Exegesis:

The language of this verse is patterned after Dan. 7.13.

opsontai ‘they will see’: this is an impersonal plural, meaning ‘people will see,’ or, as the equivalent of the passive form, ‘(the Son of man) will be seen….’

ton huion tou anthrōpou (cf. 2.10) ‘the Son of man.’

en nephelais (cf. 9.7) ‘in clouds’ (cf. 14.62 ‘with the clouds of heaven’): in the O.T. the Presence of God manifested itself en nephelē ‘in a cloud’ (cf. Ex. 34.5; Lev. 16.2; Num. 11.25).

For dunamis ‘power’ cf. 5.30; doxa ‘glory’ cf. 8.38.

Translation:

The occurrence of the “pivot construction,” in which the Son of man serves as the object of one verb, namely, see, and as subject of another, namely, coming, may require two clauses, paratactically combined: ‘the people will see the Son of man; he will be coming in clouds….’ Strictly speaking, the object of the verb see is not merely the Son of man, but the entire following dependent clause the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory, for what is seen is not just a person, but the entire event. However, in many languages this type of construction requires the use of two closely combined, but syntactically independent clauses.

With great power is not usually translatable as mere accompaniment, a meaning usually implied in the preposition with. Rather, one must use an expression of possession, e.g. ‘he will have power’ (Tzotzil).

For glory see 8.38. In this context it is often possible to use a term which implies great ‘beauty,’ e.g. ‘be very beautiful’ (Tzotzil) and ‘having much beauty’ (Central Mazahua). In other languages glory may be more readily relatable to ‘light’ and ‘brilliance,’ but usually with the connotation of permanent, glowing light, rather than flashing brilliance, as in the case of lightning.

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 .