Mark 6:15

15 Others said, "No, it's Elijah." Others said, "He's a prophet, just like one of the old-time prophets."

Mark 6:15 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 6:15

Others said that it is Elias
This was the opinion, either of many of the Jews, who expected that Elias the Tishbite would come in person, before the coming of the Messiah; and thought by the appearance and wonderful works of Jesus, that he was now come: or of Herod's courtiers, who said this to divert him from his notion of John the Baptist, which they might perceive was very distressing to him; though the former seems rather to be the sense:

others said, that it is a prophet:
or "the prophet", that was to come, whom Moses had spoken of, and the Jews expected; this was the opinion of others of them: or

as one of the prophets.
The word (h) , "or", is left out in some copies; and so it is in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; and then the sense is, this new prophet lately raised up, is as one of the old prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; or one of them had risen up.

Mark 6:15 In-Context

13 right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.

14 King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone's lips. He said, "This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead - that's why he's able to work miracles!"

15 Others said, "No, it's Elijah." Others said, "He's a prophet, just like one of the old-time prophets."

16 But Herod wouldn't budge: "It's John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he's back, alive."

17 Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.