King James Bible
"For John was not yet cast into prison."
This refers to John the Baptist, who was baptizing and ministering concurrently with Jesus at this point in the narrative. The author clarifies the timeline to help readers understand that both ministries overlapped for a period. This temporal marker indicates that John's imprisonment by Herod Antipas (recorded in the Synoptic Gospels) had not yet occurred. The phrase serves as a chronological anchor, explaining why John could still be actively baptizing and why his disciples were still with him rather than fully following Jesus.