Text:

After rabbi ‘Master’ Textus Receptus and Soden add another rabbi, which is omitted by all other editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

proselthōn (cf. 1.31) ‘approaching,’ ‘drawing near.’

rabbi (cf. 9.5) ‘Rabbi,’ ‘Teacher.’

katephilēsen (only here in Mark) ‘he kissed’: this would seem to be the normal way in which a Rabbi was greeted. Lagrange cites a passage which speaks of one Rabbi greeting another affectionately by kissing him on the forehead. As distinguished from the simple phileō of the preceding verse, kataphileō is taken to mean ‘kiss warmly,’ ‘kiss affectionately’ (cf. The Modern Speech New Testament, Goodspeed). The meaning ‘kiss much’ (American Standard Version margin) is styled “very doubtful” by Moulton & Milligan, on the basis of the papyri evidence. It has been suggested that the “sense of intense emotion” present in the verb is to be identified, in this passage, as that of repentance, on the part of Judas.

Translation:

The pronouns he … he … him are not always clear in reference. Therefore, one may have to make certain substitutes, e.g. ‘Judas … he … Jesus.’

Master, as a translation of rabbi, means much more than merely ‘teacher.’ The irony of this event is brought out more forcibly and accurately if some term meaning ‘master,’ ‘honored leader,’ or ‘respected teacher’ is employed.

For kiss see verse 44.

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 .