Text:
Textus Receptus and Soden omit euthus ‘immediately,’ which is included by all other editions of the Greek text.
Instead of hōs ‘how’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has the relative hou ‘which’ (agreeing with tou rēmatos ‘the saying,’ in the genitive case, instead of to rēma ‘the saying’ in the accusative case, of the genuine text), and Soden has ho ‘which’ (agreeing with to rēma).
Exegesis:
ek deuterou ‘for the second time,’ ‘again.’
alektōr ephōnēsen ‘a cock crowed’: here and in v. 68 (if genuine) the words are meant quite literally (cf. v. 30; see Rawlinson).
anemnēsthē (cf. 11.21) ‘he was reminded,’ ‘he remembered.’
to rēma (cf. 9.32) ‘the word,’ ‘the saying.’
hōs (cf. 4.27) ‘how’: indicates the thing which Peter remembered, being thus, in a general way, equivalent to hoti; as Thayer notes, however (hōs I.6), the emphasis is not on the thing remembered itself, but on the mode or quality of it. Translator’s New Testament gives it a temporal sense, ‘when Jesus had said….’
hoti ‘that’ is recitative, introducing direct speech: for the saying of Jesus, here repeated, cf. v. 30.
kai epibalōn eklaien ‘and he broke down and cried’ (cf. 5.38 for klaiō ‘cry’): there is no agreement on the meaning of epibalōn. (1) ‘He began to cry’ is a meaning supported by the early versions): cf. Vulgate, Luther, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale; (2) in a stronger sense, ‘he set to and wept,’ ‘he burst into tears,’ is supported by an example from the papyri quoted by Moulton, and is preferred by Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, Manson, Translator’s New Testament; (3) ‘he thought on it and wept,’ is a sense which assumes that an object, such as ‘mind’ (‘he set his mind to it’) is implied: this meaning is adopted by King James Version, American Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament, Montgomery, Berkeley, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Williams (cf. Gould and cf. also Liddell and Scott); (4) ‘he covered his head and wept’ is strongly defended by Field with his usual impressive array of supporting evidence; it is accepted by Rawlinson, and has been adopted by Zürcher Bibel, Und er verhüllte sich und weinte; (5) ‘he threw himself on the ground’ is Turner’s understanding of the phrase; (6) ‘he dashed out’ is Black’s conjecture. Before such a display of different translations no final certainty can be reached. The most one can say for Revised Standard Version is that it has as much to commend it as some, and more than others.
Translation:
A second time must not be translated to mean that the cock crowed twice at that time, but for the second time the cock crowed, implying that the first time preceded this particular moment. The problem is entirely parallel to crows twice, where the meaning is not of a cock which crows twice in immediate succession, but which for the second time during the night undertakes to crow.
Deny me is often rendered as ‘say that you do not know me’ or ‘say, I do not know him.’
The rendering of broke down and wept is dependent entirely upon the exegesis which is adopted in the case of epibalōn. The one caution to observe is not to attempt to translate literally such phrases as ‘broke down’ and ‘burst into.’
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 .