What Does Mark 6:16 Mean in the King James?

But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

Mark 6:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Herod’s own words keep present the man he tried to silence by beheading.

THE MEANING

Herod hears about Jesus and identifies him as John, the man he beheaded, risen from the dead. His words show that the killing has not made John disappear from his mind. The deed remains present in the mouth of the one who did it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that killing a witness ends the matter: Herod’s own mouth keeps naming the man he killed.

THE ROOT

ἠγέρθη

ēgerthē

GROWS FROM

ἐγείρω

egeirō

to wake, rouse, or raise

“risen” in this verse is ēgerthē. The Greek verb ⁨ἐγείρω⁩ (egeirō), meaning “wake, rouse, raise,” can describe waking someone from sleep and raising someone from the dead. Herod’s word holds those senses together as he imagines the man he beheaded awake again.

ALSO GROWS

egeirō: to wake someone from sleep

ἐγείρω

Mark uses this verb when the disciples wake Jesus in the boat; here its range reaches beyond sleep to Herod’s claim that John has risen.

egersis: rising or resurrection

ἔγερσις

This related noun names resurrection in Matthew 27:53, showing the same word-family can speak of rising from death.

THE PATTERN

Violence can kill a body while its witness continues to speak through blood, memory, or testimony.

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Genesis 4:10 · KJVAbel’s blood has a voice that reaches God from the ground, so the killing continues to be heard.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Hebrews 11:4 · KJVAbel is dead, yet the verse says he still speaks through the witness connected to his offering.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVThe slain name their blood and cry for judgment, showing that death has not silenced their claim.

THE THREAD

And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

Mark 5:41 · KJV

Mark uses the same verb when Jesus tells the girl to rise. Its shared root makes Herod’s explanation echo a word Mark has already used for a body called back to life.

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