Herodias

In Mark’s Gospel

• Her marriage to Antipas was condemned by John the Baptist: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife"

  Mark 6:18

• "Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death" — but she could not, because Herod protected John

  Mark 6:19

• At Herod's birthday banquet, her daughter danced and pleased Herod; when the girl asked her mother what to request, Herodias answered: "The head of John the Baptist"

  Mark 6:22-25

• The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who gave it to her mother

  Mark 6:28

Who they were

• ✦Resentful — nursed a grudge against the man who told the truth about her marriage (Mark 6:19)
• ✦Ruthless — used her own daughter as the instrument of murder (Mark 6:24-25)
• ✦Calculating — waited for "an opportune time" — Herod's birthday, with all the powerful men of Galilee present (Mark 6:21)

Read about them

Faces of Faith

“Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” — Hebrews 12:1

A keepsake of Herodias’s story — the portrait on the front, the key moments on the back.