Text:

Instead of pōs ‘how’ of all modern editions of the Greek text Textus Receptus has tini ‘with what.’

Instead of tini ‘with what’ (in the second clause) of all modern editions of the Greek text Textus Receptus has poia ‘what kind.’

Instead of thōmen ‘may we put’ of most modern editions of the Greek text Textus Receptus and Kilpatrick have parabalōmen ‘may we compare.’

Exegesis:

homoiōsōmen (only here in Mark) ‘shall we compare,’ ‘shall we liken.’

parabolē (cf. 3.23) ‘parable’: here the sense ‘figure’ (Goodspeed), ‘similitude’ (Taylor), ‘comparison’ is indicated, as the parallelism of the two clauses shows. In light of the whole Marcan context, however, parable as a technical Christian term is probably meant (cf. 4.11).

thōmen (cf. 4.21) ‘shall we place (it)’: the meaning is ‘present’ (O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada); cf. American Standard Version ‘set forth’; The Modern Speech New Testament, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale ‘represent’; Lagrange le mettre en.

Translation:

For kingdom of God see 1.15 and 4.11, and for parable see 3.23.

Compare must be rendered in some languages by a somewhat expanded descriptive expression, e.g. ‘saying what shall we say they are like’ (Central Tarahumara) and ‘with what things can we make it equal’ (Shipibo-Conibo).

Use for it is equivalent in some languages to ‘use in speaking about it.’

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 .