Exegesis:

apo makrothen ‘from a distance’: this adverbial phrase modifies the verb idōn ‘seeing,’ ‘when he saw.’

sukēn (11.20, 21; 13.28) ‘a fig tree.’

echousan phulla ‘having leaves’: the participle functions as an adjective in the predicate position, ‘which had leaves.’

phulla (13.28) ‘leaves’: at this season of the year (the week before Passover) it was not uncommon for a tree already to be covered with leaves (cf. the commentaries).

ēlthen ei ara ti heurēsei en autē ‘he went (to see) if perchance he will find anything on it.’

ei … heurēsei ‘if he shall find,’ ‘whether he would find’: for another example of this form of indirect question (with the verb in the future indicative) cf. 3.2.

elthōn ep’ autēn ‘coming to it,’ ‘when he got there’: for this use of epi ‘upon,’ ‘to.’

kairos (cf. 1.15) ‘time,’ ‘season’: the season for ripe figs started about the first of June.

sukōn (only here in Mark) ‘of figs,’ i.e. ‘for figs.’

Translation:

Fig tree may be (1) transliterated, e.g. ‘a tree called fig’ or ‘a fig tree,’ borrowing fig from the prestige language of the area, or (2) translated, using the local equivalent.

Anything may need to be translated as ‘fruit,’ for obviously he was not looking for animals or birds – as some translations have implied.

It was not the season may need to be made somewhat more specific, for some languages require a verb indicating that the season had passed or that the season had not as yet begun, in which case the latter is correct.

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 .