Exegesis:
to pascha (14.12, 14, 16) ‘the Passover’: the Greek word is the transliteration of the Aramaic pascha’ (Hebrew pesach), the Hebrew festival of Passover, commemorating the day when the Lord ‘passed over’ (Hebrew Pasach) the homes of the Hebrews in the slaughter of the first-born of Egypt (cf. Ex. 12.13, 23, 27). The pascal lambs were slain on the afternoon of 14th Nisan (March-April) and the meal eaten that evening, between sundown and midnight (by Jewish reckoning 15th Nisan, since the day began at sundown).
ta azuma (14.12) ‘(the feast of) Unleavened Bread’: this feast lasted from the 15th to the 21st Nisan, and during the time unleavened bread was eaten (cf. Ex. 12.8, 15-20). The two religious feasts, running together, were celebrated as one.
meta duo hēmeras ‘after two days’: in accordance with Jewish reckoning this could mean ‘the next day’ (so Bengel). Cf. in 8.31 the phrase meta treis hēmeras ‘after three days.’
en dolō (cf. 7.22) ‘by deceit,’ ‘by cunning,’ ‘by stealth.’
The other words in this verse have already been dealt with: for zēteō … pōs ‘seek … how,’ ‘consider … how’ cf. 3.22; 11.18; hoi archiereis ‘the chief priests’ cf. 8.31; hoi grammateis ‘the scribes’ cf. 1.22; krateō ‘seize,’ ‘arrest’ cf. 1.31; apokteinō ‘kill’ cf. 3.4.
Translation:
Now is translatable as ‘then,’ ‘by that time,’ or ‘the time was.’ In Yaka the introductory expression is translated as ‘it was two days and then the feast for….’
Passover is usually translated as ‘the passing over,’ but this expression has little or no meaning except as it is placed in an adequate context. For example, ‘the passing over’ may be rendered as ‘feast to remember the passing over’ (Yaka), ‘day to commemorate the passing over,’ or ‘feast concerning the passing over’ (Southern Subanen). In some languages there is a term already used to designate Easter. For example, in Tzeltal the word cuxibal, meaning literally ‘instrument of living’ or ‘instrument of life’ is the long-employed word for Easter, having been introduced by early Roman Catholic missionaries. Because of its traditional use and its basic acceptability in meaning, it has been incorporated into the Tzeltal New Testament.
Feast of Unleavened Bread usually involves a distinctly idiomatic treatment of the relationship indicated by the English preposition of, e.g. ‘feast at which the people ate unleavened bread,’ ‘feast at which was eaten unleavened bread,’ or ‘feast where there was unleavened bread.’ One should not, of course, do as some translators have done – namely, make the ‘unleavened bread’ the possessor of the feast.
Unleavened Bread is ‘the bread which has not risen,’ ‘the bread without yeast,’ or ‘unswollen bread’ (Shipibo-Conibo). In some languages yeast is ‘beer foam,’ ‘wine froth’ or ‘sour water’ (Yucateco), but in many instances a term is borrowed from the dominant language of the area.
By stealth is not always easily translated, for the noun stealth must often be rendered by a verb, in which case one must determine precisely who is the object of the deceit or trickery. Some translators have rendered this phrase so as to mean that the chief priests and scribes sought to have Jesus arrested in such a way that the ‘crowds would not know about it’ (cf. Mark 12.12 and 14.2). Others have interpreted the passage to mean that the officials sought to trick Jesus into committing some act which would provide an excuse for his arrest (cf. the numerous questions which had been asked Jesus in order to snare him into giving some treasonable answer), e.g. ‘were trying to find a way to deceive Jesus and thus to arrest him.’
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 .