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Mark 6 · a question people ask

Did Herod want John dead?

In the text

Mark and Matthew tell it differently, and both are quoted here from their own verses. Mark: "Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t" (6:19), "for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly." (6:20). After the girl made her request (6:24-25), "The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her" (6:26). Matthew: "When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet" (Matthew 14:5), and "The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given" (Matthew 14:9). Both say the king was sorry or grieved, and both name his oaths and his guests (6:26; Matthew 14:9). These notes don't put the two accounts together or choose between them.

The verses

“Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly.”
Mark 6:19-20 · World English Bible
“She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.” She came in immediately with haste to the king and requested, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.” The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her.”
Mark 6:24-26 · World English Bible
“When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.”
Matthew 14:5 · World English Bible
“The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given,”
Matthew 14:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Mark 6

Mark 6: Five loaves and two fish

Mark says only once that Jesus marveled: at the unbelief of his own country (6:6). And Mark ends the night on the sea with his own disciples amazed, because they "hadn’t understood about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened" (6:52), though they had just set the loaves before five thousand men.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions