Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Matthew 14
¹ When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus,
² he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.”
³ For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip).
⁴ John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.”
⁵ Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.
⁶ But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him,
⁷ so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted.
⁸ At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!”
⁹ Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders.
¹⁰ So John was beheaded in the prison,
¹¹ and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.