “I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

¹ tn Grk “he”; here it is necessary to specify the referent as “Herod,” since the nearest previous antecedent in the translation is Philip.

² tn The imperfect tense verb is here rendered with an iterative force.

³ sn It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife. This was a violation of OT law (Lev 18:16; 20:21). In addition, both Herod Antipas and Herodias had each left marriages to enter into this union.

⁴ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

⁶ tn Grk “She said”; the referent (the girl’s mother) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark employs the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (though twice he does use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

⁸ tn Grk “she asked, saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant and has not been translated.