Prompted by her mother (so also New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible) is made into a noun construction by Good News Translation: (“At her mother’s suggestion”). The verb prompted occurs only here in the New Testament, though it is used in the Septuagint in the positive sense of “give instructions” (Exo 35.34; Deut 6.7). On the basis of this usage, one may then translate “being instructed by her mother” or “following her mother’s instructions.” Mark states explicitly that the girl went out to ask her mother what to do (6.24), but Matthew does not indicate whether or not her mother was present in the room at the time that Herod made the vow. However, in an Oriental setting it is quite likely that she would not have been present, because the entertainment would have been designed primarily for men. If explicit movements of going and coming are demanded by the receptor language, it is possible to translate “She went out and asked her mother what she should do. Her mother told her what to ask for, then she went back into the room and asked him….” A shorter rendering is “Her mother told her what to do, and so she said (to Herod) ‘Give me….’ ” Of course, some languages will use indirect speech, as in “… so she asked Herod to give her….” See comment at verse 11.

Give me is a command which the girl expects to be fulfilled at that very moment, thus the reason for “Give me here and now” of Good News Translation and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition.

The head of John the Baptist here on a platter is stated in Greek in such a manner as to retain the surprise element until the last: “Give me here, on a platter, the head of John the Baptist.” The order in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is more natural, though the effect may not be as dramatic. Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition maintains the more dramatic order of the Greek. The noun translated platter (Good News Translation “plate”) may refer to any kind of flat dish; the word originally meant “board” or “plank.” In cultures where plates are not normally used, translators will use “bowls” or whatever is the normal object on which someone would carry food.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .