Text:

After genetai ‘happen’ Textus Receptus adds hē phugē humōn ‘your flight,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

proeuchesthe (cf. 1.35) ‘you must pray.’

hina ‘that’: as often in Mark it here denotes the content of the prayer, not its purpose.

mē genētai ‘it may not happen’: if a subject is needed, the word thlipsis ‘affliction,’ ‘tribulation’ of the next verse may be supplied, or else ‘flight’ from v. 14.

ginomai ‘become’: here in the sense of ‘happen,’ ‘come about,’ ‘occur.’

cheimōnos (only here in Mark) ‘of a winter’: the genitive here expresses time – ‘in winter time.’ At such time flight would become difficult and dangerous because of the torrential rains, and inclement weather in general.

Translation:

Contrary to what might seem to be the case, there are numerous difficulties in translating winter. If for example, one employs a term which identifies a particular time of the year, e.g. from December to March, this may prove to be precisely the best time to travel, as in the case of Copainalá Zoque. In tropical areas in the southern hemisphere it is usually possible to speak of ‘the rainy season,’ for this is often a difficult period in which to travel, but again this often depends upon the mode of travel. Some translators, accordingly, have rendered winter as ‘the cold time,’ employing for ‘cold’ a word which would imply a difficult, inclement season. In other languages it has been possible to use ‘the bad months’ or ‘the hard season,’ as an indirect means of describing the difficulties involved.

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 .