Text:
The words proselthontes Pharisaioi ‘Pharisees coming’ are omitted by Taylor and Kilpatrick, but retained by all other editions of the Greek text.
Exegesis:
Most of the words in this verse have already been dealt with: for proserchomai ‘approach,’ ‘come to’ cf. 1.31; Pharisaioi ‘Pharisees’ cf. 2.16; exestin ‘it is lawful,’ ‘it is permitted’ cf. 2.24; apoluō ‘send away,’ ‘dismiss,’ ‘divorce’ cf. 6.36; peirazō ‘test,’ ‘tempt’ cf. 1.13.
Pharisaioi ‘Pharisees’: here, without the article, the meaning is ‘some Pharisees’ (cf. Moffatt, Goodspeed).
ei exestin ‘if it is lawful’: may be understood either as a direct question, as does Revised Standard Version (also American Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament; cf. 8.23) – ‘Is it lawful…?’; or it may be taken as an indirect question (Moffatt, Lagrange, Goodspeed, Translator’s New Testament, Manson; cf. 3.2) – ‘… if it is lawful….’ The meaning is not vitally affected by this matter.
peirazontes auton ‘testing him,’ ‘tempting him’: the majority of translations (cf. American Standard Version, Goodspeed, Montgomery, Manson, Lagrange, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada) translate ‘test,’ ‘try’ (cf. Gould); Moffatt, however, has ‘tempt’ and The Modern Speech New Testament ‘entrap.’ The force of the participle is taken by the majority to express purpose, ‘in order to test him’; The Modern Speech New Testament, however, understands it as indicating attempt, ‘seeking to entrap him.’ The identical phrase is found, in connection with the Pharisees, in 8.11, and the meaning is probably the same in both passages.
Translation:
Came up should not be translated literally as ‘ascending.’ The meaning is ‘approached’ or ‘came to where he was.’
Test may require in some languages a very specific limitation in order to make it applicable to this context, since in a receptor language ‘testing’ must be distinguished on the basis of proving one’s physical prowess, resisting temptation, or trying one’s intelligence or knowledge. In Inupiaqit was necessary to translate ‘trying to make him say the wrong words.’ In Tzotzil the equivalent expression is ‘to hear his intelligence,’ in the sense of trying to discover a fault in what he would say.
Lawful often provides trouble for the translator, since in so many societies there is no body of codified law – only well recognized customs. Moreover, the customs are so taken for granted that they are scarcely recognized as “rules” – only as implicitly accepted norms of behavior. For example, in Copainalá Zoque, one must translate ‘it is permitted to…,’ a generalized phrase representing the broadest possible relationship to norms of customary behavior. In other areas particular reference may be made to ‘the law,’ e.g. ‘does the law say that a man can.’
Divorce may be translated, either by some formal legal term, where such may exist, or by some descriptive expression, normally used for more or less permanent separation or abandonment, e.g. ‘to leave his wife’ (Cashibo-Cacataibo) or ‘to send his wife back’ (Tzeltal).
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 .