SIL Translator’s Notes on Mark 13:7

13:7a

In this verse Jesus mentioned another event that would happen before the end (13:7d): there will be wars. Connect 13:7a to 13:6c in a way that is natural in your language.

In some languages it may be more natural to place 13:7b before 13:7a. See the General Comment on 13:7a–b at the end of 13:7b for a suggestion.

When you hear of wars: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as When you hear of wars is literally “When you hear wars.” There are two ways to interpret this clause:

(1) It indicates that the disciples would hear about wars. For example:

When you hear about wars (New Century Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version, New Century Version, NET Bible, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, English Standard Version)

(2) It indicates that the disciples would hear the “sound” or “noise” of wars. If you can hear the sound of fighting, that indicates that it is taking place close by. For example, the Good News Bible says:

when you hear the noise of battles close by (Good News Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

you hear of wars: The phrase you hear of implies that people would tell the disciples about the wars. In some languages it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:

People will tell you of wars and you will hear reports about battles

wars: The word wars refers to battles. These battles usually involve different groups of people, for example, countries, cities, or tribes. In some languages it may be necessary to express the word wars as a verb and indicate who is fighting. For example:

people(s) fighting each other

hear of wars and rumors of wars: In this context, the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as rumors means “news” or “reports.” The phrase rumors of wars indicates that the disciples would hear reports about wars that were happening.

The phrases of wars and rumors of wars have similar meanings. Some scholars believe that the word rumors implies that the wars were far away or that they had not yet begun. Since the text is not specific about this, it is good to translate in a general way. For example:

You will hear about wars and receive news of wars

13:7b

do not be alarmed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as alarmed means to be both frightened and surprised.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

do not be terrified
-or-
do not be upset

Jesus was telling the disciples not to be frightened when they heard about people fighting in various places.

General Comment on 13:7a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of 13:7a and 13:7b. For example:

7b Do(plur) not be afraid/terrified 7awhen you hear about wars and receive news of battles.

13:7c

These things: The phrase These things refers to the wars of 13:7a. In some languages, it will be necessary to refer back to them in a different way. For example:

these events
-or-
these wars

must happen: In this context the phrase must happen indicates that it is unavoidable that people will fight against each other.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

these things must come (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
These things will have to happen first (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
These wars must take place.
-or-
People will most certainly fight against each other

13:7d

but: The Greek connector that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but indicates that 13:7c contrasts with 13:7d. The wars that were mentioned in 13:7c might cause the disciples to expect that the end would come immediately. However, 13:7d indicates that the end would come sometime after those wars. Show this contrast in a natural way in your language.

the end is still to come: The phrase the end is still to come means that the world would continue to exist for some time. It would not end immediately after the disciples heard about the wars in 13:7c.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

those warsare not the end
-or-
the end will not happen immediately

the end: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as the end here may refer specifically to the end of the temple. However, it also refers more generally to the end of this age of the world (see Matthew 24:3, 24:6).

In some languages you may need to specify what will end. If that is true in your language, it is good to translate the general meaning that will include the more specific one. For example:

but this does not indicate that everything will end soon
-or-
but it is not the end of the world yet

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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