1 Machabæorum 14:4

Clementine Latin Vulgate

Dicebat enim illi Joannes : Non licet tibi habere eam.

Parallel Translations

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Dicebat enim illi Joannes: Non licet tibi habere eam.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Dicebat enim illi Ioannes: "Non licet tibi habere eam".

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Leviticus 18:16, Leviticus 20:21, Deuteronomy 25:5, Deuteronomy 25:6, 2 Samuel 12:7, 1 Kings 21:19, 2 Chronicles 26:18, 2 Chronicles 26:19, Proverbs 28:1, Isaiah 8:20, Mark 6:18, Acts 24:24, Acts 24:25

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 13:13 - Thou hast done 1 Kings 18:18 - I have not 2 Chronicles 16:10 - put him Proverbs 24:25 - them Proverbs 28:4 - but Jeremiah 34:6 - General Daniel 4:22 - thou Daniel 5:22 - thou Matthew 18:8 - if Luke 1:17 - power Luke 3:19 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For John said unto him,.... John having heard of this incestuous marriage, went to Herod, and reproved him to his face for it; and, as Luke says, "for all the evils he had done", Luke 3:19 for he was a very wicked man, and guilty of many flagitious crimes: John, in so doing, showed his zeal for holiness, his hatred of sin, his courage and faithfulness in reproving thus freely so great a man; and made it manifest, that he came in the spirit of Elijah: what he said to him was,

it is not lawful for thee to have her, being forbidden, Leviticus 18:16 for though by another law it was right to marry a brother's wife, after his decease, when he left no issue, yet this was not the case here; Philip was now living, and, had he been dead, such a marriage would have been unlawful, because there was issue; she had a daughter, who afterwards is said to dance before Herod; and besides, he himself had another wife, whom he put away; so that his sin was a very aggravated and complicated one: lying with a brother's wife, was one of those sins which, according to the Jewish h canons, deserved cutting off, or death by the hand of God. Josephus i gives another reason of the imprisonment and death of John, that Herod feared that the people of the Jews, through his means, would be moved to sedition, and revolt from his government; which might be what Herodias suggested to him, or what he gave out himself, to cover the true cause of his proceedings: but the true reason is, what is here given, and is to be confirmed by the testimony of Jewish writers. One of their chronologers k delivers the account in these express words:

"Herod Antipater was a very wicked and pernicious man, many of the wise men of Israel he slew with the sword; and he took to wife, his brother Philip's wife, whilst he was living; and because John the high priest (for so through mistake they call him) הוכיחו על זה "reproved him for this"; (see Luke 3:19) he slew him with the sword, with many of the wise men of Israel.''

And, says their historian l,

"also he, Herod, slew John, because he said unto him, it is forbidden thee to take the wife of Philip, and he slew him; this is that John that practised baptism.''

h Misn. Ceritot, c. 1. sect. 1. i Antiqu. lsss. 18. c. 6. k Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 25. 2. l Joseph. Gorionides, 1. 5. c. 45.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For Herod had laid hold on John ... - See Mark 6:17-20; Luke 3:19-20. This Herodias was a granddaughter of Herod the Great. She was first married to Herod Philip, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, probably the one that danced and pleased Herod. Josephus says that this marriage of Herod Antipas with Herodias took place while he was on a journey to Rome. He stopped at his brother’s; fell in love with his wife; agreed to put away his own wife, the daughter of Aretas, King of Petraea; and Herodias agreed to leave her own husband and live with him. They were living, therefore, in adultery; and John, in faithfulness, though at the risk of his life, had reproved them for their crimes. Herod was guilty of two crimes in this act:

1. Of “adultery,” since she was the wife of another man.
2. Of “incest,” since she was a near relation, and such marriages were expressly forbidden, Leviticus 18:16.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 14:4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. — Here is an instance of zeal, fidelity, and courage, highly worthy of imitation. Plainness, mildness, and modesty, are qualifications necessary to be observed when we reprove the great. The best service a subject can render his prince is to lay before him, in the plainest but most respectful manner, what the law of God requires of him, and what it forbids. How unutterable must the punishment of those be who are chaplains to princes, or great men, and who either flatter them in their vices, or wink at their sins!