Luke 3:20
ESV
added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
NIV
Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
NASB
Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.
CSB
Herod added this to everything else—he locked up John in prison.
NLT
So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others.
KJV
Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
NKJV
also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
What does Luke 3:20 mean?
When Herod the Great died (Matthew 2:19), his territory was split up among three of his sons. Two of these were Herod and Philip (Luke 3:1). At one point, Philip was married to a woman named Herodias. When Herod divorced his wife, Herodias divorced Philip and married Herod. This was against the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:16; 20:21). John the Baptist condemned this as an illegitimate relationship (Luke 3:19), which likely offended Herod. He had John imprisoned—an act Luke wryly describes as yet another addition to Herod's long list of sins.While Herod had a vague respect for John the Baptist (Mark 6:20), his wife Herodias was much more spiteful. She seems to have been the one pressing for John's arrest (Mark 6:17–19). Later, she would use her own daughter to manipulate Herod, resulting in John's gruesome execution (Mark 6:22–27).
