‘And this word went forth concerning him in the whole of Judaea, and all the region round about, and the disciples of John told him of all these things.'
So the word of what He was doing, and especially of the raising of the dead, spread around the whole of Palestine (Judaea in its widest sense) and even beyond. And by means of his disciples it reached John in prison.
Note Luke's continual emphasis on this spreading of the word (which will be repeated regularly in Acts). After the exorcism in the synagogue at Capernaum, 'word about him was going out to every place in the surrounding region' (Luke 4:37). After the healing of the leper, 'so much the more the word went abroad concerning Him' (Luke 5:15). Following this the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were present 'from every village of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem' (Luke 5:17). And this is surpassed in Luke 6:17-18, where we hear of 'a great multitude of the people from all Judaea (the land of the Jews) and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and be healed.' And now we are told that 'And this word about Him went out in the all the land of the Jews and in all the neighbouring region.' The news is spreading widely and rapidly.