EN She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”
ES Y saliendo ella, dijo á su madre: ¿Qué pediré? Y ella dijo: La cabeza de Juan Bautista.
ZH-HANS 她就出去对她母亲说：「我可以求什么呢？」她母亲说：「施洗约翰的头。」
ZH-HANT 她就出去對她母親說：「我可以求甚麼呢？」她母親說：「施洗約翰的頭。」
Greek opens with καὶ (G2532, 'and'), a typical Markan connective linking this pericope to the preceding narrative. Both Peshitta and Vulgate omit this conjunction, beginning instead with the subject pronoun or relative clause.
Greek uses article + postpositive δέ (ἡ δέ, 'and she'); Peshitta employs pronoun + postpositive particle (ܗܝ ܕܝܢ); Vulgate uses a relative pronoun (Quæ, 'who'). All three mark the subject and narrative transition, but Vulgate's relative construction subordinates this clause to the implied antecedent in the prior verse.
Greek employs an aorist active participle (ἐξελθοῦσα, 'having gone out'); Peshitta uses a finite perfect verb (ܢܦܩܬ); Vulgate uses cum + pluperfect subjunctive (cum exisset, 'when she had gone out'), creating a temporal subordinate clause. The Vulgate construction explicitly marks anteriority, while Greek and Peshitta rely on context.
Vulgate inserts a colon to mark direct speech, a Latin scribal convention not reflected in Greek or Peshitta manuscripts, which rely on context or minimal punctuation to signal dialogue.
Greek uses aorist middle subjunctive (αἰτήσωμαι, 'shall I ask for myself'), emphasizing the daughter's agency; Peshitta employs an imperfect form with pronominal suffix (ܐܫܐܠܝܘܗܝ, 'shall I ask him'); Vulgate uses present subjunctive (petam, 'shall I ask'). The Greek middle voice nuance is not preserved in the other traditions.
Vulgate places a question mark after petam, explicitly marking the interrogative mood; Greek uses a semicolon (modern editorial convention), and Peshitta relies on word order and context without punctuation.
Greek uses article + postpositive δέ (ἡ δέ, 'and she'); Peshitta employs a finite verb with pronominal object (ܐܡܪܐ ܠܗ, 'she said to her'); Vulgate uses adversative conjunction + demonstrative pronoun (At illa, 'but she'). The Vulgate's At introduces mild contrast, absent in Greek and Peshitta.
Vulgate inserts a second colon to mark the mother's direct speech, paralleling the earlier colon after the daughter's question; Greek and Peshitta do not employ such punctuation.
Greek uses a genitive articular participle (τοῦ βαπτίζοντος, 'the [one] baptizing') to modify Ἰωάννου; Peshitta employs a substantival participle (ܡܥܡܕܢܐ, 'the baptizer') in apposition; Vulgate uses a genitive proper noun (Baptistæ, 'of the Baptist'), treating 'Baptist' as a title rather than a participial descriptor. All three identify John by his baptizing activity, but the syntactic realization differs.
Vulgate concludes with a period, marking the end of the sentence; Greek uses a period (modern editorial), and Peshitta relies on context without explicit sentence-final punctuation in manuscripts.