Text:

Instead of exeporeuonto ‘they went out’ of Westcott and Hort, Nestle, Kilpatrick, and Merk (and Revised Standard Version), exeporeueto ‘he went out’ is read by Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, Vogels, Souter, Lagrange, and Taylor.

Exegesis:

hotan opse egeneto exeporeuonto ‘when it was evening they left’ (or exeporeueto ‘he left’): this is the meaning assigned the phrase by Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, Manson, Translator’s New Testament, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Zürcher Bibel, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale. It is possible, however, that the conjunction of hotan in the first clause (which properly means ‘whenever’) with the imperfect exeporeuonto (or exeporeueto) ‘they were leaving’ of the second clause, means ‘whenever it was evening they used to leave,’ indicating an action which took place every evening (cf. American Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament, Goodspeed, Montgomery).

In Mark hotan appears 21 times, in 14 of which it is used with the aorist subjunctive: in all 14 a single action is indicated, usually definite; where indefinite, as required by the context, the meaning is ‘whenever’ (hotan with aor. subj.: 2.20; 4.15, 16, 29, 31, 32; 8.38; 9.9; 12.23, 25; 13.7, 14, 28, 29). Four times hotan appears with the present subjunctive, of which a single action is indicated in two (13.4; 14.25) and repeated action in two (13.11; 14.7). It appears with the indicative mode three times: with the present tense (11.25) repeated action is indicated, likewise with the imperfect (3.11), while its use with the aorist tense is the passage under discussion (11.19). The conclusion seems inevitable that hotan opse egeneto means ‘when evening came,’ indicating a single, definite occurrence.

As for the imperfect exeporeuonto (or exeporeueto) it is possible that repeated action is indicated, ‘they used to leave’ (or, ‘he used to leave’): Marcan usage, however, and the context (cf. next verse) appear decisive in favor of ‘they went out,’ a single action.

opse (cf. 11.11) ‘late,’ ‘evening’: presumably towards sunset.

ekporeuomai (cf. 1.5) ‘go out,’ ‘leave,’ ‘go forth.’

Translation:

Evening refers to the first quarter of the night, indicating after sundown.

In many languages ‘evening’ cannot ‘come’; it may, however, ‘descend’ or ‘become’ or ‘be.’

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 .