Mark 6:13-22

¹³They were also expelling many evil spirits from people, and they were anointing many sick people with olive oil and healing them.

¹⁴King Herod Antipas heard about what Jesus was doing, because many people were talking about it. Some people were saying about Jesus, “ He must be John the Baptizer! He has come back to life! That is why he has God's power to perform these miracles!”

¹⁵Others were saying about Jesus, “He is the former prophet Elijah, whom God promised to send back again.” Others were saying about Jesus, “ No, he is a different prophet, like one of the other prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶Having heard what the people were saying, King Herod Antipas himself repeatedly said, “The man performing those miracles must be John! I commanded my soldiers to cut off his head, but he has come back to life again to get revenge for my killing him!”

¹⁷The reason King Herod concluded that John wanted revenge is as follows: Some time before this, Herod married Herodias, while she was still the wife of his younger brother, Philip.

¹⁸John kept telling Herod, “ God's law does not permit you to marry the wife of your brother while he is still alive.” Then, because Herodias urged him to put John in prison, Herod himself sent soldiers to John. They seized John and put him in prison.

¹⁹But because Herodias wanted to get further revenge on John, she wanted someone to execute him. But she could not do that because while John was in prison, Herod kept John safe from her.

²⁰Herod did this because he respected/feared John, because he knew that he was a righteous and holy man. The king did not know what he should do, but he liked to listen to him.

²¹But Herodias was able to have someone execute John when they honored/celebrated the day when Herod was born. On that day, he invited the most important government officials, the most important army leaders, and the most important men in Galilee district in order that they might eat and celebrate with him.

²²While they were eating, Herodias' daughter came into the room and danced, and that pleased King Herod and his guests. So the king said to her, “Ask me for whatever you desire and I will give it to you!”