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Luke9:7–9

Herod Tries to See Jesus

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Luke 9:7–9 — Herod Tries to See Jesus. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

7

When Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, he was perplexed. For some were saying that John had risen from the dead,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hērōdēs ho tetraarchēs Ēkousen panta ta ginomena kai diēporei dia hypo tinōn to legesthai hoti Iōannēs ēgerthē ek nekrōn

Word by word20 · parsed
δὲdeWhenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἩρῴδηςHērōdēsHerodG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounNominative Masculine Singular
Hērōdēs: Herod Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great (Pulpit, Poole), the ruler already named at Luke 3:1 and 3:19 to 20 as the one who imprisoned John.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
τετραάρχηςtetraarchēstetrarchG5076
√ τετράρχης — the ruler of a fourth part of a country ("tetrarch")NounNominative Masculine Singular
tetraarchēs: ruler of a fourth part A rare title (4 verses in the NT), technically correct where Mark 6:14 loosely says “king.” Luke's precision about rank sets up the irony: a small ruler troubled by a report he cannot govern.
ἬκουσενĒkousenheard aboutG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
akouō: to hear (aorist) The unit opens and closes on hearing (v. 9, akouō, present). Herod only ever hears about Jesus; Luke never says he heard Jesus' word.
πάνταpantaallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
τὰtathatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
γινόμεναginomenawas happeningG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Neuter Plural
ginomai: happen (present participle) Ongoing events; the movement is still spreading as Herod hears of it.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διηπόρειdiēporeihe was perplexedG1280
√ διαπορέω — to be thoroughly nonplussedVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
diaporeō: to be thoroughly at a loss (imperfect) A Luke-Acts word (4 verses: here, Acts 2:12, 5:24, 10:17), each time the reaction of people confronted by an act of God they cannot classify. The imperfect pictures continuing unresolved perplexity; Benson cites the Vulgate's consternatum esse.
διὰdiaForG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
ὑπόhypoG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τινωνtinōnsomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounGenitive Masculine Plural
tis: some (indefinite) “Some”: the first of three anonymous opinion groups (vv. 7 to 8), a pattern Luke repeats in 9:19.
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
λέγεσθαιlegesthaiwere sayingG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
legō: to say (present passive infinitive) Rumor in the passive: “it was being said.” No speaker is named; opinion drifts.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἸωάννηςIōannēsJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Iōannēs: John The Baptist, whose imprisonment Luke reported at 3:20 but whose death Luke never narrates; v. 9 is the only notice of it in this Gospel.
ἠγέρθηēgerthēhad risenG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
egeirō: to raise (aorist passive) “Was raised.” The verb Luke will use of Jesus at 9:22 and 24:6. The crowd's theory is a resurrection theory, but it attaches to the wrong man; Benson observes it is strange to ascribe miracles to John, who “performed no miracle” in life (Benson's printed reference reads John 5:41; the statement is at John 10:41).
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
νεκρῶνnekrōn[the] deadG3498
√ νεκρός — dead (literally or figurativelyAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
nekros: dead “Out of the dead (ones)”: the standard phrase for bodily resurrection from among the dead.
8

others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that a prophet of old had arisen.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hypo tinōn hoti Ēlias ephanē de allōn hoti tis prophētēs tōn archaiōn anestē

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὑπόhypoG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τινωνtinōnothersG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounGenitive Masculine Plural
tis: some Second opinion group.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἨλίαςĒliasElijahG2243
√ Ἡλίας — Helias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Ēlias: Elijah The prophet whose return Malachi 4:5 promised before the day of the LORD. Luke has already told the reader (1:17) that John came “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” so the reader knows more than the court gossips: the Elijah figure has come and been killed.
ἐφάνηephanēhad appearedG5316
√ φαίνω — to lighten (shine), iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
phainō: to appear, shine (aorist passive) The verb fits a figure who was translated, not buried (Cambridge, Benson). Elijah will in fact “appear” in Luke a few verses later, at the Transfiguration (9:30 to 31), talking with Jesus about His departure.
δὲdeand stillG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἄλλωνallōnothersG243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
allos: other “Others”: the third opinion group.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
τιςtisaG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
προφήτηςprophētēsprophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounNominative Masculine Singular
prophētēs: prophet Every popular option classifies Jesus as a prophet. Cambridge links the expectation to Deuteronomy 18:15 and Luke 7:16 (“A great prophet has appeared among us”). The category is true but insufficient, which is the burden of 9:18 to 20.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀρχαίωνarchaiōnoldG744
√ ἀρχαῖος — original or primevalAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
archaios: ancient, original A modest-frequency word (11 verses). Gill suggests figures such as Samuel or David; Cambridge and Pulpit point to Jeremiah, whose return some Second Temple texts expected (2 Maccabees 2:4 to 8; 15:13 to 16).
ἀνέστηanestēhad arisenG450
√ ἀνίστημι — to stand up (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anistēmi: to stand up, rise The active resurrection verb, the same one Jesus uses of Himself in Luke 18:33 and 24:7 (“on the third day rise again”). The crowd has the vocabulary of resurrection without its true subject.
9

“I beheaded John,” Herod said, “but who is this man I hear such things about?” And he kept trying to see Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

egō apekephalisa Iōannēn de ho Hērōdēs Eipen de tis estin houtos akouō toiauta peri hou kai ezētei idein auton

Word by word19 · parsed
ἐγὼegōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
egō: I (emphatic) The only first-person self-assertion in the unit, and it is a confession of killing. Whatever the crowd thinks, Herod knows one thing for certain: what he did to John.
ἀπεκεφάλισαapekephalisabeheadedG607
√ ἀποκεφαλίζω — to decapitateVerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Singular
apokephalizō: to behead (aorist) Used only of John's execution (Matthew 14:10; Mark 6:16, 27; here). Luke tells no banquet story; this single verb is his whole account of the Baptist's death, placed in the murderer's own mouth.
ἸωάννηνIōannēnJohnG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἩρῴδηςHērōdēsHerodG2264
√ Ἡρώδης — heroicNounNominative Masculine Singular
ΕἶπενEipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
epō: to say Herod's own words, in contrast to the passive rumor of v. 7.
δέdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τίςtiswhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
tis: who? (interrogative) The pivot of the unit. Luke threads this question through his Gospel: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?” (5:21), “Who is this who even forgives sins?” (7:49), “Who then is this?” (8:25). Herod voices it from the throne; Peter answers it in 9:20.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὗτοςhoutosthis [man]G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
houtos: this one Unnamed: Herod does not, or will not, say “Jesus.” BSB supplies the name at the end of the verse for clarity.
ἀκούωakouōI hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
akouō: I hear (present) Ongoing hearing, as in v. 7, but still at second hand. Hearing about Jesus without hearing Him is Herod's whole condition.
τοιαῦταtoiautasuch thingsG5108
√ τοιοῦτος — truly this, iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
toiautos: such things “Such things”: Gill reads it as the miracles reported of Christ.
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
οὗhouG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐζήτειezēteihe kept tryingG2212
√ ζητέω — to seek (literally or figuratively)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
zēteō: to seek (imperfect) Continuing effort. Luke records its outcome at 23:8: Herod “had wanted to see Him for a long time” and “hoped to see Him perform a sign,” yet Jesus gave him no answer (23:9). Henry and Poole judge the seeking to be curiosity or fear rather than repentance; Luke 13:31 adds that Herod later wanted to kill Him.
ἰδεῖνideinto seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Infinitive Active
horaō: to see (aorist infinitive) To see, not to hear or follow. The wish to inspect Jesus as a spectacle is fulfilled only when Jesus stands before him as a prisoner (Luke 23:8, which the Verifier confirms shares Ἡρώδης, ἀκούω, περί and ὁράω with this verse).
αὐτόνauton[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A ruler at a loss — 9:7

Luke places this scene between the sending of the Twelve (9:1 to 6) and their return (9:10), so the news that reaches the palace is the news of a spreading movement. Cambridge reads panta ta ginomena as “a special reference to the work of the Twelve,” and Pulpit agrees. The verb for Herod's reaction is διηπόρει, imperfect: he went on being thoroughly at a loss. Poole calls it “a great disturbance, and perplexity of mind”; Geneva's margin pictures him stuck “fast in the mire.” Ellicott notes Luke's distinctive framing: in Matthew and Mark Herod voices the John theory himself, while Luke says “it was being said by some,” so that Herod's mind was “for a time, in suspense.” Benson, Poole, Gill, and Henry all trace the unrest to a guilty conscience; that is their inference, though a strong one, since v. 9 opens with Herod's own “I beheaded.”

ii. Three wrong answers that are almost right — 9:8

The three opinions (John raised, Elijah appeared, an ancient prophet risen) each carry a resurrection or return verb: ἠγέρθη, ἐφάνη, ἀνέστη. Cambridge and Benson explain the shift to “appeared” for Elijah by his translation to heaven; Gill notes the Jewish expectation of Elijah “a little before the coming of the Messiah,” and Cambridge ties it to Malachi 4:5. Pulpit and Cambridge add the hope that Jeremiah would return. ⚙ Every guess is drawn from Israel's Scriptures and every guess makes Jesus a prophet; the crowd has the right vocabulary (raising, appearing, rising) attached to the wrong persons. Luke repeats the same list almost word for word at 9:19 before Peter's confession, which shows the list is deliberate framing.

iii. “I beheaded John; who is this?” — 9:9

Herod's speech begins with an emphatic ἐγὼ and the blunt ἀπεκεφάλισα: this is Luke's only report of John's death, and he gives it in the killer's own voice. Then comes the question of the chapter, τίς ἐστιν οὗτος. Gill hears Herod reasoning that it cannot be John, “for I have beheaded him,” and yet fearing it was. The verse ends with ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν αὐτόν, “he kept seeking to see him.” Ellicott, JFB, Poole, Gill, and Pulpit all point forward to Luke 23:8, where the wish is granted only when Jesus stands before Herod as a prisoner. Henry draws the moral sharply: delaying, “his heart was hardened.” Cambridge adds that Jesus seems to have kept away from Herod, citing “this fox” (13:32), though that motive is inference.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read by itself under Sola Scriptura, the passage poses Scripture's own central question through the least likely mouth. A ruler who has silenced God's messenger now hears that the message has multiplied, and his only certainty is his guilt (“I beheaded John”). The crowd supplies answers taken from the Bible (Elijah, the prophets, a raising from the dead), yet none of them is the answer. Luke does not let the reader rest with Herod's question; within the same chapter Peter answers it (“the Christ of God,” 9:20), the Father answers it (“This is My Son,” 9:35), and Jesus Himself redefines resurrection by announcing that He, not John, must be killed and “raised on the third day” (9:22). The text also warns: Herod keeps seeking to see, but seeing without repentance ends in mockery (23:8 to 11). This reading is fallible and should be tested against the whole of Luke and the rest of Scripture.

Herod knew exactly what he had done to the prophet; he never learned who the Prophet's Lord was.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The verb of John's death verbal / quotation: confirmed

The rare verb ἀποκεφαλίζω (G607) occurs only in the accounts of John's execution. Matthew 14:10 and Mark 6:27 narrate the act by the executioner; Luke gives no narrative, only Herod's first-person apekephalisa. Pulpit suggests Luke omits the banquet story because his sources were not eyewitnesses of it; that is Pulpit's conjecture.

Matthew 14:10 · Mark 6:27

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G607 ἀποκεφαλίζω (in 4 vv); a rare word confined to this one event, a verbal link within parallel tradition, not a quotation

Perplexed before God's new work: a Luke-Acts word verbal / quotation: confirmed

διαπορέω appears in only four verses, all by Luke. At Pentecost the crowds “were amazed and perplexed” (Acts 2:12); the temple officers were “perplexed” at the empty prison (Acts 5:24); Peter was “perplexed” by his vision (Acts 10:17). Poole himself lists these passages. ⚙ In each case people meet an act of God that breaks their categories; Herod's perplexity is the first of the series and the only one that does not lead to understanding.

Acts 2:12 · Acts 5:24 · Acts 10:17

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1280 διαπορέω (in 4 vv) with each reference; a rare, distinctively Lukan word; a lexical link, not a quotation

The tetrarch who silenced John verbal / quotation: confirmed

The rare title τετράρχης (G5076) links this scene to Luke 3:19, where John rebuked “Herod the tetrarch” for Herodias and “all the evils he had done,” and to the synoptic parallel at Matthew 14:1. Acts 13:1 names Manaen, “who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch,” whom Cambridge suggests as a possible source for Luke's knowledge of Herod's court (Ellicott likewise speaks of Luke's knowledge of the Herodian household). The source suggestion is conjecture.

Luke 3:19 · Matthew 14:1 · Acts 13:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5076 τετράρχης (in 4 vv) with all three references, plus G2264 Ἡρώδης (in 40 vv); a lexical link of title, not a quotation

The same three opinions before Peter's confession verbal / quotation: confirmed

At Luke 9:19 the disciples report the crowds' views in nearly the same words: John the Baptist, Elijah, “one of the prophets of long ago has arisen.” The repetition frames 9:7 to 20 as one movement: Herod's unanswered question, then Peter's answer. The Verifier confirms the shared ἀρχαῖος and ἀνίστημι.

Luke 9:19 · Luke 9:20

basis: Verifier: Luke 9:19 shares G744 ἀρχαῖος (in 11 vv), G450 ἀνίστημι (in 107 vv), G2491 Ἰωάννης (in 132 vv); an intra-Lukan verbal echo, not a citation

Herod's seeking fulfilled at the Passion structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke 23:8 resolves this verse: Herod “was greatly pleased” to see Jesus, having “wanted to see Him for a long time,” because he had “heard about Him.” Ellicott, JFB, Poole, Gill, and Pulpit all draw the link. Jesus answered him nothing (23:9), and Herod mocked Him (23:11, which Henry cites).

Luke 23:8 · Luke 23:11

basis: Verifier pair check: Luke 9:9 and 23:8 share G2264 Ἡρώδης (in 40 vv), G191 ἀκούω (in 398 vv), G4012 περί (in 304 vv), G3708 ὁράω (in 426 vv); common words, so a narrative arc within Luke rather than a rare verbal link

Elijah expected: Malachi's promise structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge reads the Elijah rumor as “in accordance with the prophecy of Malachi 4:5,” and Gill records the expectation of Elijah before the Messiah. Luke has already applied that promise to John (Luke 1:17, “in the spirit and power of Elijah”), so the court's guess is an echo of a fulfillment it failed to recognize. Pulpit adds that Herod and Herodias reenact Ahab and Jezebel, the royal pair who hunted Elijah (1 Kings 19:2).

Malachi 4:5 · Luke 1:17 · 1 Kings 19:2

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew) link: shared Strong's numbers cannot apply; basis is the explicit Elijah expectation, stated by Cambridge and Gill and applied to John by Luke 1:17. The Ahab and Jezebel pattern is Pulpit's typological inference.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

“Who is this?” and its answer ancient/widely-held

Herod's τίς ἐστιν οὗτος is the question Luke has been building: the scribes ask it at 5:21, the dinner guests at 7:49, the disciples in the storm at 8:25. Within the same chapter Peter answers, “the Christ of God” (9:20), and the Father's voice answers from the cloud, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen” (9:35). ⚙ Herod is the last to ask before the answer is given, and the only asker who has blood on his hands. That Peter's confession answers the popular opinions of 9:7 to 8 is the plain structure of Luke 9 and the widely-held reading.

Luke 5:21 · Luke 7:49 · Luke 8:25 · Luke 9:20 · Luke 9:35

The rumored raising and the real one novel

The crowd says John “was raised” (ἠγέρθη) and that an old prophet “arose” (ἀνέστη). Within a few verses Jesus uses both verbs of Himself: He must be killed “and on the third day be raised” (9:22), and the angels say at the tomb, “He is not here; He has risen!” (24:6, ēgerthē). ⚙ The rumor puts true resurrection language on the wrong man; the Gospel moves it to its proper subject. This irony is the tool's own observation from the shared verbs (the Verifier confirms the shared ἐγείρω with 24:6, a common word); it is not stated by the commentators in the brief.

Luke 9:22 · Luke 24:6 · Luke 18:33

The prophet greater than the prophets, judged by Herod ancient/widely-held

All three opinions class Jesus as a prophet. He is that (Deuteronomy 18:15, which Cambridge cites; Acts 3:22 applies it to Jesus) but more: Elijah himself appears in 9:30 to speak with Jesus about His departure. Herod who killed the forerunner later holds the Lord before him (23:8 to 11), and the apostolic church reads that hearing as the fulfillment of Psalm 2:2, kings and rulers gathered “against the LORD and against His Anointed” (Acts 4:26 to 27).

Deuteronomy 18:15 · Acts 3:22 · Luke 9:30 · Acts 4:27 · Psalm 2:2

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Cambridge notes that “by him” in v. 7 (KJV) is omitted by א, B, C, D, L; the BSB follows the shorter text (“all that was happening”). The interlinear lists both dia and hypo in v. 7; hypo tinōn marks the agents of the passive infinitive. Sources. Barnes offers only a cross-reference to Matthew 14 and Mark 6 and is not quoted. Henry's entry is a single note on 9:1 to 9 repeated under each verse. Pulpit and Cambridge cite 2 Esdras, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Josephus, and the Talmud as historical witness to Jewish expectation, not as Scripture. Uncertain. Herod's motives (fear, guilt, curiosity) are inferred by the commentators, not stated by Luke beyond “perplexed.” Suggestions about Luke's informants (Chuza, Manaen) are Cambridge's conjecture. The Ahab and Jezebel parallel is Pulpit's. The verse references to Malachi use English numbering (Hebrew 3:23).

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)