Misinterpretation in KJV (XIX)

Mark 6:20 (King James Version) For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

Mark 6:20 (New International Version) 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

20

For

Herod

feared

John

,

knowing

that

he

was

a

γὰρ2

ὁ1 Ἡρώδης3

ἐφοβεῖτο4

τὸν5 Ἰωάννην6

εἰδὼς7

←

αὐτὸν8

•

►9

gar

ho Hērōdēs

ephobeito

ton Iōannēn

eidōs

auton

1063

3588 2264

5399

3588 2491

1492

846

just

man

and

an

holy

,

and

observed

him

;

and

when

he

δίκαιον10

ἄνδρα9

καὶ11

→

ἅγιον12

καὶ13

συνετήρει14

αὐτόν15

καὶ16

→

→

dikaion

andra

kai

hagion

kai

synetērei

auton

kai

1342

435

2532

40

2532

4933

846

2532

heard

him

,

he

did

many

things

,

and

heard

him

gladly

.

ἀκούσας17

αὐτοῦ18

→

ἐποίει20

πολλὰ19

•

καὶ21

ἤκουε24

αὐτοῦ23

ἡδέως22

akousas

autou

epoiei

polla

kai

ēkoue

autou

hēdeōs

191

846

4160

4183

2532

191

846

2234

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Mk 6:20.

συντηρέω (syntēreō), preserve; protect; defend. Cognate words: διατηρέω, παρατηρέω, παρατήρησις, τηρέω, τήρησις. Heb. equiv. fr. LXX: שׁמר (1×)

The Lexham Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (2011).

συν-τηρέω, -ῶ: impf. 3 pers. sing. συνετήρει; pres. pass. 3 pers. plur. συντηροῦνται; [fr. Aristot. de plant. 1, 1 p. 816a, 8 down];

a. to preserve (a thing from perishing or being lost): τί, pass. (opp. to ἀπόλλυσθαι), Mt. 9:17; Lk. 5:38 [T WH om. Tr br. the cl.]; τινά, to guard one, keep him safe, fr. a plot, Mk. 6:20 (ἑαυτὸν ἀναμάρτητον, 2 Macc. 12:42 [cf. Tob. 1:11; Sir. 13:12]).

b. to keep within one’s self, keep in mind (a thing, lest it be forgotten [cf. σύν, II. 4]): πάντα τὰ ῥήματα, Lk. 2:19 (τὸ ῥῆμα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, Dan. 7:28 Theod.; τὴν γνώμην παρʼ ἑαυτῷ, Polyb. 31, 6, 5; [absol. Sir. 39:2]).*

Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Being Grimm’s Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti (New York: Harper & Brothers., 1889), 606.

  † συντηρέω.

  συντηρέω1 means “to keep” in the memory ἡ δὲ Μαρία πάντα συνετήρει τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα συμβάλλουσα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς, Lk. 2:19;2 the prep. gives the verb an intensive sense. One also finds the meaning “to think of someone”3 and care for him, Herm. m., 8, 10, “to guard, protect someone,”4 Mk. 6:20; Herm. m., 5, 1, 7; s., 5, 6, 2 and pass. “to be preserved”5 (wine-skins). Mt. 9:17; Lk. 5:38 textus receptus. - Riesenfeld Ernst Harald Riesenfeld, Uppsala (Vol. 5–6, 8).

Christian Maurer, “Τίθημι, Ἀθετέω, Ἀθέτησις, Ἐπιτίθημι, Ἐπίθεσις, Μετατίθημι, Μετάθεσις, Παρατίθημι, Παραθήκη, [παρακαταθήκη], Προτίθημι, Πρόθεσις, Προστίθημι,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 151.

4933.      συντηρέω suntēreō; from 4862 and 5083; to keep close, i.e. preserve:—kept … safe(1), preserved(1), treasured(1).

Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).

4933.  συντηρέω suntērĕō, soon-tay-reh´-o; from 4862 and 5083; to keep closely together, i.e. (by impl.) to conserve (from ruin); ment. to remember (and obey):—keep, observe, preserve.

James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 69.

The Greek verb suntēreō in Mark 6:20 carries protective force that “observe” entirely misses. The term means “to preserve a thing from perishing or being lost, to guard one, to keep him safe,”[1] a meaning fundamentally different from passive observation. The KJV rendering obscures Herod’s active role in shielding John from danger—specifically, from Herodias’s murderous intentions.

Herod kept John safe from the evil plots of Herodias, who was seeking to kill him, and the imperfect tense indicates he “kept on keeping him safe,” maintaining a constant watch over John.[1] This wasn’t mere surveillance; it was deliberate intervention. Mark describes Herod as “protecting him,”[2] a rendering that captures the protective dimension entirely absent from “observed.”

The broader narrative context amplifies this distinction. Herodias harbored a continual desire to kill John that had been frustrated up to that point, but “she was not able to,”[2] precisely because Herod’s protective custody prevented her from acting. She had no power herself to order the execution; Herod knew that John was a righteous and holy man and kept protecting him and even listening to him.[3]

The verb choice reveals Herod’s internal conflict. Herod feared John, with the imperfect tense indicating he was in a continual state of fear.[1] This fear—rooted in John’s moral authority—motivated protective action. The turmoil in Herod’s mind makes his action all the more damnable,[2] since he eventually surrenders to pressure despite his own better judgment and his demonstrated commitment to John’s safety.

The KJV’s “observed” reduces a complex portrait of reluctant protection to mere watching, obscuring how Herod actively resisted Herodias’s demands until manipulated at his birthday feast. The Greek demands recognition that Herod was John’s guardian, not simply his observer.

[1] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 1:128.
[2] Robert H. Stein, Mark, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 304.
[3] Henry E. Turlington, “Mark,” in Matthew–Mark, ed. Clifton J. Allen, Broadman Bible Commentary (Broadman Press, 1969), 317.