complete verse (Mark 6:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 6:17:

  • Uma: “Like this is the account of Yohanes the Baptizer’s death. King Herodes took and married Herodias, the wife of his own relative who was named Filipus. Many times Yohanes denounced Herodes because of his behavior, he said to him: ‘You cannot marry that sister-in-law of yours! That behavior of your breaks the Law of Musa.’ From there, Herodes ordered his soldiers to go capture Yohanes. They did capture him, bound him and put him in prison.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For it had been King Herod hep who had commanded Yahiya to be seized and he had commanded him to be imprisoned. It happened like this: This King Herod had married his sister-in-law, Herodiyas, but his younger brother Pilip, the husband of Herodiyas, was still alive. So-then when they already had become-one, Yahiya scolded the king. Yahiya said to him, ‘It is not right/lawful (halal) if you are-one with the wife of your brother. You are sinning.’ Na, that was the reason why Herodiyas became-the-enemy-of/enemied Yahiya and wanted to kill him. But the king didn’t allow it,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Herod said that due-to what had happened before. Because he had had-Juan -arrested and had had-him-imprisoned in-chains due-to Juan’s admonishing him. Because Herod, he married his sister-in-law Herodias the wife of his younger-sibling Felipe.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Herodes spoke like that because in the past, he was the one who had caused Juan to be arrested, bound and imprisoned, because of Herodias who was the wife of Felipe who was Herodes’ brother. For Herodes had grabbed-for-himself that sister-in-law of his.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Alekano: (includes vv. 17-20) “Herod previously took his younger brother Philip’s wife Herodias. After he did that, John telling Herod said, ‘your younger brother’s wife you have taken — it is not right.’ After he said that, on account of Herodias, Herod sent men and they went and seizing John’s hands arope in the rope house. After they did that, Herodias, being bad in her liver concerning John, desired to strike and kill him, but John remained a straight-going man, not having sin, and Herod perceived it and remained afraid concerning him, and since he guarded over him well, Herodias was unable to kill John. Herod, hearing John’s talk day after day, heard his two ears but enjoyed his insides rose up) hearing the talk he spoke.” (Source: Ellis Deibler in The Bible Translator 1968, p 14ff. )
  • Yagaria (includes v. 17) : “Herod at one time sent his soldiers, and they took John and put him in jail. Before that Herod took away the wife of this younger brother Philip and took her, and John told Herod thus: ‘That you take the wife of your younger brother, that is not good.’ Because he said that, Herod put John in jail.” (Source: Renck, p. 94)

older brother (Lama)

The Greek that is translated as “brother” in English in the referenced verses is translated in Lama as raal or “older brother.” (Source: Neal Brinneman)

Philip (first husband of Herodias)

The name that is transliterated as “Hymenaeus” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines “friend of horses” (the meaning of the name) and a pointer to him being in the lineage of Herod the Great. (Source: Missão Kophós )


“Hymenaeus” in Libras (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Mark 6:14-29)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Mark 6:14-29:

Jesus became so famous that some people claimed,
“He’s John Dipper come back to life.” Others disagreed,
       “No, he’s one of the ancient prophets now returned.”

Governor Herod had previously executed John Dipper,
but still Herod thought Jesus was John
       alive and kicking once again. So the

Here’s the story: Herod had earlier married Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip,
       but John had vigorously and publicly objected.

Herod wanted to make Herodias happy,
       so he had John thrown in prison.
However, Herodias wasn’t finished with John,
       but she was absolutely helpless —
Although Herod was afraid of John,
he often went to him for advice,
       but always returned frustrated and confused.

At last, Herodias got her big chance,
when her daughter danced
       at the birthday party Herod had thrown for himself.
His public officials and military officers had been invited,
and her dancing pleased them so much
       that Herod promised her whatever she wanted.

She was a momma’s girl and hurried off to Herodias,
who told her to ask for delivery on a platter
       the head of John Dipper.

When Herod was informed, he immediately performed
and ordered John Dipper to be decapitated.
       Then his head was displayed on a platter.
When John’s followers learned of his fate,
       they took his body and placed it in a tomb.

Translation commentary on Mark 6:17

Exegesis:

autos gar ho Hērōdēs ‘for Herod himself’: most translations disregard the personal pronoun autos ‘he’ as being redundant (cf., however, Manson ‘for this same Herod…’).

This whole narrative (6.17-29) of the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist is parenthetical, being here inserted to explain the statement (v. 14) that Jesus was John risen from the dead. The order of events here is not chronological: the arrest of John had taken place before Jesus began his ministry in Galilee (1.14), but we are not given the precise time of his subsequent death at the hands of Herod Antipas.

aposteilas ekratēsen ‘sending he arrested’: ‘he sent and arrested.’ Arndt & Gingrich cassify this use of the verb ‘send’ as an auxiliary meaning that ‘the action has been performed by someone else’: here it would mean ‘he had John arrested.’

krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘seize,’ ‘arrest.’

kai edēsen autōn en phulakē ‘and he bound him in prison’ not in the sense that he was in prison, tied up, but ‘bound him (and put him) in prison.’

deō (cf. 3.27) ‘bind,’ ‘restrict.’

phulakē (6.28, 48) ‘prison’; in 6.48 it means ‘watch’ (i.e. an interval of time).

dia Herōdiada ‘on account of Herodias’: Revised Standard Version ‘for the sake of’ may be misunderstood.

On the identity of the Philip here referred to, see the commentaries.

hoti autēn egamēsen ‘because he (Herod) married her’: this clause explains the statement that John had been placed in prison on account of Herodias.

gameō (10.11, 12; 12.25) ‘to marry’: generally used of men.

Translation:

Sent and seized is either ‘sent men to seize’ or ‘caused John to be seized.’ Seized should here be translated as ‘arrested.’

Bound him in prison is ‘had him put in prison’ or, where the idiom may require, ‘tied him up in jail,’ but not necessarily with the literal meaning of ‘to bind.’

For the sake of Herodias may be variously translated, depending upon the perspective in question: ‘because of Herodias’ (meaning, because of what she had done, asked, or wanted), ‘in order to please Herodias,’ or ‘he did this for Herodias.’

Contemporary historical sources indicate that there are some difficulties involved in this statement of the relationship of Herodias to Philip, but the translator is not called upon to re-edit, but to translate. Hence, one may say ‘Herodias had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother’ (‘younger brother,’ if such a distinction is required).

Because he had married her is very loosely connected with the preceding. If translated without some more precise transition, it may mean in some languages that ‘Herodias was Philip’s wife because he (i.e. Philip) had married her.’ As a result, one must recast the sentence somewhat to read, ‘this happened because Herod had married Herodias.’ The pronominal element should refer to all the preceding sequence, including if possible the concern of Herod, the imprisonment of John, and Herod’s actions in order to please Herodias.

Note that the sequence of events as described: (1) the worry of Herod, (2) the beheading of John, (3) the imprisonment of John, and (4) Herod’s marriage to Herodias are told in reverse order of their temporal sequence. In some languages this requires very careful handling of conjunctions or tense forms of the verbs.

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 6:17

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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