Mark 6:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Mark 6:17
For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
heroic · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
himself
αὐτὸςautos
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — nominative singular masculine
forth
ἀποστείλαςaposteilas
G649
set apart · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
hold
ἐκράτησενekratēsen
G2902
to use strength · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
John
ἸωάννηνIōannēn
G2491
Joannes (i.e. Jochanan) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
bound
ἔδησενedēsen
G1210
to bind (in various applications · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτὸνauton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
prison
φυλακῇphulakēa
G5438
a guarding or (concretely · noun — dative singular feminine
for
διὰdia
G1223
through (in very wide applications · preposition
Herodias’ sake
ἩρῳδιάδαHērōdiada
G2266
Herodias · noun — accusative singular feminine, a proper name
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
brother
ἀδελφοῦadelphou
G80
a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (m… · noun — genitive singular masculine
Philip’s
ΦιλίππουPhilippou
G5376
fond of horses · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
wife
γυναῖκαgunaika
G1135
a woman · noun — accusative singular feminine
for
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
married
ἐγάμησεν·egamēsen
G1060
to wed (of either sex) · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
her
αὐτὴνautēn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
Luke 3:19-20 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and h…
Matthew 14:3-12 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 6:14-29
Here is, I. The wild notions that the people had concerning our Lord Jesus, Mar 6:15. His own countrymen could believe nothing great concerning him, because they knew his poor kindred; but others that were not under the power of that prejudice against him, were yet willing to believe any thing rather than the truth - that he was the Son of God, and the true Messias: they said, He is Elias, whom they expected; or, He is a prophet, one of the Old Testament prophets raised to life, and returned to this world; or as one of the prophets, a prophet now newly raised up, equal to those under the Old Testament.
II. The opinion of Herod concerning him. He heard of his name and fame, of what he said an…
Or, as one of the prophets - η, or, is omitted by ABCEGHKLMS - BHV, and one hundred others, Syriac, all the Arabic, all the Persic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, two Itala, Origen, Victor, and Theophylact. Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach leave it out of the text: the omission of it mends the sense much.
John Gill on Mark 6:17
For Herod himself had sent forth,.... Some of his guard, a detachment of soldiers,
and laid hold upon John; who seized upon him, and took him up:
and bound him in prison; in the castle of Machaerus:
for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her; whilst his brother was living, and who had had children by her; See Gill on Matthew 14:3.
John Calvin on Mark 6:17-29
Mark 6:17-29
Matthew 14:3-12
Mark 6:17-29
3. For Herod had seized John, and bound him, and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4. For John said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. 5. And though he wished to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they accounted him a prophet. 6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and pleased Herod. 7. And therefore he promised with an oath, that he would give her whatever she would ask. 8. But she, after having been instructed by her mother, said Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist. 9. And the king was sorry, yet on account of…
The Church Fathers
Thus John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, with the same authority with which Elijah had rebuked Ahab and Jezebel, reproved Herod and Herodias for having an unlawful marriage, and that it was not permitted, while his brother was alive, to marry his brother's wife, preferring to risk his safety with the king rather than to be forgetful of God's commandments for the sake of flattery.
Set aside for a moment the term "prison." Just call it a temporary retirement. Even though the body is imprisoned, even though the flesh is confined, everything still remains open to the spirit. Walk back and forth, my spirit, not thinking of shady walks or long cloisters, but of the road that leads directly to God. As often as you shall walk in this way in the spirit, so often shall you find yourself not in prison.
(ubi sup.) Ancient history relates, that Philip, the son of Herod the great, under whom the Lord fled into Egypt, the brother of this Herod, under whom Christ suffered, married Herodias, the daughter of king Aretas; but afterwards, that his father-in-law, after certain disagreements had arisen with his son-in-law, had taken his daughter away, and, to the grief of her former husband, had given her in marriage to his enemy; therefore John the Baptist rebukes Herod and Herodias for contracting an unlawful union, and because it was not allowed for a man to marry his brother's wife during his lifetime.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Aretas — The father-in-law of Herod Antipas, and king of Arabia Petraea. His daughter returned to him on the occasion of her husband’s entering into an adulterous alliance with Herodias, the wife of…
Herod — (hero-like). This family though of Idumean origin and thus alien by race, was Jewish in faith. I. HEROD THE GREAT was the second son of Antipater, an Idumean, who was appointed procurator of Judea by…
Herod Philip I. — (Mark 6:17), the son of Herod the Great by Mariamne, the daughter of Simon, the high priest. He is distinguished from another Philip called “the tetrarch.” He lived at Rome as a private person with…
Herodias — (Matt. 14:3-11; Mark 6:17-28; Luke 3:19), the daughter of Aristobulus and Bernice. While residing at Rome with her husband Herod Philip I. and her daughter, Herod Antipas fell in with her during one…
Machaerus — The Black Fortress, was built by Herod the Great in the gorge of Callirhoe, one of the wadies 9 miles east of the Dead Sea, as a frontier rampart against Arab marauders. John the Baptist was probably…
Philip — Lover of horses. (1.) One of the twelve apostles; a native of Bethsaida, “the city of Andrew and Peter” (John 1:44). He readily responded to the call of Jesus when first addressed to him (43), and…
Salome — Perfect. (1.) The wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John (Mat. 27:56), and probably the sister of Mary, the mother of our Lord (John 19:25). She sought for her sons places of honour in Christ’s…
Herod · .Incest of — .Incest of
Herodias · Daughter of Aristobu — Daughter of Aristobu
Incest · .Herod (Antipas) — .Herod (Antipas)
John · him, and beheads him — him, and beheads him
imprison John: The Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 18.5.2) says that John was imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus in Perea. • Josephus (Antiquities 18.5.1–4) states that Herodias was the wife of Herod Antipas’s half brother, Herod Philip.
Philip · 1. The brother of Herod Antipas and the husband of Herodias — 1. The brother of Herod Antipas and the husband of Herodias
Politics · .Herodias, in inf — .Herodias, in inf
Prisoners · General references — General references
Prisons · Used for confining: Persons under the king’s displeasure — Used for confining: Persons under the king’s displeasure
Wives · Bad — Exemplified: Herodias — Bad — Exemplified: Herodias
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
