Verse Division:
Revised Standard Version (following American Standard Version and King James Version) ends the verse in accordance with the verse division of Textus Receptus (and Souter); most modern translations, however, follow the majority of editions of the Greek text by including in v. 14 the next sentence dōmen ē mē dōmen; ‘Should we pay, or should we not?’ These notes will follow the Revised Standard Version division.
Exegesis:
didaskale (cf. 4.38) ‘Teacher,’ ‘Master.’
alēthēs (only here in Mark) ‘true’: of persons, ‘truthful,’ ‘honest.’
ou melei soi peri oudenos literally ‘you have no concern for any one’ (cf. 4.38 for the same idiom): this literal rendition, however (and Revised Standard Version ‘you care for no man’), may appear to be a charge of indifference and heartlessness, which is certainly not the case. Various translations are given: ‘you pay no special regard to any one’ (The Modern Speech New Testament; cf. Lagrange, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada); ‘you court no man’s favor’; ‘you are not afraid of any one’ (Montgomery); ‘fearless’ (Moffatt); ‘impartial’ (Manson). The meaning is that Jesus, as a teacher, taught with strict justice and impartiality, neither afraid of wounding anyone’s sensibilities by the rigor of his teaching, nor seeking to curry any man’s favor by making casuistic distinctions in applying his principles. The Modern Speech New Testament‘s translation more nearly approximates the actual wording of the Greek; Arndt & Gingrich’s ‘you court no man’s favor,’ however, probably better represents the meaning of the original.
ou gar blepeis eis prosōpon anthrōpōn ‘for you do not look at men’s face’: this is a Hebraism meaning ‘you do not consider men’s outward appearance’ (The Modern Speech New Testament; cf. Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Arndt & Gingrich blepō suggest ‘you do not regard men’s opinions’). ‘Outward appearance,’ of course, has to do with social, economic, or religious status, not with physical appearance.
ep’ alētheias ‘on the basis of truth,’ ‘in accordance with truth.’
tēn hodon tou theou ‘the way of God,’ i.e. ‘religion’ simply stated (cf. Rawlinson; perhaps, as one Jewish teacher to another, “The Faith”).
exestin (cf. 2.24) ‘it is permitted,’ ‘it is lawful.’
dounai kēnson ‘to pay the tax,’ ‘to pay taxes.’
kēnsos (only here in Mark) is a loanword from the Latin census and means ‘tax,’ ‘poll-tax’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan) which was paid to the Roman government. The word is here probably used in the general sense of ‘taxes’ without specific reference to any one tax (cf. Lagrange).
Kaisari (12.16, 17) is another loanword, from the Latin Caesar, used here as a title ‘Emperor’ or the equivalent (at that time Tiberius was Emperor).
Translation:
For teacher see 2.13.
You are true may require some metaphorical modification, e.g. ‘you are straight,’ ‘you always speak true words,’ or ‘you always speak straight words’ (Eastern Highland Otomi).
Care for no man, as noted above, must be translated with close attention to possible misinterpretation. For example, in the Tabasco Chontal one must say ‘you say the same thing to everyone’ and in Shilluk an equivalent is ‘you show the same respect to everyone.’ In Shipibo-Conibo, however, the same meaning is conveyed in quite a different way ‘in your mind no one is anything’ and in Chol one must say ‘your heart is equally straight in the presence of all men,’ while in Tzeltal the corresponding expression is ‘it does not matter who – all of us are equal as far as you are concerned.’
Do not regard the position of men has reference to respect for external symbols of position, rank, or status, translatable as ‘you do not look at what is on the surface’ (Shipibo-Conibo), and ‘you do not just see a man’s face’ (Copainalá Zoque).
Truly may be rendered as ‘with true words.’
The way of God may often be rendered literally as ‘the road of God,’ i.e. the road God has prescribed for men. In some languages, however, the idiom cannot be used, but a descriptive equivalent must be employed, e.g. ‘the way God has said people should live’ or ‘what God wants men to do.’
Lawful may be rendered as ‘in accordance with the law,’ ‘right,’ ‘proper,’ or even ‘good,’ in the sense of the correct thing to do, not in the meaning of moral worth.
Caesar may require some type of classifier, e.g. ‘chief Caesar’ or ‘ruler Caesar.’
Is it lawful … or not may need a somewhat fuller treatment in the second clause, e.g. ‘is it right that we should pay taxes to Caesar or shall we not pay taxes to him,’ but see the following verse.
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 .