Exegesis:
epetimesēn (3.12; 4.39; 8.30, 32, 33; 9.25; 10.13, 48) ‘he rebuked.’ The verb literally means ‘to lay a timē [price, value] upon’ and originally it had a favorable meaning (cf. Abbott-Smith); in the N.T. however, it has the unfavorable meaning of ‘censure,’ ‘rebuke’ and even ‘punish.’ Moulton & Milligan: ‘censure,’ ‘lay under a penalty.’ This idea of censure, however, disappears in many instances; Arndt & Gingrich remark: “speak seriously, warn in order to prevent an action or bring one to an end,” and Kilpatrick finds this meaning uniformly in Mark; it is a command, rather than a reproof, and is specifically a prohibition, “desist from an action being performed” (cf. Lagrange: “issue a formal command”). In this verse, therefore, ‘prohibit,’ ‘stop,’ ‘command’ is to be preferred to ‘rebuke.’
autō ‘him’ or ‘it’: although, as we saw above, the subject of the verb ‘cried out’ is the man, not the spirit, the pronoun autō in this verse refers to the unclean spirit, as the content of the order which follows shows. A translation should make this clear: “him” (King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Manson, Knox) is ambiguous and possibly misleading; ‘it’ (Moffatt) is clear (cf. The Modern Speech New Testament, “the spirit”).
phimōthēti (4.39) ‘be silent!’: the literal meaning of the verb phimoō ‘bridle,’ ‘muzzle’ does not survive in Mark; Moulton & Milligan quote Rohde on the use of this word with the sense of binding a person by means of a spell so as to make him powerless to harm, and give examples from the papyri. Notice that the only other place it is used in Mark (4.39), it is addressed to the storm.
Translation:
The introductory verb in this verse may be translated as ‘rebuke’ (in the sense of ‘scold’ or ‘censure’), but it is probably more accurately rendered as ‘to command sternly.’
The second verb of direct discourse, namely, saying is probably better omitted in most languages.
If the language in question distinguishes in pronominal reference between a demon and a man, one should make certain that the object of the command is the demon. In some instances it may even be wise to introduce the noun object, e.g. ‘sternly commanded the unclean spirit.’
Be silent is in Greek a firm, but not undignified way of demanding silence, equivalent more to English keep quiet than to shut up.
Whether one can translate literally ‘come out’ depends largely upon the manner in which people speak of demon possession. For example, in Yaka demons do not get into people, but are spoken of as ‘grabbing people,’ hence the appropriate term in this case would be ‘let go.’ In Amganad Ifugao the normal way of speaking would be ‘get out,’ not ‘come out.’ The appropriate term in any language will, as in all such types of problems, depend upon the traditional perspective reflected in normal usage.
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 .