So ¹  he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

But ¹  his mother replied, ²  “No! He must be named ³  John.” ⁴ 

A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. ¹ 

(For John had not yet been thrown into prison.) ¹ 

Although ¹  Herod ²  wanted to kill John, ³  he feared the crowd because they accepted John as a prophet.

John’s ¹  disciples informed him about all these things. So ²  John called ³  two of his disciples

because Herod stood in awe of ¹  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ³  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁴  and yet ⁵  he liked to listen to John. ⁶ 

So ¹  the king sent an executioner at once to bring John’s ²  head, and he went and beheaded John in prison.

Many ¹  came to him and began to say, “John ²  performed ³  no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man ⁴  was true!”

In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness ¹  of Judea proclaiming,

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. ¹ 

Now when Jesus ¹  heard that John had been imprisoned, ²  he went into Galilee.

Jesus answered them, ¹  “Go tell John what you hear and see: ² 

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared. ¹ 

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹ 

because John had repeatedly told ¹  him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ² 

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Now after John was imprisoned, ¹  Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel ²  of God. ³ 

He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, ¹  and John, the brother of James.

But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!”