Exegesis:

hoi par’ autou literally ‘those along with him’: this idiom may mean ‘his followers,’ ‘his friends,’ or ‘his family.’ King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version prefer ‘his friends’; it would seem, however that ‘his family,’ ‘his relatives’ is what is indicated, in the light of vv. 31ff.: this rendering is adopted by Manson, Moffatt, Goodspeed, The Modern Speech New Testament, Translator’s New Testament, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale.

kratēsai (cf. 1.31) ‘to seize,’ ‘to take control of’ (Translator’s New Testament), ‘to seize by force’ (The Modern Speech New Testament).

elegon gar ‘for they were saying’: there is division of opinion over who is referred to by ‘they were saying.’ Most translations assume that the subject is ‘his relatives’ (‘his friends’) of the previous clauses; following Turner, however, some see here another example of the impersonal plural (cf. 2.18) whose meaning would be ‘people were saying,’ ‘it was being said’: so Moffatt, Translator’s New Testament; Lagrange on disait. There is no way finally to determine which interpretation is correct.

hoti ‘that’: recitative, introducing direct speech.

exestē (cf. 2.12) ‘he is beside himself,’ ‘he has lost his senses.’ As Burton points out, this aorist describes a present state, the result of a past action, and is best translated by the present tense.

Translation:

It would seem from the context that a somewhat more intimate group than ‘friends’ were those so concerned about Jesus’ health as the result of his being constantly with the thronging crowd. Accordingly, one may use ‘those of his household’ (a common equivalent of family and relatives) or ‘those who were close to him’ (a close rendering of the Greek phrase). Indonesian and Javanese render ‘his blood-relations.’

Seize must be carefully translated or the wrong connotation may be given. After all, his family wanted to rescue him from the importuning crowd, not to manhandle him, a not uncommon connotation of words meaning ‘to seize.’

Two types of mistakes tend to occur in translating He is beside himself: (1) that Jesus was demented and (2) that he was demon possessed (particularly in view of the following charge by the scribes). There is no doubt that the Greek term is a strong one, and often does signify complete mental derangement, but in this context it means that Jesus’ family thought he was demented. It was this fear which prompted his solicitous associates to try to rescue him. In Tzeltal the appropriate equivalent is ‘his head had been touched,’ which is an expression to identify what might be called the half-way stage to insanity. In Amganad Ifugao one may say ‘he acts as though he were crazy.’ In Shilluk the equivalent is ‘he is acting like an imbecile,’ and in Shipibo-Conibo one may say ‘his thoughts have gone out of him.’ In Pamona the translation is ‘he is outside his senses,’ in Indonesian ‘he is not by his reason.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .