Text:

Instead of paraporeuesthai ‘go along’ of most modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus, Souter, and Westcott and Hort prefer diaporeuesthai ‘go through.’

Exegesis:

kai egeneto … paraporeuesthai ‘and it happened … (that he) went along’: for this Semitic construction see 1.9.

en tois sabbasin ‘on the sabbath day’ (on the use of the plural cf. 1.21).

paraporeuesthai dia tōn sporimōn ‘to go along through the grain fields’: the subject, of course, is auton ‘he’ (it is understood that the disciples were accompanying him).

paraporeuomai (9.30; 11.20; 15.29) ‘go by,’ ‘pass by’: plus dia ‘through,’ it means ‘go through.’

sporimos (only here in Mark) is an adjective ‘sown,’ ‘fit for sowing’; as a plural substantive ta sporima means here ‘grain fields,’ ‘standing grain’ . It is to be noticed that ‘cornfield’ of King James Version, Revised Version and Translator’s New Testament is not what American ‘corn’ (i.e. maize) is: the grain referred to is wheat or barley.

ērxanto hodon poiein tillontes ‘they began to make way plucking’: it is agreed that hodon poiein means what in classical Greek would be hodon poieisthai ‘journey,’ ‘go along’ (cf. Latin iter facere), and does not mean ‘make a road’ (for the same use of this idiom see Septuagint Judges 17.8). The words hodon poiein, therefore, are to be translated ‘as they went’ (American Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Manson, The Modern Speech New Testament). The disciples were going along a regular path through the wheat fields (cf. Rawlinson).

ērxanto … tillontes ‘they began … plucking’: according to rules of grammar ērxanto ‘they began’ should go with hodon poiein ‘to make (their) way’; it is generally agreed, however, that here the meaning is rather ‘they began plucking’ (cf. Lagrange, Taylor). As Gould says, there is not actually much difference between ‘they began to go along, plucking the ears’ and ‘they began, going along, to pluck.’ tillō ‘pluck,’ ‘pull off’ is found only here in Mark.

tous stachuas (4.28) ‘the ears (or, heads) of grain’ (i.e. wheat).

Translation:

Since the last specific previous reference to Jesus is in verse 19, and there are several intervening third person singular referents, it is often necessary to employ ‘Jesus’ as the subject of the first clause.

For sabbath see 1.21.

It is quite evident that Jesus was going along with his disciples, and that they were not walking out through a grainfield, but along a path. However, in order that the reader may properly understand the obvious intent of the Greek text, it is sometimes necessary to regroup the subject constituents, e.g. ‘Jesus and his disciples were going along a path through the grainfields’ (Amganad Ifugao).

The grainfields refer to fields of wheat. In some parts of the world there is practically no equivalent, and hence ‘corn’ (in the meaning of ‘Indian corn’ or ‘maize’) is used, even though the particular activities are in such instances not accurately represented. In some languages the wheat is described as ‘ricelike grain’ (Yaka) or ‘millet-like grain’ (Farefare), and in other languages it may have some special designation, e.g. ‘Mexican grain’ vs. ‘Indian grain,’ that is to say, wheat vs. maize (Tzeltal), and ‘field for grain for flour’ (Barrow Eskimo, in which there is a perfectly good word for wheat ‘flour,’ but no knowledge of wheat as a grain).

Ears of grain must in some languages be variously rendered as ‘stalks of seeds,’ ‘heads of grain,’ ‘clusters of seeds,’ or ‘fruit of seeds.’

Note that though Jesus and the disciples were walking together, only the disciples are described as plucking off the heads of grain. The question of the Pharisees, however, is directed only to Jesus.

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 .