^{24 Ref} And she, having gone forth, said to her mother, `What shall I ask for myself?' and she said, `The head of John the Baptist;'

^{25 Ref} and having come in immediately with haste unto the king, she asked, saying, `I will that thou mayest give me presently, upon a plate, the head of John the Baptist.'

^{26 Ref} And the king -- made very sorrowful -- because of the oaths and of those reclining (at meat) with him, would not put her away,