Text:

See below, at the end of the exegesis of this verse.

Exegesis:

husteron (not in Mark) ‘later,’ ‘thereafter’; here, perhaps ‘finally,’ ‘lastly’ (cf. Lagrange, who translates enfin).

anakeimenois autois tois hendeka ‘to the Eleven themselves, while they were eating.’

anakeimai (cf. Mk. 6.26) ‘recline at table.’

hoi hendeka ‘the Eleven’: as in the case of ‘the Twelve’ in Mark (cf. 3.16), a title, not a number.

ōneidisen (cf. Mk. 15.32) ‘he reproached,’ ‘he rebuked.’

apistian (cf. Mk. 6.6) ‘unbelief,’ ‘lack of faith.’

sklērokardian (cf. Mk. 10.5) ‘hardness of heart,’ ‘obtuseness,’ ‘obstinacy.’

hoti tois theasamenois auton egēgermenon ouk episteusan ‘because they did not believe those who had seen him risen.’

theaomai (cf. v. 11) ‘see.’

egeirō (cf. Mk. 1.31) ‘rise’: in the passive, as here, ‘be raised.’ The perfect passive participle here can be translated ‘resurrected.’

In an early manuscript of the fourth or fifth century, at the end of the verse the following passage is added (Moffatt‘s translation): “But they excused themselves, saying ‘This age of unbelief lies under the sway of Satan, who will not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God; therefore,’ they said to Christ, ‘reveal your righteousness now.’ Christ answered them, ‘The term of years for Satan’s power has now expired, but other terrors are at hand. I was delivered to death on behalf of sinners, that they might return to the truth and sin no more, that they might inherit that glory of righteousness which is spiritual and imperishable in heaven.’”

Until the discovery of the “Washington” manuscript in Egypt in 1906, the first part of this passage (from the beginning until the words. .”.. reveal your righteousness now”) was known from its quotation by Jerome, who said it was found “in certain copies [of the Gospel], and especially in Greek codices.”

Translation:

Appeared may be ‘showed himself,’ ‘presented himself where they were,’ or ‘caused himself to be seen by.’

The eleven, as with the phrase the twelve, must often be supplemented with a substantive, e.g. ‘the eleven disciples.’

Sat at table is usually better rendered as ‘were eating.’

Upbraided may be rendered in some languages as ‘scolded,’ ‘criticized,’ or ‘denounced them because of….’

Their unbelief is frequently translated as a clause containing a verb, e.g. ‘because they did not believe’ (for believe see 1.15).

For for their hardness of heart see 6.52, but note that in a plural construction the pronominal referents and plural forms of substantives must agree, e.g. ‘because they did not have pain in their hearts’ (Tzeltal).

If the phrase for their unbelief and their hardness of heart is rendered as ‘because they did not believe and because their hearts were hard’ it may then be impossible to employ the following clause ‘because they had not believed…’ since such a postposed causal clause would seem to give the reason for the hard hearts, not the reason why Jesus rebuked the disciples. Accordingly, one may have to end the first sentence with ‘hardness of heart’ and begin over again, e.g. ‘he rebuked them because they had not….’

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 .