Mark 6:17-20

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 6:20 because Herod stood in awe of ⁵  John and protected him, since he knew that John ⁶  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ⁷  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁸  and yet ⁹  he liked to listen to John. ¹⁰ 

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 Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

⁹ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

¹⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.