6:19a

So: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as So here introduces the result of what happened in 6:18. What John told Herod in 6:18 caused Herodias to act as she did in 6:19. For example:

18aJohn was telling Herod, 18b“It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” 19aSo/therefore, as a result, Herodias nursed a grudge against John…

Herodias: In the Greek text Herodias is emphasized. The New Jerusalem Bible shows this clearly:

As for Herodias…

If you can emphasize Herodias in a natural way in your translation, you should do so.

held a grudge against John: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates asheld a grudge means “felt anger and hatred/resentment.” This is an inward attitude that Herodias had toward John over a period of time.

The Berean Standard Bible uses the English idiom held a grudge to express the meaning of this phrase. If you have an idiom in your language that expresses the same meaning, you should use it here. If not you should translate the meaning of this phrase. For example:

continued to feel anger and resentment/hatred towards John
-or-
continued to think about how much she resented/hated John

6:19b

and wanted to kill him: Herodias probably did not think that she would kill John herself. But her position of power allowed her to command soldiers to kill John, or to have Herod command soldiers to kill John. If you need to make this explicit, you could follow one of these examples:

wanted John to be killed
-or-
wanted to have someone kill John

6:19c

But she had been unable: It may be necessary in the translation to make clear what Herodias was not able to do. For example:

She was not able to kill him
-or-
She was not able to have someone kill him

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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