Translation commentary on Mark 6:22

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 6:22

6:22a

When the daughter of Herodias came: This is the first time that the daughter of Herodias is mentioned. You may need to make some of the background information explicit in order to introduce this new person in a natural way. For example:

Herodias had a daughter. She came to Herod and his guests…
-or-
During the feast, a girl came in to dance. She was the daughter of Herodias.

the daughter of Herodias: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as daughter here refers to the daughter of Herodias and her previous husband Philip. She was not the daughter of Herod.

and danced: A number of commentators say that this was the kind of dance that would sexually arouse a man. Use a word or phrase for danced in your language that is appropriate for this type of situation.

6:22b

she pleased Herod and his guests: The phrase she pleased Herod and his guests here indicates that the men enjoyed watching the young woman dance. She was attractive and sexually desirable. The God’s Word has another way to say this:

Herod and his guests were delighted with her.

his guests: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as guests refers to the men in 6:21c.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

his dinner guests (New International Version)
-or-
the people eating with him (New Century Version)
-or-
the men he had invited

6:22c

and the king said to the girl: In the Greek, there is no explicit connection between this and the preceding clause. If it is more natural in your language to use a connecting word here you could use a word such as and as the Berean Standard Bible does. The Good News Bible gives another example of a possible connecting word to use:

So the king said to the girl

the king: The phrase the king refers to King Herod.

the girl: The phrase the girl refers to the daughter of Herodias. She was old enough to be married in that culture, probably between thirteen and eighteen years old. So a phrase like “young woman” may be appropriate.

In some languages it may also be natural to just use a pronoun like “her.”

Ask me for whatever you wish: You could also express this as:

Ask me to give you anything you want

6:22d

and I will give it to you: In some languages there may be a particular way to express this, such as:

and you shall have it
-or-
and it will be yours

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