Exegesis:

Most of the words of this verse have already been dealt with: for hoi archiereis ‘the chief priests’ cf. 8.31; hoi grammateis ‘the scribes’ cf. 1.22; apollumi ‘destroy,’ ‘kill’ cf. 1.24; phobeomai ‘be afraid of’ cf. 4.41; pas ho ochlos ‘the whole crowd’ cf. 2.13; ekplēssomai epi ‘be astonished at’ cf. 1.22; didachē ‘teaching’ (here in the passive sense of that which was taught, ‘doctrine’) cf. 1.22.

ēkousan ‘they heard’: not meaning, necessarily, that they were present and heard Jesus making the statement; the meaning may be, ‘they heard of it.’

ezētoun pōs ‘they were seeking how’: here the verb zēteō (cf. 3.32) means ‘seek a way’ implying deliberation, study, consideration. Cf. the identical phrase in 14.1, 11.

ephobounto gar auton ‘for they were afraid of him’ explains the reason why the chief priests and scribes had to consider ways and means of putting Jesus to death and find the best possible way.

pas gar ho ochlos exeplēsseto ‘for the whole crowd was amazed’ explains the reasons why the chief priests and scribes feared Jesus.

Translation:

Heard it may be rendered in some languages ‘they heard about what had happened.’

Destroy him is ‘kill him.’

In some languages causal clauses must precede main clauses, e.g. in Navajo. This requires a double shift in order, e.g. ‘Because the crowds were astonished at his teaching, they feared him; therefore, they sought to kill him.’ Jesus’ popularity with the crowds caused the chief priests and scribes to fear Jesus, and this fear caused them to seek some means of getting rid of him (note the double use of gar ‘for’ in the Greek text).

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 .