Paragraph 6:17–20
This paragraph begins the story that explains what Herod said in 6:16 about killing John the Baptizer. The events in this story happened before the events in 6:14–16. Events like this are called background information.
The events within paragraph 6:17–20 are not all in chronological order. The exact order of all the events is not certain. However, it is clear that the events of 6:17a–b happened after the events of 6:17c. See the General Comment on 6:17–18 after 6:18b for a discussion of a possible way to reorder these verses.
6:17a
For Herod himself: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces background information for 6:16. This background information helps to explain why Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptizer who was raised from the dead.
Here are some possible ways to introduce this background information:
For/Now this is what had previously happened, Herod himself…
-or-
Now it was this same Herod who… (New Jerusalem Bible)
Some English translations do not explicitly translate this conjunction here. Introduce this background information in a way that is natural in your language.
Herod himself: In Greek, the word himself emphasizes Herod. Try to emphasize Herod in a natural way in your language. For example:
Herod himself (Good News Bible)
-or-
It was this Herod who… (Revised English Bible)
-or-
it was this same Herod who… (New Jerusalem Bible)
had ordered that John be arrested: The Greek says literally “having sent, arrested John.” This implies that Herod sent men/soldiers to arrest John. To make this explicit you could say:
Herod gave orders to his soldiers to arrest John
6:17b
and bound and imprisoned: The phrase and imprisoned indicates that Herod had given orders to his soldiers to put John in prison. Herod himself did not personally put John in prison.
bound and imprisoned: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bound and imprisoned is literally “bound him in prison” (as in the Revised Standard Version). There are two ways to interpret this Greek phrase:
(1) The word bound is used here in its specific sense. So this phrase means that Herod had John chained or tied and put into prison. For example, the Good News Bible says:
he had him tied up and put in prison
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, God’s Word)
(2) The word bound is used here in its general sense. So this phrase means that Herod had John “confined/locked/put into prison.” For example, the Contemporary English Version says:
put him in prison
(Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).
There are two ways to translate interpretation (1). You may say that John was first tied/chained and then put into prison (as in the Good News Bible). Or you may say that he was put into prison and he was tied/chained while in the prison. (The UBS Handbook (page 194) comments that the literal phrase “bound in prison” does not indicate that John was in prison, tied up. However, a number of commentators disagree and say that John was chained or tied up in the prison (Hiebert page 148, Lenski page 250, Cole page 65). It may be noted here that Paul was put in the stocks while in an inner jail cell (Acts 16:24). There is also no indication that John was untied after being put into prison.) For example, the New Jerusalem Bible says:
had him chained up in prison
imprisoned: In some languages the idea that Herod had John the Baptizer put in prison is expressed as a verb. For example:
caused him to be imprisoned
Other languages do not have a specific word for “prison.” These languages can express the idea of imprisoned as:
locked/tied in a room
6:17c
Here Mark began to give the background for what he said in 6:17a–b about Herod putting John in prison. This is not in chronological order. These events happened sometime before the events in 6:17a–b. See the General Comment on 6:17–18 at the end of 6:18b.
on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias in this context means “to appease Herodias,” that is, to make Herodias happy. Herod put John in prison because John had offended Herodias, and Herod wanted to show her that he was punishing John. You may need to make this explicit. For example:
for the sake of Herodias (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
as a favor to Herodias (New Living Translation)
his brother Philip’s wife Herodias: Herodias had been married to Herod’s older brother, whose name was Philip. Herodias was no longer married to Philip, so it may not be natural in your language to use the phrase Philip’s wife. You may need to say:
Herodias, who had previously been married to Herod’s older brother Philip
-or-
Herodias, who was formerly the wife of Philip, older brother of Herod
-or-
(She used to be his brother Philip’s wife.) (God’s Word)
Herodias: The word Herodias is the name of a woman. She is a new person in the story. If your language has a particular way to introduce new people into a story, you should use it here. You should write the name Herodias according to the spelling system that your language uses for a woman’s name.
6:17d
whom Herod had married: Herod had taken Philip’s wife away from him while Philip was still alive. Herod then married her.
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