# General Information:

Matthew recounts the story of John the Baptist's death in order to show why Herod reacted the way he did when he heard about Jesus.

# Connecting Statement:

Here the author begins to tell about how Herod had executed John the Baptist. These events occur some time before the event in the previous verses. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-events]])

# Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison

It says that Herod did these things because he ordered others to do them for him. Alternate translation: "Herod ordered his soldiers to arrest and bind John the Baptist and put him in prison" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])

# Philip's wife

Philip was Herod's brother. Herod had taken Philip's wife to be his own wife. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-names]])