Exegesis:
hoi proagontes kai hoi akolouthountes ‘those going before and those following,’ ‘those who were in front and those who were behind (Jesus).’
proagō (cf. 6.45) ‘go before,’ ‘precede,’ ‘lead.’
akoloutheō (cf. 1.18) ‘follow’: here in a physical sense.
ōsanna eulogēmenos ho erchomenos en onomati kuriou ‘Hosanna! Blessed the one coming in the name of the Lord!’: the words are from Ps. 118.25-26.
ōsanna (11.10) represents the Aramaic hoshaʿ-naʾ, the Hebrew of Ps. 118.25 being hoshiʿah-naʾ ‘save Thou now!,’ a petition addressed to God, which the Septuagint translates sōson dē. As used in the passage here, it may be taken in two ways: (1) in its literal O.T. meaning, ‘save (us)!’ as a prayer addressed to God (cf. Gould, ‘be propitious!’); (2) as a shout of welcome and praise, ‘Hail!,’ ‘Welcome!’ in which the original meaning of the phrase is forgotten. Goodspeed, in support of this interpretation, instances modern usage of ‘God save the King!,’ or Vive le roi! It appears probable that this is the correct interpretation, particularly in light of the parallel in Matthew 21.9 ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ which Dalman takes to mean, “Glory (hail) to the Son of David!.”
Where modern translations (most English translations; cf. also Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, Zürcher Bibel, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada) have simply transliterated the word, the meaning is, without a doubt, ‘Hail!,’ ‘Welcome!’ (Goodspeed has ‘God bless him!,’ and Williams, ‘Welcome Him!’).
eulogēmenos (cf. 6.41) ‘blessed’: either (1) ‘blessed is’ (American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version. Translator’s New Testament, Manson, Gould, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada), or (2) ‘blessed be’ (most translations and commentators). The latter is probably to be preferred: ‘may God bless him who comes….’
ho erchomenos (as an independent participle only here in Mark; cf. hoi erchomenoi 6.31) ‘he who comes’: in the historical context of the Marcan narrative the phrase applies to Jesus, with the meaning ‘he who is coming’ (not, as in v. 10, with a future connotation).
en onomati kuriou ‘in the name of the Lord’: i.e. as his representative, with his authority (cf. Gould), as vicegerent of Yahweh. For the phrase ‘in the name of’ cf. 9.38.
Translation:
Cried out has the sense of ‘shouted.’
Hosanna may be transliterated, as in the case of most translations, or translated as a shout of ‘welcome’ or an expression of intense joy at the arrival of such a person. It is almost equivalent to English ‘Hurrah!,’ but with religious connotations which are absent from the English term. In Mitla Zapotec one may say ‘great thanks’ (as an exclamation of thanksgiving) and in San Mateo del Mar Huave the closest parallel is ‘it is very wonderful now.’
For a discussion of problems related to bless see 6.41, but note that in this context the meaning must be applied to a person, not to a thing. Moreover, the syntactic problem is difficult because of either (1) a third person imperative ‘blessed be…’ or (2) a third person declarative ‘he is blessed….’ There is actually no verb in the Greek and either the imperative or declarative may be understood. In the case of a straight declarative the rendering is often much easier, e.g. ‘he is blessed’ (with the addition of ‘by God,’ in languages which may require the agent in such passive expressions) or ‘God has blessed him.’ Another possibility of a direct active form is ‘The Lord has blessed him who comes in his name.’
In this particular context the word blessed provides a number of problems of equivalence. In Inupiaqthe closest equivalent is ‘let him be praised’; the same is true of Central Mazahua and Cashibo-Cacataibo. In Tzeltal the most satisfactory form seems to be ‘very great is his goodness,’ a statement of fact – but one which by its form indicates an intense degree of acclamation and praise. In Kituba one may say ‘joy is with him who…,’ an indication of his blessed state rather than an expression of praise on the part of the worshiper.
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 .