And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”
Parallel translations
- WEB She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”
- KJV And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
- BSB Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”
- NKJV So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!”
- NLT She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The girl asked her mother what to request, and Herodias seized the chance to demand John's death. It reveals the deliberate, premeditated nature of her hatred.
Overview
Herodias had been waiting for exactly this moment and answered without hesitation. The daughter became the instrument of her mother's long-nursed revenge against the prophet who had exposed her sin. The episode shows how sin, once cherished, will use every opportunity and even one's own children to accomplish its ends.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Job 31:31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
- 2 Chr 22:3–4He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly.
- Ezek 19:2–3and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
- Gen 27:8–11Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
- Ps 37:14The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.
- Ps 27:2When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
- Ps 37:12The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.
- Prov 27:3–4A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
- Acts 23:12–13When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
- Matt 14:8She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 6:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.