A verb meaning 'to behead.' Used for the execution of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:10; Mark 6:27) -- the last great OT prophet martyred for confronting royal sin.
John's beheading by Herod -- engineered by Herodias whose illicit marriage John condemned -- reveals the world's consistent response to prophetic truth: power destroys the truth-teller. 'They did not love their lives even unto death' (Revelation 12:11). The Kingdom advances through suffering witness.