Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mat C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 14 V1 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35 V36
OET (OET-LV) and he_said to_the servants of_him:
This is Yōannaʸs the immerser, he was_raised from the dead, and because_of this the miracles are_working in him.
OET (OET-RV) and he said to his slaves, “This must be Yohan-the-immerser having come back from the dead and so that’s why he can do all these miracles!”
In this section, Matthew wrote how John the Baptist was killed. This section can be difficult to translate because the events are not in chronological order.
Verses 1–2 refer to events that happened after John the Baptist died. But verses 3–12 refer back to events that had happened before John the Baptist died, and they include the story of his death. You will need to clearly indicate the change in time at 14:3.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Death of John the Baptist (GNT)
John the Baptist Beheaded (NASB)
There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 6:14–29 and Luke 9:7–9.
and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist;
and he said to his advisers/aides, “This man is John the Baptist.
He mistakenly said to his officials, “That man is the John who baptized people.
his servants: This word refers to assistants who advised rulers about their decisions. This is a different Greek word than the word translated as slaves.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
advisers (NLT)
officials (GNT)
aides/helpers/workers
This is John the Baptist: Herod mistakenly thought that Jesus was John the Baptist. The words that Herod said in this verse were his opinion. They were not the truth.
Here are some ways to make this clear:
he mistakenly said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.
He thought that Jesus was John the Baptist. So he said to his servants, “That man is John the Baptizer.
John the Baptist: You should translate this phrase as you did in 3:1a.
he has risen from the dead!
He has returned from death.
He has become alive again.
he has risen from the dead!: Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
He has come back from the dead
He has returned from the place of the dead
He has become alive again.
The text does not say who Herod thought raised John. So you should avoid saying that “God” raised him from the dead.
That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
That is the reason why he has the power to do miracles.”
It is for that reason that he is able to do such surprising/amazing things.”
That is why: This phrase introduces the result part of a reason-result pair of clauses. The reason is “he has risen from the dead” (in 14:2b). Herod believed that if someone came back from the dead, he would have special powers. So he believed that the miracles that he heard about were the result of John coming back from the dead.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
that is the reason why
for this reason
and as a result
miraculous powers are at work in him: This clause means that John had the power to do miracles.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
he has the power to perform these miracles (GW)
he can do such miracles (NLT)
he has received the power to do those miracles
he is able to do those miracles
miraculous powers: The Greek word that the BSB here translates as miraculous powers is the same word as in 13:54d. You can translate both passages using the same term.
The clause “he has risen from the dead” (14:2b) is the reason clause. The clause “That is why miraculous powers are at work in him” (14:2c) is the result clause. In some languages, it may be natural to change the order of the reason and result clauses. For example:
2cHe has the power to do these miracles 2bbecause he has been raised from the dead.
Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns
οὗτός
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί εἶπεν τοῖς παισίν αὐτοῦ Οὗτος ἐστίν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστής αὐτός ἠγέρθη ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν καί διά τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ)
The pronoun This refers to Jesus. If this is not clear for your readers, you could refer to him more directly. Alternate translation: [This person] or [This Jesus]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
αὐτὸς ἠγέρθη
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί εἶπεν τοῖς παισίν αὐτοῦ Οὗτος ἐστίν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστής αὐτός ἠγέρθη ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν καί διά τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ)
Here, the word raised refers to someone who died coming back back to life. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable idiom or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [He has been restored to life]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
αὐτὸς ἠγέρθη
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί εἶπεν τοῖς παισίν αὐτοῦ Οὗτος ἐστίν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστής αὐτός ἠγέρθη ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν καί διά τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ)
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, Herod could be implying that: (1) God did it. Alternate translation: [God has raised him] (2) John himself did it. Alternate translation: [He has risen]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί εἶπεν τοῖς παισίν αὐτοῦ Οὗτος ἐστίν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστής αὐτός ἠγέρθη ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν καί διά τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ)
Paul is using the adjective dead as a noun in order to refer to all people who are dead. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with a noun phrase. Alternate translation: [from among the dead people] or [from the corpses]
Note 5 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
διὰ τοῦτο
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί εἶπεν τοῖς παισίν αὐτοῦ Οὗτος ἐστίν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστής αὐτός ἠγέρθη ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν καί διά τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ)
Here, the phrase because of this introduces the result of what Herod thinks about John being raised from the dead. Herod thinks that Jesus has powers because he has already been raised from the dead. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [because he has been raised,]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / personification
αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ
the miracles ˓are˒_working in him
Here Herod speaks as if the powers were people that could work in Jesus. He means that Jesus is powerful and can do powerful things. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [he has his powers] or [he is very powerful]
OET (OET-LV) and he_said to_the servants of_him:
This is Yōannaʸs the immerser, he was_raised from the dead, and because_of this the miracles are_working in him.
OET (OET-RV) and he said to his slaves, “This must be Yohan-the-immerser having come back from the dead and so that’s why he can do all these miracles!”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.