MARK 6:18 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.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, 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).

ULT For John was saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother.”

UST 17-18 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 go and arrest John. They tied him up and put him in jail.

BLB For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

AICNT For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.”

OEB For John had said to Herod – ‘You have no right to be living with your brother’s wife.’

WEBBE For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

WMBB For Yochanan had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

NET For John had repeatedly told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

LSV for John said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother”;

FBV John had been saying to Herod, “It's against the law to marry your brother's wife.”

TCNT For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for yoʋ to have yoʋr brother's wife.”

T4T John kept telling Herod, “God’s law does not permit you to marry the wife of your brother while he is still alive.” Then, because Herodias urged him to put John in prison, Herod himself sent soldiers to John. They seized John and put him in prison.

LEB For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not permitted for you to have your brother’s wife.”

BBE For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife.

Moff John had told Herod, "You have no right to your brother's wife."

Wymth For John had repeatedly told Herod, "You have no right to be living with your brother's wife."

ASV For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

DRA For John said to Herod: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

YLT for John said to Herod — 'It is not lawful to thee to have the wife of thy brother;'

Drby For John said to Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of thy brother.

RV For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
(For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee/you to have thy/your brother’s wife. )

SLT For John said to Herod, That it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

Wbstr For John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

KJB-1769 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
(For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee/you to have thy/your brother’s wife. )

KJB-1611 For Iohn had said vnto Herod, It is not lawfull for thee to haue thy brothers wife.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps For Iohn sayde vnto Herode: It is not lawful for thee to haue thy brothers wyfe.
(For Yohn said unto Herod: It is not lawful for thee/you to have thy/your brothers wife.)

Gnva For Iohn sayd vnto Herod, It is not lawfull for thee to haue thy brothers wife.
(For Yohn said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee/you to have thy/your brothers wife. )

Cvdl Neuertheles Ihon sayde vnto Herode It is not laufull for the to haue yi brothers wife.
(Nevertheless Yohn said unto Herod It is not lawful for the to have ye/you_all brothers wife.)

TNT Iohn sayd vnto Herode: It is not laufull for the to have thy brothers wyfe.
(Yohn said unto Herod: It is not lawful for the to have thy/your brothers wife. )

Wycl For Joon seide to Eroude, It is not leueful to thee, to haue the wijf of thi brothir.
(For Yohn said to Herod, It is not lawful to thee/you, to have the wife of thy/your brother.)

Luth Johannes aber sprach zu Herodes: Es ist nicht recht, daß du deines Bruders Weib habest.
(Yohannes but spoke to/for Herod: It is not right, that you(sg) your(s) brothers woman have.)

ClVg Dicebat enim Joannes Herodi: Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui.[fn]
(He_said because Yoannes Herodi: Not/No although to_you to_have wife brother's yours(sg). )

6.18 Non licet tibi habere, etc. ID. Qui venerat in spiritu et virtute Eliæ, Herodem arguit et Herodiadem, sicut, etc., usque ad homo enim ad laborem nascitur, et sancti per mortem transeunt ad requiem.

6.18 Not/No although to_you to_have, etc. ID. Who had_come in/into/on in_spirit and by_virtue Eliyah, Herod argues and Herodiadem, like, etc., until to human because to work is_born, and holy through death they_pass to rest/repose.

UGNT ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.
(elegen gar ho Yōannaʸs tōi Haʸrōdaʸ, hoti ouk exestin soi eⱪein taʸn gunaika tou adelfou sou.)

SBL-GNT ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.
(elegen gar ho Yōannaʸs tōi Haʸrōdaʸ hoti Ouk exestin soi eⱪein taʸn gunaika tou adelfou sou.)

RP-GNT Ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.
(Elegen gar ho Yōannaʸs tōi Haʸrōdaʸ hoti Ouk exestin soi eⱪein taʸn gunaika tou adelfou sou.)

TC-GNT Ἔλεγε γὰρ ὁ [fn]Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.
(Elege gar ho Yōannaʸs tōi Haʸrōdaʸ hoti Ouk exesti soi eⱪein taʸn gunaika tou adelfou sou. )

6:18 ιωαννης ¦ ιωανης WH

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:14–29: King Herod killed John the Baptizer

Here Mark interrupted his story of how Jesus sent his disciples to preach, expel demons, and heal people. The story about Jesus and his disciples starts again in 6:30. In Section 6:14–29, Mark inserted a different story. He told what King Herod thought about Jesus and why he thought these things. He told the story of how Herod killed John the Baptizer, and how Herod thought that Jesus must be John, alive again.

Here is another possible heading for this section:

The death of John the Baptist

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 14:1–12; Luke 9:7–9 (see also Luke 3:19–20).

Paragraph 6:17–20

This paragraph begins the story that explains what Herod said in 6:16 about killing John the Baptizer. The events in this story happened before the events in 6:14–16. Events like this are called background information.

The events within paragraph 6:17–20 are not all in chronological order. The exact order of all the events is not certain. However, it is clear that the events of 6:17a–b happened after the events of 6:17c. See the General Comment on 6:17–18 after 6:18b for a discussion of a possible way to reorder these verses.

6:18a

For John had been telling Herod,

John had repeatedly said to Herod,
Herod had put John in prison because John was saying to him

For: The word For introduces the reason for 6:17a–b, not for 6:17c–d.

^17aHerod had John arrested ^17band put in prison…^18abecause John had been saying to Herod…

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Repeat part of 6:17a–b here in 6:18a. For example:
Herod had John put in prison because John had been saying to Herod…
Leave out this connector, because it does not refer to what immediately precedes. Therefore its meaning may not be clear. For example, the GW says:
John had been telling Herod
If you have a connector that can introduce the reason for something further back in the text, you could use it here.
Rearrange the parts of 6:17. See the example from the CEV in the General Comment on 6:17–18 below.

John had been telling Herod: 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 these things repeatedly.

6:18b

“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!”

“It’s not right, according to the Law of Moses, for you to marry your brother’s wife.”
“You are not permitted/allowed to be married to your older brother’s wife.”
that it was wrong for him to be married to his older brother’s wife.

It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!: The phrase not lawful means “not right according to the law.” Here, the reference is to the law of Moses. This is the law that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel (in Leviticus 18:16, 20:21). In this context, have your brother’s wife means to “be married to your brother’s wife.”

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

It’s not right for you to be married to your brother’s wife. (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.

General Comment on 6:17–18

In some languages it may be natural to change the order of 6:17–18 to follow more closely the chronological order of events. You may want to follow the order of the CEV to make the story clearer:

^17dHerod had earlier married Herodias, ^17cthe wife of his brother Philip. ^18aBut John had told him, ^18b“It isn’t right for you to take your brother’s wife!” ^17cSo, in order to please Herodias, ^17aHerod arrested John ^17band 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 ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστιν σοί ἔχειν τήν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σοῦ)

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: figures-of-speech / quotations

τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου

¬the ˱to˲_Herod ¬that (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Γάρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστιν σοί ἔχειν τήν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σοῦ)

It may be more natural in your language to have an indirect quotation here. Alternate translation: [to Herod that it was not lawful for him to have the wife of his brother]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular

σοι & σου

Because John is speaking to Herod, the words you and your are singular.

Note 4 topic: translate-kinship

ἀδελφοῦ σου

brother (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Γάρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔξεστιν σοί ἔχειν τήν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σοῦ)

See how you translated brother in [6:17](../06/17.md). Alternate translation: [of your older brother]

Parallel MARK 6:18

Section 6:14–29: King Herod killed John the Baptizer

Paragraph 6:17–20

6:18a

6:18b

General Comment on 6:17–18