Exegesis:

pantote (only here in Mark) ‘all times,’ ‘always.’

hotan (cf. 11.19) ‘whenever,’ indicating here more than one definite occasion.

eu poiēsai (only here in the N.T.; cf. agathopoiēsai 3.4) ‘to do good.’

Translation:

The expression have … with may require recasting in some such form as ‘the poor people are always with you’ or ‘there are always poor people where you are.’

In contrast with the Greek and English of the two clauses whenever … to them, some languages require the first of the two clauses to be the full one and the second one the elliptical one, e.g. ‘whenever you want to do good to them, you can’ or ‘if ever you want to do good to such people, you are able to.’

Have me must be recast in much the same way as the first clause of this verse, e.g. ‘I will not always be here with you’ (Tzeltal) or ‘I will not always be here where you are.’

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 .