Text:

With the support of many early mss. Westcott and Hort have tēs thugatros autou Hērōdiados ‘his (i.e. Herod’s) daughter Herodias,’ instead of tēs thugatros autēs tēs Hērōdiados ‘the daughter of Herodias’ of all other editions of the Greek text. The textual problem is discussed in the commentaries; Lagrange admits the weight of the external evidence in favor of the Westcott and Hort text, but concludes: “It is a case where one is compelled to reject the best manuscripts.”

Exegesis:

autēs tēs Hērōdiados literally ‘of Herodias herself’: here, however, is probably another example of the same Semitic idiom observed in 1.7 hou … autou ‘whose … his’ in which the pronoun is redundant, expressing the same idea as the genitive case of the noun. It simply means ‘of Herodias.’

orchēsamenēs (only here in Mark) ‘dancing.’

ēresen (only here in Mark) ‘she pleased,’ ‘she delighted.’

tois sunanakeimenois (cf. 2.15) ‘those reclining (at meal) with him,’ i.e. ‘his guests.’

korasiō (cf. 5.41) ‘maiden,’ ‘girl.’

aitēson (6.23, 24, 25; 10.35, 38; 11.24; 15.8, 43) ‘ask (for something),’ ‘request.’

Translation:

Came in refers to her entry into the banquet room, i.e. ‘came into the room.’

Danced does not specify the type of dance, but in languages in which there are different words depending on the type of movements involved, one should choose a word which is most likely to fit this type of context – a stag party given by a notoriously sensuous ruler.

She pleased Herod … must be recast in some languages, ‘Herod and his guests were pleased with her.’

Girl is variously translated in different receptor languages, depending on the presumed age of Herodias’ daughter. The pleasure shown by Herod and his guests would seem to indicate that Salome was probably beyond puberty.

Ask is not the asking of questioning, but the asking of requesting. In Tzeltal the idiom is ‘ask me what you ask me,’ meaning ‘ask me for anything.’

Grant it may be rendered as ‘give it to you’ or ‘let you have it.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .