MAT 14:4 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Yohan had been saying that it was against God’s law for Herod to take his brother’s wife.

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

UST 3-4 Herod said that because John had already died. Here is how that happened: Herod married Herodias, who had previously been the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. John the Baptizer told Herod, “Our law forbids you to marry Herodias, your sister-in-law.” So, Herod told his soldiers to arrest John. They tied him up and put him in jail.

MSB because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

AICNT for John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

OEB For John had said to him “You have no right to be living with her.”

WEBBE For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

WMBB For Yochanan said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

NET because John had repeatedly told him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

LSV for John was saying to him, “It is not lawful to you to have her,”

FBV For John had told him, “It's not legal for you to marry her.”

TCNT For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for yoʋ to have her.”

T4T 3-4 The reason Herod thought that was this: Herod had married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while Philip was still living. So John had been saying to him, “What you did by marrying your brother’s wife while your brother is still alive is against God’s law!” Then, to please Herodias, Herod told his soldiers to arrest John. They bound him with chains and put him in prison.

LEB because John had been saying to him, “It is not permitted for you to have her.”

BBE Because John had said to him, It is not right for you to have her.

Moff since John had told him, "You have no right to her."

Wymth because John had persistently said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

ASV For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

DRA For John said to him: It is not lawful for thee to have her.

YLT for John was saying to him, 'It is not lawful to thee to have her,'

Drby For John said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

RV For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
(For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee/you to have her. )

SLT For John said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her:

Wbstr For John had said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

KJB-1769 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
(For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee/you to have her. )

KJB-1611 For Iohn said vnto him, It is not lawfull for thee to haue her.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps For Iohn sayde vnto hym: it is not lawfull for thee to haue her.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Gnva For Iohn saide vnto him, It is not lawfull for thee to haue her.
(For Yohn said unto him, It is not lawful for thee/you to have her. )

Cvdl For Ihon sayde vnto him: It is not laufull for ye to haue her.
(For Yohn said unto him: It is not lawful for ye/you_all to have her.)

TNT For Ihon sayde vnto him: That is not lawfull for the to have her.
(For Yohn said unto him: That is not lawful for the to have her. )

Wycl For Joon seide to him, It is not leueful to thee to haue hir.
(For Yohn said to him, It is not lawful to thee/you to have her.)

Luth Denn Johannes hatte zu ihm gesagt: Es ist nicht recht, daß du sie habest.
(Because Yohannes had to/for him said: It is not right, that you(sg) they/she/them have.)

ClVg Dicebat enim illi Joannes: Non licet tibi habere eam.[fn]
(He_said because them Yoannes: Not/No although to_you to_have her. )

14.4 Non licet. Herodes forsitan legem Judæorum tenebat, et ideo Joannes eum ab adulterio prohibebat.

14.4 Not/No although. Herod perhaps the_law Yudahorum tenebat, and therefore/for_that_reason Yoannes him away adulterio prohibebat.

UGNT ἔλεγεν γὰρ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης, οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν.
(elegen gar autōi ho Yōannaʸs, ouk exestin soi eⱪein autaʸn.)

SBL-GNT ἔλεγεν γὰρ ⸂αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης⸃· Οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν·
(elegen gar ⸂autōi ho Yōannaʸs⸃; Ouk exestin soi eⱪein autaʸn;)

RP-GNT Ἔλεγεν γὰρ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης, Οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν.
(Elegen gar autōi ho Yōannaʸs, Ouk exestin soi eⱪein autaʸn.)

TC-GNT Ἔλεγε γὰρ [fn]αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης, Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν.
(Elege gar autōi ho Yōannaʸs, Ouk exesti soi eⱪein autaʸn. )

14:4 αυτω ο ιωαννης ¦ ο ιωαννης αυτω NA ¦ ο ιωανης αυτω WH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 14:1–12: The story about how John the Baptist died

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.

14:4a

because John had been telling him,

and because John was always telling Herod,
He also did those things because John had repeatedly told Herod

because: In this context, the Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as because indicates that 14:4 continues the explanation that began in 14:3c. Both 14:3c and 14:4 explain the reason that Herod put John in prison.

Here are some other ways to continue this explanation:

and because

He also did this because

John had been telling him: These words introduce what John said to Herod before Herod arrested John. The form of the Greek verb that the BSB translates as had been telling indicates that John said the following things to Herod more than once.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

John was always saying to him

John had repeatedly said to him

14:3–4

(reordered) He said that because some time earlier Herod had married the wife of his brother Philip. Her name was Herodias. Because of that John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” So, to please Herodias, Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison.

14:4b

“It is not lawful for you to have her.”

“It is against the/our^(incl) law for you to marry her.”
“You are not permitted/allowed to be married to her.”
that it was wrong for him to be married to his older brother’s wife.

It is not lawful for you to have her: The phrase not lawful means “not right according to the law.” Here, the reference is to the law that God gave to Moses. In this context, have her means to “be married to your brother’s wife.” It was against God’s law for a man to marry a woman who previously had been his brother’s wife while his brother was still living (Leviticus 20:21).

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

It’s not right for you to be married to her. (GW)

You are not permitted/allowed to have your older brother’s wife.

It is contrary to God’s laws/instructions to marry your older brother’s wife.

In some languages, it may be necessary to explain some of this information in a footnote. A sample footnote is:

This marriage was unlawful according to Jewish law (Leviticus 20:21) because Herod married Herodias while his brother Philip was still living.

General Comment on 14:3–4

14:3a–b occurred after 14:3c–4b. In some languages, it may be more natural to combine verses 3–4. In that way, you can change the order of the clauses and put them in the proper order. For example:

He said that ^3cbecause some time earlier Herod had married his brother Philip’s wife Herodias. ⁴So John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ^3aAs a result, Herod had arrested John and bound him ^3band put him in prison.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

γὰρ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Γάρ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης Οὐκ ἔξεστιν σοί ἔχειν αὐτήν)

Here, the word For introduces a reason why Herod put John in prison. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces a reason, or you could leave For untranslated. Alternate translation: [He did that because]

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

αὐτῷ

˱to˲_him

The pronoun him refers to Herod. If this is not clear for your readers, you could use the person's name here. Alternate translation: [to Herod]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations

ἔλεγεν & αὐτῷ & οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν.

˓was˒_saying & ˱to˲_him & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Γάρ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης Οὐκ ἔξεστιν σοί ἔχειν αὐτήν)

It may be more natural in your language to have an indirect quotation here. Alternate translation: [was saying to him that it was not lawful for him to have her]

Parallel MAT 14:4

Section 14:1–12: The story about how John the Baptist died

14:4a

14:3–4

14:4b

General Comment on 14:3–4