Bible Strands
Mark 6:25
At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The girl returns to King Herod immediately after consulting her mother to deliver a direct demand for John the Baptist’s head. She speaks to the king at the moment of his banquet, executing her mother’s instruction.
The words — The Greek text highlights εὐθὺς (euthus, “immediately”) and σπουδῆς (spoudēs, “haste”) to emphasize the girl’s urgent return. Her entrance (εἰσελθοῦσα, eiselthousa, “having entered”) precedes a blunt demand directed πρὸς (pros, “to”) the king.
The thread — The demand for a severed head on a platter echoes the banquet imagery of silver platters in Numbers 7:13 and Numbers 7:19, while the urgency aligns with Proverbs 1:16’s description of feet swift to shed blood. The king’s reluctant compliance in Mark 6:26 completes the immediate narrative sequence.
Why it lands — The verse records a direct, unmediated demand that forces the king to choose between public honor and a prophet’s life. It requires the reader to observe how sudden urgency and political pressure produce irreversible actions.
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The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Numbers 7:13 His offering was one silver platter weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel and filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
- Numbers 7:19 The offering he presented was one silver platter weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel and filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
- Proverbs 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
- Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;