Devine Scripture

Mark 6:25

What does Mark 6:25 mean?

A plain-English look at Mark 6:25 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Mark 6:25 means

Mark 6:25 recounts the daughter returning promptly to the king and asking him to give John’s head on a platter. The haste and explicitness of her demand heighten the horror: she requests the severed head, not merely John’s death. The platter image underlines the banquet setting and the grotesque satisfaction of revenge staged as a spectacle. The verse exposes the moral degradation of the court, where a ruler’s promise becomes the mechanism for ritualized violence against a prophet. It underlines how public life can become complicit in private sins.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and having come in immediately with haste unto the king, she asked, saying, `I will that thou mayest give me presently, upon a plate, the head of John the Baptist.'

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying: I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish, the head of John the Baptist.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And immediately going in with haste to the king, she asked saying, I desire that thou give me directly upon a dish the head of John the baptist.

Context

This verse immediately follows the daughter’s consultation with her mother (verse 24) and makes concrete the cruel plan. The public request in the banquet forces Herod’s hand, linking his earlier oath to a barbaric execution. The grim demand propels the narrative to the king’s reluctant decision to fulfill the promise, which unfolds in verses 26–28. The context emphasizes the contrast between prophetic purity and courtly corruption.

v.24And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptizer.

v.25This passage

v.26And the king was exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Romans 3:15

    Their feet are swift to shed blood;

  • Numbers 7:13

    and his oblation was one silver platter, the weight whereof was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering;

  • Proverbs 1:16

    For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

  • Numbers 7:19

    he offered for his oblation one silver platter, the weight whereof was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering;

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