Translation commentary on Mark 6:24

Exegesis:

ti aitēsōmai ‘what should I ask for?’: not simply futuristic, but with the element of deliberation.

kephalēn (6.25, 27, 28; 12.10; 14.3; 15.19, 29) ‘head.’

Iōannou tou baptizontos (cf. 1.4; 6.14) ‘of John the Baptizer’: as in both other cases a title.

Translation:

Went out means ‘went out of the room.’

Said to her mother must in many instances be changed to ‘asked her mother.’

What shall I ask may be more precisely translated as ‘what do you want me to ask’ (Southern Subanen).

She said is translated in some languages ‘she replied.’

Though the phrase the head of John the baptizer is the grammatical object of the preceding verb ‘said’ or ‘replied,’ it is actually the object of an elliptical verb ‘ask for.’ This ellipsis must be filled in some languages, e.g. ‘and she replied, Ask for the head of John the baptizer.’

For John the baptizer see 1.4.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 6:24

6:24a

Then she went out: You may need to state explicitly that she went out “of that place” or out “of the room where they were feasting.”

6:24b

What should I request?: The daughter of Herodias wanted her mother’s advice. She wanted to know what her mother thought that she should ask for. So it may be natural to translate this as:

What should I ask the king to give me?
-or-
What do you think I should ask for? (Contemporary English Version)

6:24c

And her mother answered: You could say “Herodias” instead of the phrase her mother.

The Berean Standard Bible follows the order of the Greek and puts her mother answered before the answer. Some English versions place this phrase after the answer. You should put this phrase where it is most natural in your language.

The head of John the Baptist: In some languages it may be natural to translate Herodias’ answer as a complete sentence. It may also be necessary to include some of the implied information from 6:27a and 6:27b. Herod would need to order someone to go and cut off John’s head and then give it to the girl. Otherwise it may sound as if John’s head had already been cut off. For example:

Ask him to give you the head of John the Baptist.
-or-
You should ask him to cut off the head of John the Baptizer and give it to you.

John the Baptist: See the note on 6:14d.

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.