the Second Week after Easter
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Easy-to-Read Version
Matthew 14:12
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- CondensedParallel Translations
Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus.
And his Disciples came, and took vp the body, and buried it, and went and told Iesus.
And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
John's disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.
John's followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
And John's disciples came and took away the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came, and tooke vp the bodie, and buried it, and went, and tolde Iesus.
His disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.
And his disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.
Then John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. And they went and informed Jesus.
John's followers took his body and buried it. Then they told Jesus what had happened.
Yochanan's talmidim came, took the body and buried it; then they went and told Yeshua.
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and came and brought word to Jesus.
Then his disciples came and took up his body and buried it, and they came and informed Jesus.
John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came and took away the corpse and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
And having come, his disciples took the body and buried it; and coming, they reported to Jesus.
And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came, and took up his body and put it in the earth; and they went and gave Jesus news of what had taken place.
His talmidim came, and took up the body, and buried it; and they went and told Yeshua.
When John'shis">[fn] disciples came, they carried off the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came near, took up his corpse, buried (it), and came and showed Jeshu.
12 And his disciples came and bore away the corpse, and buried [fn] ; and they went and informed Jesus.
And his disciples came, and toke vp his body, and buryed it: and went, and tolde Iesus.
And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
His disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Then John's disciples went and removed the body and buried it, and came and informed Jesus.
And hise disciplis camen, and token his bodi, and birieden it; and thei camen, and tolden to Jhesu.
And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Then John's disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.
Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Later, John's disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
Then the followers of John came and took his body and buried it. They went and told Jesus.
His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples, going near, bare away the corpse, and buried him, and came and brought tidings unto Jesus.
And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus.
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.
And his disciples came and toke vp his body and buryed it: and went and tolde Iesus.
And his disciples having come, took up the body, and buried it, and having come, they told Jesus,
Then came his disciples, and toke his body, and buried it, and wente and tolde Iesus.
upon which, his disciples came to take away the body, and having buried it, they went to tell Jesus what had happened.
John's crew then came and laid claim to his body and went and buried it on Boot Hill. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
took: Matthew 27:58-61, Acts 8:2
Reciprocal: Mark 6:29 - they came
Cross-References
This is the history of Terah's family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot.
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the slaves, and all the other things he had gotten in Haran. Then he and his group moved to the land of Canaan.
They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar. So there were four kings fighting against five.
So Kedorlaomer and his armies took everything that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah owned. They took all their food and clothing and left.
Lot, the son of Abram's brother, was living in Sodom, and they captured him. They also took everything he owned and left.
One of the men who had escaped went to Abram the Hebrew and told him what happened. Abram was camped near the trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner had made an agreement to help each other, and they had also signed an agreement to help Abram.
Then Abram went home after he defeated Kedorlaomer and the kings with him. On his way home, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh. (This is now called King's Valley.)
He blessed Abram and said, "Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.
Moses warned the people, "Move away from the tents of these evil men. Don't touch anything that belongs to them! If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins."
Is it God who laughs when a disaster kills innocent people?
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And his disciples came,.... To the prison where his body was left, and to which they had liberty of recourse before; see
Matthew 11:2 and very probably, upon hearing what was done, might apply to Herod, as Joseph of Arimathea did to Pilate, for the body of Jesus; who might, as he did, give them leave to take it: and
took up the body and buried it. Theophylact says, his body was buried in Baste Caesarea, and that his head was first reposited in Emesesa. This was the last office of love to their master, and was done in respect and gratitude to him, and to show that they still abode by his doctrine; and was what decency and the belief of the resurrection of the dead, as well as the will of God, require should be done:
and went and told Jesus; that their master was dead, what kind of death he suffered, and by what means it was brought about; and how that they had interred him; and what Herod also had said of Jesus, that he was John risen from the dead. Their coming to Christ, and informing him of all this, show, that they were taught by their master to respect him as the Messiah, and believe in him, and adhere to him; and it is very likely that they continued with him.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
See also Mark 6:21-29. But when Herod’s birthday was come Kings were accustomed to observe the day of their birth with much pomp, and commonly, also, by giving a feast to their principal nobility. See Genesis 40:20. Mark adds that this birthday was kept by making a supper to his “lords, high captains, and chief estates in Galilee;” that is to the chief men in office. “High captains” means, in the original, commanders of thousands, or of a division of 1,000 people.
The daughter of Herodias - That is, “Salome,” her daughter by her former husband. This was a violation of all the rules of modesty and propriety. One great principle of all eastern nations is to keep their females from public view. For this purpose they are confined in a particular part of the house, called the harem. See the notes at Matthew 9:1-8. If they appear in public, it is always with a veil, so closely drawn that their faces cannot be seen. No modest woman would have appeared in this manner before the court, and it is probable, therefore, that she partook of the dissolute principles of her mother. It is also probable that the dance was one well known in Greece - the lascivious and wanton dance of the Ionics.
Matthew 14:7
He promised with an oath - This a foolish and wicked oath.
To please a wanton girl, the monarch called the eternal God to witness his willingness to give her half his kingdom, Mark 6:23. It seems, also, that he was willing to shed the holiest blood it contained. An oath like this it was not lawful to make, and it should have been broken. See Matthew 14:9.
Matthew 14:8
Being before instructed of her mother - Not before she danced, but afterward, and before she made the request of Herod.
See Mark 6:24. The only appearance of what was right in the whole transaction was her honoring her mother by consulting her, but in this she only intended to accomplish the purposes of wickedness more effectively.
In a charger - The original word means a large platter on which food is placed. We should have supposed that she would have been struck with abhorrence at such a direction from her mother; but she seems to have been gratified. John, by his faithfulness, had offended the whole family, and here was ample opportunity for an adulterous mother and her dissolute child to gratify their resentment. It was customary for princes to require the heads of persons ordered for execution to be brought to them. For this there were two reasons:
- To gratify their resentment - to feast their eyes on the proof that their enemy was dead; and,
- To ascertain the fact that the sentence had been executed.
There is a similar instance in Roman history of a woman requiring the head of an enemy to be brought to her. Agrippina, the mother of Nero, who was afterward emperor, sent an officer to put to death Lollia Paulina, who had been her rival for the imperial dignity. When Lollia’s head was brought to her, not knowing it at first, she examined it with her own hands until she perceived some particular feature by which the lady was distinguished.
Matthew 14:9
And the king was sorry - There might have been several reasons for this.
1. Herod had a high respect for John, and feared him. He knew that he was a holy man, and had “observed him,” Mark 6:20. In the margin (Mark) this is “kept him,” or “saved him.” In fact he had interposed and saved John from being put to death by Herodias, who had had a quarrel with John, and would have killed him but for Herod, Mark 6:19. Herod, though a bad man, had a respect and veneration for John as a holy and just man, as wicked people often will have.
2. John was in high repute among the people, and Herod might have been afraid that his murder might excite commotion.
3. Herod, though a wicked man, does not appear to have been insensible to some of the common principles of human nature. Here was a great and most manifest crime proposed - no less than the murder of an acknowledged prophet of the Lord. It was deliberate. It was to gratify the malice of a wicked woman. It was the price of a few moments’ entertainment. His conscience, though in feeble and dying accents, checked him. He would have preferred a request not so manifestly wicked, and that would not have involved him in so much difficulty.
For the oath’s sake - Herod felt that he was bound by this oath; but he was not. The oath should not have been taken: but, being taken, he could not be bound by it. No oath could justify a man in committing murder. The true principle is, that Herod was bound by a prior obligation - by the law of God - not to commit murder; and no act of his, be it an oath or anything else, could free him from that obligation.
And them which sat with him at meat - This was the strongest reason why Herod murdered John. He had not firmness enough to obey the law of God and to follow the dictates of conscience against the opinions of wicked people. He was afraid of the charge of cowardice and want of spirit; afraid of ridicule and the contempt of the wicked. This is the principle of the laws of honor; this the foundation of dwelling. It is not so much for his own sake that one man murders another in a duel, for the offence is often a mere trifle - it is a word, or look, that never would injure him. It is because the “men of honor,” as they call themselves, his companions, would consider him a coward and would laugh at him. Those companions may be unprincipled contemners of the laws of God and man; and yet the duellist, against his own conscience, against the laws of God, against the good opinion of the virtuous part of the world, and against the laws of his country, seeks by deadly aim to murder another merely to gratify his dissolute companions. And this is the law of honor! This is the secret of duelling! This the source of that remorse that settles in awful blackness, and that thunders damnation around the duellist in his dying hours! It should be added, this is the course of all youthful guilt. Young men are led along by others. They have not firmness enough to follow the teachings of a father and of the law of God. They are afraid of being called mean and cowardly by the wicked; and they often sink low in vice and crime, never to rise again.
At meat - That is, at supper. The word “meat,” at the time the Bible was translated, meant provisions of all kinds. It is now restricted to flesh, and does not convey a full idea of the original.
Matthew 14:11
And his head was brought in a charger ... - For the sake of these wicked people, the bloody offering - the head of the slaughtered prophet was brought and given as the reward to the daughter and mother.
What an offering to a woman! Josephus says of Herodias that “she was a woman full of ambition and envy, having a mighty influence on Herod, and able to persuade him to things he was not at all inclined to.” This is one of the many proofs that we have that the evangelists drew characters according to truth.
Matthew 14:12
And his disciples ... - The head was with Herodias.
The body, with pious care, they buried.
And went and told Jesus - This was done, probably, for the following reasons:
- It was an important event, and one particularly connected with the work of Jesus. John was his forerunner, and it was important that he should be made acquainted with his death.
- It is not unreasonable to suppose that in their affliction they came to him for consolation; nor is it improper in our affliction to follow their example, and go and tell Jesus.
- Their master had been slain by a cruel king. Jesus was engaged in the same cause, and they probably supposed that he was in danger. They therefore came to warn him of it, and he Matthew 14:13 sought a place of safety.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 14:12. His disciples came, and took up the BODY] The HEAD was in the possession of Herodias, who, 'tis probable, took a diabolic pleasure in viewing that speechless mouth which had often been the cause of planting thorns in her criminal bed; and in offering indignities to that tongue from which she could no longer dread a reproof. Her character justifies every bad conjecture that can well be formed on this head: and St. Jerome positively says that, when she got it, she drew out the tongue, and thrust it through with her bodkin. On the whole we may observe: -
That the diversions of the world, feasting and dancing, are but too commonly the occasions of sin. After so fatal an example as this, can we doubt whether balls are not snares for souls; destructive of chastity, modesty, and sometimes even of humanity itself; and a pernicious invention to excite the most criminal passions! How many on such occasions have sacrificed their chastity, and then, to hide their shame, have stifled the feelings of the human being and the parent, and, by direct or indirect means, have put a period to the innocent offspring of their connections! Unhappy mother, who exposes her daughter to the same shipwreck herself has suffered, and makes her own child the instrument of her lust and revenge! Behold here, ye professedly religious parents, the fruits of what was doubtless called in those times, elegant breeding and accomplished dancing! Fix your eyes on that vicious mother, that prostituted daughter, and especially on that murdered ambassador of God, and then send your children to genteel boarding-schools, to learn the accomplishment of DANCING! where the fear of God makes no part of the education.
