Text:

Instead of parakousas ‘ignoring’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has eutheōs akousas ‘immediately hearing’; Kilpatrick has euthus parakousas ‘then ignoring.’

Exegesis:

parakousas (only here in Mark) ‘ignoring,’ ‘disregarding,’ or, ‘overhearing’; the meaning of the verb here is disputed, with the majority of translations favoring the sense ‘ignoring,’ ‘disregarding’ (American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Goodspeed, Moffatt, The Modern Speech New Testament, Montgomery, Williams, Zürcher Bibel, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada; among the lexicons and commentators, Abbott-Smith, Thayer, Swete, Taylor); others, however, favor the meaning of ‘overhearing’ (Berkeley, Manson); the meaning ‘pretending not to hear’ is favored by Field and Souter.

ton logon laloumenon ‘the message being delivered’: i.e. while they were still talking, Jesus interrupted and spoke to Jairus.

mē phobou (cf. 4.11) ‘do not be afraid,’ ‘quit being afraid’: the further injunction ‘only believe’ shows that ‘do not be afraid’ in this particular context has the meaning ‘do not be unbelieving,’ ‘do not doubt.’

monon pisteue ‘only believe’: a command.

monon (6.8) ‘only’: an adverb, modifying the verb ‘believe’ (for monos ‘only’ as an adjective cf. 6.47).

Translation:

The meaning of ignoring may be translated as ‘he paid no attention.’ Overhearing may be rendered as ‘he heard what the men had just said to the ruler.’

For ruler of the synagogue, see 5.22, though note that since this is a title, more than a specific designation of his role in a particular synagogue, it may be more correct to translate ‘the ruler of the synagogue.’

Fear must refer in this context to ‘fearful of the outcome’ or ‘doubtful.’

For believe, see 1.15, but in this context difficulties may arise if the verb ‘to believe’ requires an object. In such instances it may be better to adopt an alternative expression such as ‘have confidence’ or ‘keep your heart firm.’

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 .