Exegesis:
ho legomenos Barabbas ‘the one called Barabbas’: only here is the passive present participle of legō, with the meaning ‘called,’ ‘named,’ used in Mark.
Barabbas ‘Barabbas’: the Greek name represents the Aramaic barabaʾ ‘son of Abba,’ or ‘son of the father.’
ēn … dedemenos ‘was bound’: in accordance with Marcan style (cf. ēn … endedumenos ‘was clothed’ 1.6), this is to be taken as a verbal phrase and not to be split up into two verbs indicating two different actions (as done by Revised Standard Version). The clause would then read, ‘Now the man called Barabbas was bound with the insurrectionists, those who in the insurrection had committed murder.’
stasiastōn (only here in the N.T.) ‘rebels,’ ‘revolutionaries,’ ‘insurrectionists.’
en tē stasei (only here in Mark) ‘in the rebellion,’ ‘in the uprising,’ ‘in the insurrection’: the event is referred to in a definite way as though known to the readers, without being further identified.
phonon (cf. 7.21) ‘murder.’
pepoiēkeisan ‘they had committed’: the full force of the pluperfect is to be observed here, referring to an action terminated in the past (cf. dedōkei 14.44).
Translation:
Rebels may be translated in some languages as ‘men who fought against the government’ (Amganad Ifugao).
Committed murder is often equivalent merely to ‘killed a man,’ or ‘killed some people.’
Insurrection is usually quite easily translated since such events are common enough in various parts of the world. However, there are various ways of rendering such a term ‘beating the government’s mouth’ (Sapo), ‘fighting against rulers’ (Navajo), and ‘riot’ (Copainalá Zoque).
The position of the logical subject Barabbas at the end of the verse is not easily reproduced in many languages. Accordingly, one may have to recast the sentence as ‘a man called Barabbas was in prison among the rebels, who had killed people in an uprising against the government.’
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 .