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Matthew14:1–12

The Beheading of John

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Matthew 14:1–12 — The Beheading of John. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

En ekeinō tō kairō Hērōdēs ho tetraarchēs ēkousen tēn akoēn Iēsou

Word by word11 · parsed
ἘνEnAtG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐκείνῳekeinōthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Masculine Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
καιρῷkairōtimeG2540
√ καιρός — an occasion, iNounDative Masculine Singular
kairos: an occasion, a fitted season Matthew's habitual hinge word. It marks not a date but a juncture, and the juncture here is the moment the kingdom's messengers fan out (Cambridge: the missionary journey of the Twelve) and the kingdom's noise finally reaches the palace. The palace is always the last place in Matthew to hear anything true.
ἩρῴδηςHērōdēsHerodG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
τετραάρχηςtetraarchēstetrarchG5076
√ τετράρχης — the ruler of a fourth part of a country ("tetrarch")NounNominative Masculine Singular
tetrarchēs: ruler of a fourth part A rare title (the Verifier counts the lexeme in only four verses of the New Testament). It is a Roman administrative word, not a covenant word: this man rules a quarter of a province by imperial sufferance. Gill records the division of Herod the Great's kingdom "confirmed by the Roman senate," and Pulpit notes that Antipas was "not legally king" though "he sometimes received the title by courtesy."
ἤκουσενēkousenheardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
akouō: to hear Aorist indicative: a single completed act of hearing. In Matthew hearing is the test of the heart (the seed on four soils, chapter 13, stands immediately before this chapter). Herod hears and reaches for a superstition; the crowds hear and follow; the disciples hear and are sent. The verb is the same; the soil is not.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἀκοὴνakoēnreportsG189
√ ἀκοή — hearing (the act, the sense or the thing heard)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
akoē: the act of hearing, or the thing heard The noun of report and rumor. Placed against ἤκουσεν it makes a cognate pair that English cannot carry. Ellicott is careful here: "The words do not necessarily imply that no tidings had reached him till now," and suggests the first informants may have been Herod's own household, naming the nobleman of Capernaum, Manaen, or Chuza.
ἸησοῦIēsouabout JesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Iēsous: Jesus The name stands alone, unqualified, at the end of the clause, the last word of the verse in Greek. Everything that follows in the unit is a flashback; Matthew has opened the account of a murder with the name of the One the murderer cannot place.
2

and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai eipen tois autou paisin Houtos estin Iōannēs ho Baptistēs autos ēgerthē apo tōn nekrōn kai touto dia hai dynameis energousin en autō

Word by word23 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τοῖςtoistoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
παισὶνpaisinservantsG3816
√ παῖς — a boy (as often beaten with impunity), or (by analogy), a girl, and (genitive case) a childNounDative Masculine Plural
pais: a boy, a servant (not a bought slave) The choice of word puts this speech in the private room, not the throne room. Herod says to his own circle what he will never say in public, and what he says is a confession dressed as a theory.
ΟὗτόςHoutosThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἸωάννηςIōannēsJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΒαπτιστήςBaptistēsBaptistG910
√ Βαπτιστής — a baptizer, as an epithet of Christ's forerunnerNounNominative Masculine Singular
αὐτὸςautosheG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
autos: he himself The emphatic pronoun is the pivot of the verse. It is not that someone like John has appeared; it is John, the very man, in his own person. Ellicott presses the point as far as it will go: it is "more than a spectre from the unseen world, more than the metempsychosis of the soul of John into another body. It was nothing less than John himself."
ἠγέρθηēgerthēhas risenG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
egeirō: to waken, to raise (aorist passive) The grammatical heart of the unit. A passive with no named agent normally implies God as the agent, and Herod's mouth therefore frames a sentence that is theologically correct in form and entirely false in reference. Pulpit adds the bleak observation that in Herod's mind "the other dead still lie in Hades (ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν)": one man only has been taken out from among them, and it is the one Herod killed.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
νεκρῶνnekrōndeadG3498
√ νεκρός — dead (literally or figurativelyAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
nekros: dead Genitive plural with ἀπό: out from among the dead ones. The phrase is the standing New Testament formula for resurrection, used here by a man who almost certainly did not believe in one.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοῦτοtoutoThatG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
διὰdiais whyG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
αἱhaiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
δυνάμειςdynameismiraculous powersG1411
√ δύναμις — force (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Feminine Plural
dynamis: force, power Matthew has just closed chapter 13 with Nazareth, where unbelief limited such works; now a court explains them by a ghost. Both are ways of refusing the Worker while conceding the works.
ἐνεργοῦσινenergousinare at workG1754
√ ἐνεργέω — to be active, efficientVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
energeō: to be active, efficient A rare verb in the Gospels. Cambridge records that Alford takes this saying as incidental confirmation of John 10:41, that John worked no miracle while he lived: Herod's whole theory depends on the dead John having powers the living John never had.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτῷautōhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
3

Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar Ho Hērōdēs kratēsas ton Iōanēn edēsen auton kai apetheto en phylakē dia Hērōdiada tēn autou tou adelphou Philippou gynaika

Word by word20 · parsed
γὰρgar[Now]G1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἩρῴδηςHērōdēsHerodG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounNominative Masculine Singular
κρατήσαςkratēsashad arrestedG2902
√ κρατέω — to use strength, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
krateō: to use strength, to seize Matthew stacks three aorists (seized, bound, put away) so that the arrest reads as a procedure. Pulpit numbers them: "capture, binding, imprisonment in a place where he was quite out of the way." Nothing in the sequence is legal; every step is administrative.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωάνηνIōanēnJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔδησενedēsen[and] boundG1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
deō: to bind (literally or figuratively) A separate finite verb standing between the seizing and the shelving, and the one act in the sequence that is not merely administrative. Gill supplies the picture: "laid him in chains, as if he was a malefactor." ⚙ Matthew uses this same verb in his Passion narrative when the Lord is bound and led away to the governor, so that the binding of the forerunner and the binding of the One he announced are told with one word. That canonical pairing is our observation, not a Verifier-confirmed link.
αὐτὸνautonhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπέθετοapethetoput [him]G659
√ ἀποτίθημι — to put away (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
apotithēmi: to put away, to lay aside The middle voice makes it self-serving: Herod shelves John. The word elsewhere in the New Testament belongs to putting off garments and putting off sin; here a man puts off a conscience by putting a man in a cell.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
φυλακῇphylakēprisonG5438
√ φυλακή — a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the personNounDative Feminine Singular
phylakē: a guarding, a prison Both Ellicott and Cambridge identify the place from Josephus (Antiquities xviii. 5, section 2) as Machaerus in Peraea, where Cambridge notes "Antipas had a palace and a prison under one roof, as was common in the East." That identification is extra-biblical and is recorded here as such.
διὰdiaon account ofG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
dia + accusative: on account of The grammar assigns the cause. Barnes names the offence twice over: Herod was guilty "of 'adultery,' since she was the wife of another man" and "of 'incest,' since she was a near relation," citing Leviticus 18:16.
ἩρῳδιάδαHērōdiadaHerodiasG2266
√ Ἡρωδιάς — Herodias, a woman of the Heodian familyNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀδελφοῦadelphoubrotherG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΦιλίππουPhilippouPhilip’sG5376
√ Φίλιππος — fond of horsesNounGenitive Masculine Singular
γυναῖκαgynaikawifeG1135
√ γυνή — a womanNounAccusative Feminine Singular
4

because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar Iōannēs elegen autō ho Ouk exestin soi echein autēn

Word by word10 · parsed
γὰρgarbecauseG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἸωάννηςIōannēsJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἔλεγενelegenhad been tellingG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
legō: to say (imperfect) The imperfect is the whole ministry of the forerunner compressed into one tense. Luke, as Cambridge and Gill both record, widens the reproof to "all the evil which he had done" (Luke 3:19). The man in the cell had not gone quiet.
αὐτῷautōhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΟὐκOukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἔξεστίνexestinIt is not lawfulG1832
√ ἔξεστι — so also neuter present participle of the same (with or without some form of G1510 (εἰμί) expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
exesti: it is lawful, it is permitted The verb of permission, and in Matthew it always concerns the boundary of God's own law. John does not appeal to public opinion or to statecraft; Gill, Poole and Barnes all trace the sentence to Leviticus 18:16, the prohibition of a brother's wife. A prophet holds a king to a text.
σοιsoifor youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
ἔχεινecheinto haveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Infinitive Active
echō: to have, to hold Present infinitive of continuing possession. Gill reasons the case out: Philip was living, there was issue of the marriage, and Herod had put away his own wife, "so that his sin was a very aggravated and complicated one."
αὐτήνautēnherG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
5

Although Herod wanted to kill John, he was afraid of the people, because they regarded John as a prophet.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai thelōn apokteinai auton ephobēthē ton ochlon hoti eichon auton hōs prophētēn

Word by word12 · parsed
καὶkaiAlthoughG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
θέλωνthelōn[Herod] wantedG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
thelō: to determine, to will The participle governs the whole verse and makes Herod's murderousness the given, his restraint the accident. Matthew and Mark are not identical here: Pulpit notes Mark has Herodias desiring John's death while "Herod feared John," and suggests the first heat of Herod's resentment gave way to respect. We record the tension rather than resolving it.
ἀποκτεῖναιapokteinaito killG615
√ ἀποκτείνω — to kill outrightVerbAorist Infinitive Active
αὐτὸνauton[John]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐφοβήθηephobēthēhe was afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
phobeō: to frighten, to put in fear The verb and its passive form are the hinge on which the unit turns: this man is governed entirely by fears, and the fear that finally moves him in verse 9 is not fear of God or of the crowd but fear of his dinner guests.
τὸνtonof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochlonpeopleG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
εἶχονeichonthey regardedG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
echō: to hold, to regard as Imperfect of settled public conviction. The same verb was used in verse 4 of Herod "having" Herodias. The crowd holds a prophet; the king holds his brother's wife. Matthew has set the two possessions side by side with one word.
αὐτὸνauton[John]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
προφήτηνprophētēna prophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounAccusative Masculine Singular
prophētēs: a foreteller, a prophet The crowd's verdict on John is the same verdict Matthew's Gospel endorses, and it is the office that makes the killing a crime against the whole prophetic line. Gill cites Josephus (Antiquities xviii. 6) that the common people were "of opinion, that the defeat of Herod's army, which followed the death of John, was a just judgment of God upon him for it," an outside witness to how the nation weighed this death.
6

On Herod’s birthday, however, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

tou Hērōdou Genesiois genomenois de hē thygatēr tēs Hērōdiados ōrchēsato en tō mesō kai ēresen tō Hērōdē

Word by word17 · parsed
τοῦtouOnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἩρῴδουHērōdouHerod’sG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΓενεσίοιςGenesioisbirthdayG1077
√ γενέσια — birthday ceremoniesNounDative Neuter Plural
genesia: birthday ceremonies Pulpit records the grammar (dative of time with a participle) and the parallel of Pharaoh's birthday in Genesis 40:20, the only other birthday feast narrated in Scripture, and the other one at which a man's head was taken. Gill notes the rabbinic list of pagan festivals includes exactly this observance.
γενομένοιςgenomenois. . .G1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Participle MiddleDative Neuter Plural
δὲdehoweverG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
θυγάτηρthygatērdaughterG2364
√ θυγάτηρ — a female child, or (by Hebraism) descendant (or inhabitant)NounNominative Feminine Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἩρῳδιάδοςHērōdiadosof HerodiasG2266
√ Ἡρωδιάς — Herodias, a woman of the Heodian familyNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ὠρχήσατοōrchēsatodancedG3738
√ ὀρχέομαι — to dance (from the ranklike or regular motion)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
orcheomai: to dance A rare verb, and its only other New Testament occurrences are in one saying of Jesus about the generation that would neither dance to the pipe nor mourn at the dirge (Matthew 11:17 and its Lucan parallel), a saying spoken about John the Baptist's hearers. Here that generation finally dances, and the dance buys John's head. The lexical link is the Verifier's; the irony is ⚙ synthesis and is offered as such.
ἐνenbefore themG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtō. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
μέσῳmesō. . .G3319
√ μέσος — middle (as an adjective or (neuter) noun)AdjectiveDative Neuter Singular
mesos: middle, midst The spatial word does the moral work. Barnes explains the eastern custom that kept women from public view and concludes "No modest woman would have appeared in this manner before the court." Pulpit adds that with men reclining around her "such a dance ... would be specially abhorrent to the Jewish mind."
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἤρεσενēresenpleasedG700
√ ἀρέσκω — to be agreeable (or by implication, to seek to be so)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
areskō: to please, to be agreeable Aorist. The verb names the only standard of judgment operating in the room. Gill notes that Mark adds "and them that sat with him," so that the pleasure is corporate: a whole court is pleased, and a court that is pleased will shortly have to be satisfied.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἩρῴδῃHērōdēHerodG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounDative Masculine Singular
7

so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hothen hōmologēsen meth’ horkou dounai autē ho ean aitēsētai

Word by word9 · parsed
ὅθενhothenso much thatG3606
√ ὅθεν — from which place or source or cause (adverb or conjunction)Conjunction
ὡμολόγησενhōmologēsenhe promisedG3670
√ ὁμολογέω — to assent, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
homologeō: to assent, to confess, to say the same thing The theological weight of this verb is out of all proportion to its use here, and that is the point. In Matthew the same root governs confessing Christ before men; Herod, sworn and public, confesses instead his own unbounded generosity to a girl. A man will bind himself absolutely to anything except the word of God he has already heard and shelved. The canonical resonance is ⚙ observation, not a Verifier-confirmed link.
μεθ’meth’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
ὅρκουhorkouan oathG3727
√ ὅρκος — perhaps akin to G3725 (ὅριον))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
horkos: an oath An oath calls God to witness. Barnes states the case plainly: "To please a wanton girl, the monarch called the eternal God to witness his willingness to give her half his kingdom." Matthew's own Gospel has already recorded the Lord's teaching against swearing at all (Matthew 5:34), which makes this oath doubly a trap of the man's own building.
δοῦναιdounaito giveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
αὐτῇautēto herG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ὃhowhateverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐὰνean. . .G1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
αἰτήσηταιaitēsētaishe askedG154
√ αἰτέω — to ask (in genitive case)VerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
aiteō: to ask, to request Aorist subjunctive with ἐάν, the grammar of an open condition. Ellicott guesses what the tetrarch expected: "A jewel, a bracelet, a palace, or a city, were probably in his thoughts." The construction he chose left room for anything, and Herodias had already measured the room.
8

Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de probibastheisa hypo autēs tēs mētros Hē phēsin Dos moi Hōde epi pinaki tēn kephalēn Iōannou tou Baptistou

Word by word18 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
προβιβασθεῖσαprobibastheisaPromptedG4264
√ προβιβάζω — to force forward, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
probibazō: to force forward, to push on The passive removes the girl's agency and names the real actor, who is not in the room. Barnes notes the grim propriety of it: "The only appearance of what was right in the whole transaction was her honoring her mother by consulting her." Obedience to a parent, turned into the instrument of a murder.
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
αὐτῆςautēsherG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
μητρὸςmētrosmotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἩHēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
φησίνphēsinshe saidG5346
√ φημί — to show or make known one's thoughts, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
phēmi: to make known one's thought Historic present. Matthew's tense shift is the only signal of shock in a verse that otherwise reports a dinner request.
ΔόςDosGiveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
didōmi: to give (aorist imperative) The first of four occurrences of this verb in five verses (Pulpit counts them at verses 10 and 11: "the head of the herald of the kingdom becomes a royal gift"). The vocabulary of gift and grace is turned inside out, and what is given is a death.
μοιmoimeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
ὯδεHōdehereG5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
πίνακιpinakia platterG4094
√ πίναξ — a plateNounDative Masculine Singular
pinax: a plate, a platter A rare word (the Verifier finds the lexeme in five verses). Cambridge: the original "= 'a flat wooden trencher' on which meat was served." It is serving-ware. The demand is that the prophet be brought in as a course.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κεφαλὴνkephalēnheadG2776
√ κεφαλή — the head (as the part most readily taken hold of), literally or figurativelyNounAccusative Feminine Singular
kephalē: the head Barnes records the two ordinary reasons a ruler required a head to be produced, "to gratify their resentment" and "to ascertain the fact that the sentence had been executed," and cites the Roman parallel of Agrippina and Lollia Paulina. Pulpit relays Chrysostom's reading, that Herodias wanted the tongue silent and before her eyes.
ἸωάννουIōannouof JohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΒαπτιστοῦBaptistouBaptistG910
√ Βαπτιστής — a baptizer, as an epithet of Christ's forerunnerNounGenitive Masculine Singular
9

The king was grieved, but because of his oaths and his guests, he ordered that her wish be granted

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho basileus lypētheis dia tous horkous kai tous synanakeimenous ekeleusen dothēnai

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
βασιλεὺςbasileuskingG935
√ βασιλεύς — a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
basileus: a sovereign, a king Matthew's one use of the royal title for Antipas, placed at the moment of his most abject servility. The Gospel that opened with a king in Jerusalem killing children (Matthew 2) here has a second Herod killing a prophet, and in both cases Matthew lets the title stand as the indictment.
λυπηθεὶςlypētheiswas grievedG3076
√ λυπέω — to distressVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
lypeō: to distress, to grieve The one honest movement in the man. Barnes lists the reasons it may have risen (respect for John, fear of the people, an unsilenced conscience) and concludes that "His conscience, though in feeble and dying accents, checked him." Pulpit notes the verbal contradiction with verse 5, where Herod wanted John dead, and judges the change psychologically possible after months of delay. Grief that does not reach the hands is not repentance.
διὰdiabut because ofG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τοὺςtous[his]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὅρκουςhorkousoathsG3727
√ ὅρκος — perhaps akin to G3725 (ὅριον))NounAccusative Masculine Plural
horkos: an oath Poole states the principle that governs the whole verse in a single Latin tag, Juramentum non potest esse vinculum iniquitatis, an oath cannot be a bond of iniquity; Barnes puts the same thing in English: "No oath could justify a man in committing murder." The oath was not a chain. It was a costume.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtousvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
συνανακειμένουςsynanakeimenoushis guestsG4873
√ συνανάκειμαι — to recline in company with (at a meal)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Plural
synanakeimai: to recline at table in company The decisive cause. Barnes: "This was the strongest reason why Herod murdered John. He had not firmness enough to obey the law of God and to follow the dictates of conscience against the opinions of wicked people." Ellicott names the same fear as "a false regard for public opinion." A table full of men who said nothing killed John the Baptist.
ἐκέλευσενekeleusenhe ordered thatG2753
√ κελεύω — "hail"VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
δοθῆναιdothēnai[her wish] be grantedG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
didōmi: to give (aorist passive infinitive) "To be given." The passive keeps every human hand out of the sentence. No one in this verse is said to kill anyone: something is simply given.
10

and sent to have John beheaded in the prison.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai pempsas ton Iōannēn apekephalisen en tē phylakē

Word by word8 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πέμψαςpempsassent {to have}G3992
√ πέμπω — to dispatch (from the subjective view or point of departure, whereas (as a stronger form of ) refers rather to the objective point or terminus ad quem, and G4724 (στέλλω) denotes properly, the orderly motion involved), especially on a temporary errandVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
pempō: to dispatch on an errand The whole administration of the murder is one participle. Power of this kind never has to be present at what it does.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸωάννηνIōannēnJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀπεκεφάλισενapekephalisenbeheadedG607
√ ἀποκεφαλίζω — to decapitateVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apokephalizō: to behead A rare and blunt verb, confined in the New Testament to this execution and its parallels. Matthew spends one word on the death of the greatest born of women, and no adjective at all. The restraint is the reverence. Ellicott, by contrast, allows himself the full measure of the loss, ranking the Baptist among "the greatest" of the earth's sons.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
φυλακῇphylakēprisonG5438
√ φυλακή — a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the personNounDative Feminine Singular
phylakē: prison Machaerus, on the identification given by Josephus and followed by Ellicott, Cambridge and Gill. Pulpit notes the difficulty this raises for the location of the feast, since Josephus elsewhere says Machaerus belonged to Aretas, and concludes these are "questions not easily answered." The uncertainty is recorded, not resolved.
11

John’s head was brought in on a platter and presented to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autou hē kephalē ēnechthē epi pinaki kai edothē tō korasiō kai ēnenken tē autēs mētri

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautou[John’s]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
κεφαλὴkephalēheadG2776
√ κεφαλή — the head (as the part most readily taken hold of), literally or figurativelyNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἠνέχθηēnechthēwas brought inG5342
√ φέρω — to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and figuratively, as follows)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
pherō: to bear, to carry (passive) The passive voice governs this whole verse: brought, given, and only at the end an active verb, and that one belongs to a child. Matthew narrates an execution in which nobody does anything.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
πίνακιpinakia platterG4094
√ πίναξ — a plateNounDative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐδόθηedothēpresentedG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
didōmi: to give The fourth and last link in a chain of giving that runs through the banquet: Herod swore to give (v. 7), the girl demanded give me (v. 8), the king ordered that it be given (v. 9), and here it was given. Pulpit counts the same four and draws the conclusion, that "the head of the herald of the kingdom becomes a royal gift." Three of the four are passive or infinitive, so that a court which cannot stop giving never once names a giver. Barnes states the horror without ornament: "the bloody offering, the head of the slaughtered prophet, was brought and given as the reward to the daughter and mother. What an offering to a woman!"
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
κορασίῳkorasiōgirlG2877
√ κοράσιον — a (little) girlNounDative Neuter Singular
korasion: a little girl The diminutive is the cruellest word in the unit. Whatever her actual age, Matthew's vocabulary keeps her a child, and a child is carrying a prophet's head across a banquet hall because her mother asked her to.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἤνεγκενēnenken[who] carried [it]G5342
√ φέρω — to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and figuratively, as follows)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
pherō: to carry (active) The only active verb in the verse, and it belongs to the girl. Benson records the traditions that gathered around what Herodias then did with the head, attributing to Jerome the account of the pierced tongue, and adds the judgment that matters more than the legend: "the Baptist's voice became the louder for his being murdered."
τῇtētoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
αὐτῆςautēsherG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
μητρὶmētrimotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounDative Feminine Singular
12

Then John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. And they went and informed Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autou hoi mathētai proselthontes ēran to ptōma kai ethapsan auton kai elthontes apēngeilan tō Iēsou

Word by word16 · parsed
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautou[John’s]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
προσελθόντεςproselthontescame [and]G4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
proserchomai: to approach, to come to Cambridge finds in the burial "some proof of forbearance, if not of kindness, on Herod's part. He did not persecute John's disciples." Pulpit suggests they were not in the castle when the murder was done. Either way, the men who come near are the ones with nothing left to lose.
ἦρανērantookG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
airō: to lift up, to take away Benson supposes the body "had been thrown over the prison walls, without burial, probably by order of Herodias," which is an inference, not a statement of the text. Matthew says only that they lifted it.
τὸto[his]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πτῶμαptōmabodyG4430
√ πτῶμα — a ruin, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ptōma: a ruin, a fallen thing, a corpse The word refuses consolation. It is used in the Gospels of carcasses and, in the Revelation, of the unburied bodies of God's two witnesses lying in the street of the great city. The forerunner's end is narrated in the vocabulary of the prophets' end, and Matthew's very next word is that these men buried him, which is precisely what the world does not do for its witnesses.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔθαψανethapsanburiedG2290
√ θάπτω — to celebrate funeral rites, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτόνautonitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐλθόντεςelthontesthey wentG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀπήγγειλανapēngeilan[and] informedG518
√ ἀπαγγέλλω — to announceVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
apangellō: to announce, to report back The last verb of the unit, and it points away from the palace. Gill reads the act theologically: their coming to Christ "shows that they were taught by their master to respect him as the Messiah." Pulpit notes honestly that Mark attaches this same clause to the returning Twelve, and suspects "some confusion had arisen in the source before St Matthew used it."
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦIēsouJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounDative Masculine Singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A rumor reaches a palace — 14:1-2

Matthew dates the scene not by a year but by a καιρός, a fitted occasion, and Cambridge and JFB independently identify it: this is the season of the mission of the Twelve, when the kingdom's noise had grown loud enough to carry to Tiberias. The tetrarch "heard the hearing" of Jesus, a cognate pair the English flattens to "heard the reports." He never hears the Preacher; he hears only what is said. Ellicott is careful not to overread the delay, noting the words "do not necessarily imply that no tidings had reached him till now," and Barnes puts it down to a man "of much dissoluteness of morals" who "did not think it a matter worthy of much regard."

Then the verdict, spoken not from a throne but to his own παισίν, his household men rather than his slaves (Ellicott's point, and JFB's "counsellors or court-ministers"): This is John the Baptist; he himself was raised from the dead. The pronoun is emphatic, as Cambridge insists, "he himself, in his own person," and the verb is aorist passive, a divine passive with no named agent. A guilty conscience has constructed a resurrection. The commentators divide over whether the man was a Sadducee: Benson says he was, and gives us the unit's sharpest line, that "Sadducism staggers when conscience awakes"; Cambridge reads the same sentence as proof that he was not. Ellicott holds both together, finding that "the superstitious terror of a conscience stained with guilt is stronger than his scepticism as a Sadducee." JFB compresses the whole psychology: the murdered prophet "haunted his guilty breast like a specter." Pulpit adds a point of another kind, that Herod's theory is an oblique witness to the miracles themselves, since "Herod's utterance is not such as a forger would have imagined."

ii. Bound for a sentence: "it is not permitted" — 14:3-5

Verses 3 to 12 are a flashback, and Matthew tells it in procedure: κρατήσας, seized; ἔδησεν, bound; ἀπέθετο, put away. Pulpit lists the stages exactly, "capture, binding, imprisonment in a place where he was quite out of the way," and notes that the middle-voice verb for shelving a man is the same one the Greek Old Testament uses when Ahab puts Micaiah away (2 Chronicles 18:26). Ellicott and Cambridge both locate the cell at Machaerus from Josephus, Cambridge adding the detail that there "Antipas had a palace and a prison under one roof."

The cause is given twice, once as a woman's name and once as a sentence. John kept saying it, the imperfect refusing to stop: οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν. Barnes names both crimes, adultery and incest, and grounds the second in Leviticus 18:16; Poole and Gill cite the same text; Gill works the case through in detail and concludes that Herod's sin was "very aggravated and complicated." Benson catches the register of the prophet's speech: "John's words were rough, like his raiment. He would not break the force of truth by using soft words even to a king." Gill adds that in this John "came in the spirit of Elijah," the comparison Ellicott has already made at verse 1, setting Herod and Herodias against Ahab and Jezebel.

Verse 5 then exposes the machinery of the man. He wills the killing (a present participle, a standing desire) and is made afraid of the crowd, who hold John as a prophet. Gill's gloss is the exact grammar of the verse: the fear was of "not God, but the multitude." Henry names the disease in one sentence: "Men fear being hanged for what they do not fear being damned for." Pulpit and Cambridge both note that Mark's fuller account reverses the pressure, with Herodias desiring John's death while Herod feared and protected him, and Pulpit judges the two accounts to be independent oral traditions from a common basis rather than copies. We record the tension and do not dissolve it.

iii. A feast, a dance, an oath — 14:6-9

The trap is a party. Γενεσίοις is plural, birthday ceremonies, and Gill records that the rabbinic list of "the feasts of idolaters" includes precisely "the birthday of kings"; Ellicott notes such feasts were the fashion of imperial Rome. The only other birthday feast in Scripture is Pharaoh's (Genesis 40:20), which also ended with a head taken off. The daughter of Herodias ὠρχήσατο ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, danced in the midst, and Ellicott insists on the preposition: "literally, in the midst of them, as they reclined on their couches indolently gazing." Barnes judges that "no modest woman would have appeared in this manner before the court"; Pulpit, that "such a dance with men sitting round would be specially abhorrent to the Jewish mind." Ellicott reads the mother's calculation without flinching: she "knew the tetrarch's weak point" and "sought to bend him to her will, even though it were by the sacrifice of her daughter's modesty."

The oath follows as water from a spring (ὅθεν, "whence"), and the verb Matthew chooses is ὡμολόγησεν, the New Testament's verb of confession. Barnes is blunt: "To please a wanton girl, the monarch called the eternal God to witness his willingness to give her half his kingdom." Gill calls it "a very foolish promise, and a rash oath." Poole states the rule that explains every remaining verse: "Those who have got over the point of lawfulness in an action, have nothing to consult but convenience."

Then the shove. προβιβασθεῖσα is passive and forceful; Cambridge corrects the older "instructed" to "impelled, instigated," and Pulpit notes that the word "implies that the girl herself would not have thought of it." She asks in the imperative and asks for here, on the spot, and Gill sees why: before the wine wears off. Benson measures the request against the offer, that "she demanded the holy Baptist's head, as of greater value to her than the half of the kingdom."

Verse 9 is where the man is finally weighed. He is grieved, but the participle is subordinate and the main verb is commanded. Barnes destroys the excuse: "No oath could justify a man in committing murder"; Poole reaches for the maxim that an oath cannot be a bond of iniquity. And both Barnes and Ellicott find the true cause not in the oath at all but in the couch: Barnes calls the guests "the strongest reason why Herod murdered John," and Ellicott names it "a false regard for public opinion." Pulpit adds the detail that damns the room: "Observe that these said nothing to stop him." Poole had seen it too, listing among the lessons of the scene "the genius of flattering courtiers, not one of them interposes to save the Baptist's life."

iv. The platter, the grave, and the report — 14:10-12

Matthew spends one verb on the death: ἀπεκεφάλισεν, and it is active and third singular, so that grammatically the king himself beheads John. Gill notes the killing was done in private, "without giving him a hearing, or allowing him to speak for himself." Against that brevity Ellicott sets the only estimate the New Testament will allow of this man, "intensity of purpose, dauntless courage, profound humility, self-denial carried to its highest point," and asks what elements of moral greatness could go beyond them. Benson asks the harder question and does not answer it: "How mysterious is the providence of God, which left the life of so holy a man in such infamous hands!"

Verse 11 is written almost entirely in passives, brought and given, with no agent named, until the one active verb, which belongs to a child. Matthew calls her κορασίῳ, a neuter diminutive, the little girl. Barnes: "What an offering to a woman!" Cambridge recalls the classical parallel of Fulvia piercing the tongue of the murdered Cicero, and Ellicott, who reports the legend of Salome's own beheading on the ice, immediately labels it "a tradition or legend" and sets against it the sober record of Josephus. Poole writes the epitaph: "Thus died this great man, to satisfy the malice and lust of a lewd and imperious woman; and to teach us what we must expect, it we will be faithful to the trust which God reposes in us."

The unit ends with two small motions of love. The disciples draw near and lift the πτῶμα, the fallen thing, and bury it, and Cambridge finds in Herod's permission "some proof of forbearance, if not of kindness." Then they go and report to Jesus. Ellicott believes the two whom John had sent from prison were among them; Benson thinks they "probably continued their attendance upon him"; Gill reads the whole act as a confession that their master had pointed them to the Messiah all along. Pulpit notes honestly that Mark attaches this same reporting clause to the returning Twelve and suspects a confusion in the underlying source. Matthew, whatever the source history, has built a chapter that begins with a rumor entering a palace and ends with the truth entering the presence of the Lord.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is a fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture and by better readers. Matthew has arranged this unit around a single word: ἠγέρθη. Herod is the first person in this Gospel to say of a man that he was raised from the dead, and he says it about the wrong man, for the wrong reason, out of the wrong motive. His theology is not too small; it is too late. A conscience that will not repent will still manufacture doctrine, and what it manufactures will be a horror rather than a hope: a risen prophet loose in Galilee with unearthly powers, coming for him. That is the difference the Gospel keeps insisting on. The resurrection of Jesus is announced by angels to women who came to mourn; a counterfeit resurrection is announced by a murderer to his household at a moment when he cannot sleep.

The second thing the Greek presses is the arithmetic of fear. This man fears the crowd (verse 5), fears the taunt of his dinner guests (verse 9), and fears a ghost (verse 2). He fears everything except God, and so every fear he has becomes a lever in someone else's hand. Herodias found the lever and pulled it. Set beside him is a man in a chain whose only recorded speech in this unit is five words about what is not permitted, spoken in the imperfect tense, which means he never stopped saying them. One of these men is free.

And the last thing, which is where the unit turns outward: Matthew closes with the verb of the messenger. The disciples bury a corpse and then take the news to Jesus. That is all they do, and it is the only right thing done in twelve verses. The Gospel does not tell us what he said to them. It tells us that when the forerunner's voice was cut off, the men who had listened to it knew exactly whose door to go to, which is what a forerunner is for.

Herod's conscience preached a truer sermon than his court ever heard, and he answered it with a sword.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same night told twice: Mark's fuller account verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 6:17-29 is the sustained parallel, and the Verifier's bases are dense and unusually rare: Ἡρωδιάς (G2266) occurs in only six verses of the New Testament, πίναξ (G4094) in five, and both stand in Mark 6:22 and 6:28 against Matthew 14:3, 14:6, 14:8 and 14:11. Mark supplies what Matthew omits: the half of the kingdom (Mark 6:23, cited here by Gill, Ellicott and Poole), the girl's errand out of the room to her mother (Mark 6:24, noted by Ellicott and Barnes), the executioner (Mark 6:27, whose Latin title speculator Gill documents at length from Seneca and the rabbis), and the striking note that Herod feared John and heard him gladly (Mark 6:20, quoted by Poole and Ellicott). Pulpit judges the two accounts independent: "it is quite impossible to suppose that either evangelist had the words of the other in front of him," and calls them "two oral traditions starting from a common basis."

Mark 6:17 · Mark 6:22 · Mark 6:25 · Mark 6:27 · Mark 6:28

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes across a Greek to Greek parallel, including the rare G2266 Ἡρωδιάς (in 6 vv) at Mark 6:22 and 6:19, and the rare G4094 πίναξ (in 5 vv) at Mark 6:28, plus G2264 Ἡρώδης (40 vv), G910 Βαπτιστής (12 vv), G5438 φυλακή (45 vv), G2776 κεφαλή (67 vv). The rarity of πίναξ and Ἡρωδιάς carries the verbal tier; no claim is made that either evangelist copied the other.

"Tetrarch": a rare title, and the man inside that household who turned verbal / quotation: confirmed

τετράρχης (G5076) is one of the rarest office-words in the New Testament, occurring in four verses in all: here, Luke 3:19 (where the same Herod is reproved by John for Herodias and "for all the evils he had done," cited by Gill and Cambridge), Luke 9:7 (where the tetrarch hears and is perplexed, the passage Poole sets beside Matthew's), and Acts 13:1. That last is the sting. Among the prophets and teachers at Antioch is Manaen, named as the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch. Ellicott, writing on verse 1, wonders aloud whether Manaen was among Herod's first informants about Jesus. The same rare word that labels the murderer in Matthew 14:1 labels, in Acts, the household that produced a man who laid hands on Barnabas and Saul. ⚙ The reading of that juxtaposition is ours; the lexical link is the Verifier's.

Luke 3:19 · Luke 9:7 · Acts 13:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5076 τετράρχης (in 4 vv, one of the rarest office-titles in the New Testament) linking Matthew 14:1 to Luke 3:19, Luke 9:7 and Acts 13:1, with G2264 Ἡρώδης (40 vv) and G191 ἀκούω (398 vv) alongside. Greek to Greek; a real verbal link, not a quotation of one text by another.

The only other dancing in the Gospels verbal / quotation: confirmed

ὀρχέομαι (G3738) occurs in four verses of the New Testament: Matthew 14:6, its Marcan parallel, and the twin sayings of Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32, where Jesus likens his generation to children in the marketplace calling out that they piped and no one danced, they mourned and no one wept. That saying is spoken directly about John the Baptist and his hearers, in the same chapter in which Matthew records that none born of women is greater than John. Two chapters later, in Matthew's own narrative order, the generation that would not dance to the pipe of the kingdom dances at a tetrarch's birthday, and the dance costs John his head. ⚙ The irony is our reading; the shared rare lexeme is the Verifier's recorded basis, and we claim no quotation of one passage by the other.

Matthew 11:17 · Luke 7:32

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3738 ὀρχέομαι (in 4 vv, rare), linking Matthew 14:6 to Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32. Greek to Greek within one Testament. The lexical link is confirmed; the interpretive contrast drawn from it is ⚙ synthesis.

The platter: what a table serves structural / thematic: confirmed

πίναξ (G4094), the serving dish twice named in this unit (verses 8 and 11), occurs in only five verses of the New Testament, and outside the Baptist's death its notable appearance is Luke 11:39, where the Lord tells the Pharisees that they cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter while within they are full of robbery and wickedness. Cambridge defines the object precisely: "a flat wooden trencher" on which meat was served. ⚙ We do not claim Luke 11:39 alludes to Herod's feast or the reverse. We note only that Scripture uses this rare word for the one vessel whose clean outside and foul inside the Lord made a parable, and that in Matthew 14 a court with immaculate manners has a prophet's head carried in on one.

Luke 11:39

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4094 πίναξ (in 5 vv, rare) between Matthew 14:8, 14:11 and Luke 11:39. The lexeme is rare enough to carry a verbal tier, but we deliberately under-claim: no quotation or allusion is asserted in either direction, only a shared object and a shared motif of a clean vessel and a foul content.

"It is not lawful": the text behind the prophet's sentence structural / thematic: confirmed

John's five words in verse 4 are not a private opinion. Barnes names the ground, that such marriages "were expressly forbidden, Leviticus 18:16"; Poole says Herod lived with her "contrary to the express law of God, Leviticus 18:16"; Gill cites the same verse and works out why the levirate provision does not cover the case, since Philip was living and there was issue. The Gospel does not quote Leviticus; it presupposes it. A prophet standing before a throne is doing nothing but reading the Torah aloud.

The link cannot be tiered verbal: Matthew is Greek and Leviticus is Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme is available, and the Verifier offers none. The basis is the unanimous testimony of the sourced commentators that this is the statute in view, plus the substantive agreement of the prohibition with the charge.

Leviticus 18:16

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and no verbal tier can be claimed. Recorded basis: Barnes, Poole and Gill all independently identify Leviticus 18:16 as the statute behind οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν, and the content of the prohibition matches the charge.

Elijah before Ahab, John before Herod typological

Ellicott makes the figure twice and without hedging: John had "the very spirit of Elijah in his dealings with Ahab and Jezebel," and at verse 5 he finds "a struggle of conscience against passion in the weak and wicked tetrarch, as there was in Ahab in his relations with Elijah. In Herodias, as in Jezebel, there was no halting between two opinions." Gill reaches the same conclusion from the other end, that John's reproof "made it manifest, that he came in the spirit of Elijah." The pattern is exact: a weak king who half respects the prophet, a queen who does not, a word about a marriage and a murder, and a prophet who must be hunted because he will not stop speaking.

This is a figural reading, not a verbal one, and it cannot be otherwise: Matthew is Greek, Kings is Hebrew. It is also ancient and widely held rather than novel, being the reading the Gospel itself invites wherever it calls John the Elijah who was to come.

1 Kings 19:2 · 1 Kings 21:20 · 1 Kings 21:25

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and none is claimed. The figural link is named explicitly in the sourced commentary (Ellicott at Matthew 14:1 and 14:5; Gill at 14:4), and is ancient and widely held rather than novel.

"He is risen" said falsely, and "he is risen" said truly structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew 11:11 and Matthew 14:2 share the name John, the epithet Βαπτιστής (G910, a word in only twelve verses) and the verb ἐγείρω (G1453). In 11:11 the Lord says that among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist; in 14:2 a murderer says that John the Baptist was raised from the dead. The verb is common (138 verses) and so cannot by itself carry a verbal tier; the joint presence of the rarer G910 is what makes the pair worth recording. ⚙ The reading we draw is that Matthew lets the same vocabulary be spoken once by the Lord in praise and once by a guilty man in terror, and that the Gospel's own resurrection announcement, when it comes, will use the passive that Herod here abused.

Matthew 11:11 · Matthew 28:6

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G910 Βαπτιστής (in 12 vv) and G1453 ἐγείρω (in 138 vv) with G2491 Ἰωάννης (132 vv) between Matthew 14:2 and Matthew 11:11. ἐγείρω is too common to justify a verbal tier on its own, so the pairing is recorded as thematic; the reference to Matthew 28:6 is ⚙ canonical comparison, not a Verifier-computed base.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The forerunner goes first into death as he went first into the wilderness ancient/widely-held

⚙ Read the shape of verses 3 to 12 and it is the shape of the Passion in miniature: a righteous man is seized, bound, put away; a ruler examines him and finds him just; that ruler would rather release him but fears the crowd and fears his peers; a public occasion forces the ruler's hand; he yields against his own conscience; the body is asked for by disciples and laid in a grave. Matthew narrates John's end in the same order in which he will narrate his Lord's. The commentators feel the parallel without naming it a type: Cambridge finds Herod "a type of the worst of tyrants"; Ellicott finds in verse 9 a man ruled by "a false regard for public opinion," which is precisely Pilate's disease; Barnes finds the same failure of nerve, a ruler "afraid of the charge of cowardice."

The Lord himself makes the connection explicit elsewhere in Matthew, teaching that Elijah has already come and they did to him whatever they wished, and that so also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands (Matthew 17:12). That sentence is the warrant for this whole reading, and it is his, not ours. The forerunner runs before, and the road he runs down ends at a grave that other men have to dig for him.

Matthew 17:12 · Matthew 27:57

A counterfeit resurrection, spoken by a guilty man novel

⚙ Herod's sentence in verse 2 is formally orthodox and materially false. ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν is the Gospel's own resurrection formula, an aorist passive whose unnamed agent is God, and it is the first time in Matthew that anyone applies it to a human being. The man who applies it is the man who cut the head off. JFB describes the effect exactly: the murdered prophet "haunted his guilty breast like a specter and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers in the person of Jesus." Ellicott says the tetrarch meant something stronger than a ghost or a transmigration: "It was nothing less than John himself."

What this does in the Gospel's argument is set two resurrections side by side. One is a terror invented by a conscience that will not repent, and it makes its author more afraid, not more free. The other is announced at an empty tomb with the words "he is not here, for he has risen," and it makes cowards into witnesses. Herod's is a resurrection without repentance, which is exactly what judgment will be for those who want no other kind. We mark the observation as novel in its verbal form, though the moral substance, that a guilty conscience produces its own hell, is Henry's and Ellicott's before it is ours.

Matthew 14:2 · Matthew 28:6 · Matthew 16:21

The shepherd smitten, and the flock that knew where to go ancient/widely-held

Henry draws the conclusion the last verse asks for: "When the under shepherds are smitten, the sheep need not be scattered while they have the Great Shepherd to go to." That is the whole meaning of the report in verse 12. John's disciples do not disband and do not avenge; they bury their master and walk to Jesus. Ellicott believes the two whom John had sent from prison were among them, and traces the rest of the movement into Acts, where Apollos and the disciples at Ephesus still carry John's baptism. Gill reads their coming as the proof that John had taught them to expect the Messiah, and Benson thinks they "probably continued their attendance upon him."

⚙ And the pattern reaches further than this chapter. The smiting of the shepherd and the scattering of the sheep is a prophetic word the Lord will take on his own lips on the night he is betrayed (Matthew 26:31, citing Zechariah 13:7). Here the under-shepherd is struck and the sheep are not scattered, because the Great Shepherd is standing a day's walk away and they know it. Later the Shepherd himself will be struck and the sheep will scatter, and he will gather them again himself. The attestation is ancient in substance (Henry states it, and the Zechariah citation is the Lord's own), though the arrangement of the two scenes against each other is ours.

Matthew 26:31 · Zechariah 13:7 · Acts 19:3

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Greek interlinear, glosses, Strong's numbers and parses are the Berean data supplied in the brief; the English base text is the BSB. At verse 3 the interlinear gives the name as Ἰωάνην with a single nu, against Ἰωάννης elsewhere in the unit; that is an orthographic variant in the underlying text, not a different person, and no argument here rests on it. Three verses carry gloss placeholders in the source data (the "vvv" and ". . ." markers at 14:4 word 5, 14:6 words 3, 11, 12, and 14:9 word 8); the literal renderings above follow the Greek words and parses, not the placeholders.

What comes from outside Scripture. A good deal of what readers think they know about this chapter is Josephus, not Matthew. The prison at Machaerus (Ellicott, Cambridge, Gill, all citing Antiquities xviii), the name Salome for the dancing girl (Ellicott, Gill, Barnes, all from Josephus), Herod's later banishment to Lugdunum, and the political motive Josephus gives for the arrest (fear of sedition rather than the reproof of the marriage) are all extra-biblical. Gill notes the divergence of motive plainly and prefers the Gospel's account; Ellicott reports the Josephan version without harmonizing it. The story that Salome died when ice severed her head is traced by both Gill and Benson to Nicephorus, a late source, and Ellicott labels it "a tradition or legend." Jerome's account of Herodias piercing the tongue (Benson, Gill) is likewise patristic tradition, not Scripture. None of it is treated here as fact.

Real unresolved difficulties. (1) The identity of "Philip": Pulpit records that Josephus names Herodias' first husband simply "Herod," and that critics including Ewald and Schurer therefore suppose Matthew and Mark confused Herodias with her daughter; Pulpit answers the objection but does not pretend it vanishes. (2) Herod's theological party: Benson takes him for a Sadducee and reads verse 2 as conscience overriding his creed; Cambridge reads the same verse as proof he was not a Sadducee. Both are printed above, with an editorial note, and we do not adjudicate. (3) Who said "John is risen": Luke 9:7-9 has the report circulating among others and Herod doubtful; Matthew and Mark have Herod asserting it. Poole, Pulpit and Barnes each attempt a reconciliation, and Pulpit's is candid that the difference is real. (4) The final clause of verse 12: Pulpit observes that in Mark 6:30 the same reporting language belongs to the returning Twelve, and suspects "some confusion had arisen in the source before St Matthew used it." (5) The location of the feast: if the killing was at Machaerus and the banquet in Tiberias, verse 8's "here" is a problem; Pulpit sets out the difficulty and leaves it open.

Voices. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary treats 14:1 to 14:12 as a single block, so the same text is attached to every verse in the source; his two excerpts here are therefore written over the whole unit, not over the verses where they appear. JFB's note on verse 2 is likewise repeated across verses 3 to 11 in the source data, and his fuller exposition of this material is referred out to Mark 6:17-29 and is not in the brief. Several Geneva entries in this unit are the verse text only, with no gloss; only the genuinely annotated Geneva notes have been used. Ten distinct commentators are cited across the twelve verses.

What is ⚙ and therefore fallible. Every observation marked ⚙, every tier judgment, the sola reading and the pullquote, and the christological readings above are machine synthesis offered to be tested. Where a rare shared lexeme could have carried a verbal tier and the interpretive point was ours rather than the text's, we have deliberately tiered down (see the πίναξ thread). No cross-Testament link in this unit is tiered verbal, because Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers and any such claim would be false on its face.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)