He further states that many of the Jews believed that the military disaster that fell upon Herod at the hands of Aretas, his father-in-law (Phasaelis' father), was God's punishment for his unrighteous behavior.

The following comparison table is primarily based on the New International Version (NIV) English translation of the New Testament.

There are two other related feasts observed by Eastern Christians: John the Baptist is said to have been buried at the Palestinian village of Sebastia, near modern-day Nablus in the West Bank.

Other writers say that it was interred in Herod's palace at Jerusalem; there, it was found during the reign of Constantine and thence secretly taken to Emesa, in Phoenicia, where it was concealed, the place remaining unknown for years, until it was manifested by a revelation in 453.

[17] The Pope also noted that a religious feast particularly commemorates the transfer of John's head relic to the Basilica of San Silvestro in Capite in Rome.

The Catholic German theologian, Friedrich Justus Knecht wrote that: St. John died a martyr to his calling.

To him applies the eighth beatitude: “Blessed are they who suffer persecution, for justice’ sake.” His soul passed directly into Limbo, where he, like St. Joseph, awaited the arrival of the Messias, and the speedy accomplishment of the work of Redemption.

[29] The subsequent history of Herod and Salome is related in the great commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: Wherefore the just vengeance of God burned against all who were concerned in this crime.

Hear what Nicephorus says, "As she was journeying once in the winter-time, and a frozen river had to be crossed on foot, the ice broke beneath her, not without the providence of God.

Her wicked head was glazed with ice, and at length severed from her body by the sharp edges, not of iron, but of the frozen water.