Exegesis:

Most of the words in this verse have already been dealt with: for lambanō ‘take,’ ‘receive’ cf. 4.16; paidion ‘child’ cf. 5.39; en mesō ‘in the midst’ cf. 3.3.

estēsen auto ‘he stood him’: this is the only place in Mark where the verb histēmi (cf. 3.24) ‘stand’ takes a direct object.

enagkalisamenos (10.16) ‘taking into (his) arms,’ ‘embracing.’

Translation:

Took a child … taking him in his arms must be translated so as not to be contradictory or redundant. In some renderings of this passage the first expression actually means to take up into one’s arms, and hence the repetition in the latter part of the verse seems confusing. If we attempt to reconstruct, on the basis of the Greek text, what probably happened, we can say that first he took a child by the hand and led him over in front of the disciples, there in the midst of the group as they crowded around Jesus. Then he took the child up in his arms and put him on his lap. This would seem to be the normal procedure, and the translation should suggest this type of sequence, rather than being a literal translation of took … taking, using the same verb, and implying either a contradiction in the order of events or a redundancy in the passage.

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 .