Matthew 14:1-12

Expanded Bible

How John the Baptist Was Killed^(A)

14 At that time Herod, the ·ruler of Galilee [^Ltetrarch; see Luke 3:1], heard the reports about Jesus. ² So he said to his servants, “·Jesus [^LThis] is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead. That is why ·he can work these miracles [^Lmiraculous powers are at work in him].”

³ ·Sometime before this, [^LFor] Herod had arrested John, ·tied him up [chained/bound him], and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, who had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. ⁴ [^LFor] John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to ·be married to Herodias [have her].” ⁵ Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the ·people [crowd], because they ·believed John was [regarded John as] a prophet.

⁶ On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests, and she [greatly] pleased him. ⁷ So he ·promised [announced] with ·an oath [a vow] to give her anything she ·wanted [asked]. ⁸ ·Herodias told her daughter what to ask for, so [At her mother’s urging/prompting] she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹ Although King Herod was very ·sad [sorry; grieved; distressed], he had made a ·promise [vow; oath], and his dinner guests had heard him. So Herod ·ordered [commanded] that what she asked for be done. ¹⁰ He sent soldiers to the prison to cut off John’s head. ¹¹ And they brought it on a platter and gave it to the girl, and she took it to her mother. ¹² John’s ·followers [disciples] came and got his ·body [corpse] and buried it. Then they went and ·told [reported it to] Jesus.