Exegesis:

peri de tōn nekrōn hoti egeirontai ‘but concerning the dead that they are raised’: the second clause, beginning with hoti ‘that,’ further explains the thought of the first clause, beginning with peri ‘concerning.’

egeirō (cf. 1.31) ‘rise’; in the passive, as here, ‘to be raised.’ The present tense defines a general truth, being known as a “gnomic” present. It could, however, have the force of a future tense (cf. v. 25).

ouk anegnōte…; ‘have you not read?’ As in other similar cases (cf. 2.25; 12.10), the question is not a request for information, but is meant as an accusation.

en tē biblō Mōüseōs ‘in the book of Moses,’ that is, in the Pentateuch. The accusation is all the more telling in light of the fact that for the Sadducees the Torah, the five books of Moses, was supremely the Scriptures, of greater authority than other Scriptures. The passage quoted is from Ex. 3.2-6.

biblos (only here in Mark; cf. biblion 10.4) ‘book.’

epi tou batou ‘upon the bush’: there is general agreement that the phrase means ‘in the passage concerning the bush’ (cf. Abbott-Smith batos).

batos (only here in Mark) ‘bush,’ ‘thornbush.’

pōs ‘how?’: cf. 2.26 for the same type of question.

Translation:

As for the dead being raised is a very loosely connected phrase which constitutes a real problem for a translator who wants to make sense. This may be done in some instances by a slight expansion, e.g. ‘if it is a question about whether the dead rise again’ or ‘if you are really asking about whether the dead rise again.’

For the treatment of questions expecting a positive answer see 11.17, and 12.10.

The book of Moses is not the ‘book that Moses possessed,’ as is to be inferred from many translations, but ‘the book that Moses wrote’ or ‘the book Moses gave’ (cf. 12.19).

In the passage about the bush is ‘in the part about the bush’ or ‘in the words that tell about the bush.’

God said to him must be so translated as to refer clearly to God’s speaking to Moses.

Am, as a copulative verb indicating identity, is not used in some languages. Rather, one simply puts the subject and the predicate together without any verb, even as in the case of the Greek itself, ‘I the God of Abraham….’

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 .