Exegesis:

aphēken (cf. 2.5) ‘he allowed,’ ‘he permitted.’

sunakolouthēsai (14.51) ‘to go along with,’ ‘to accompany’: cf. akoloutheō ‘follow’ in 1.18.

ei mē (cf. 2.7) ‘except,’ ‘but,’ ‘with the exception of’ (occurs some 16 times in Mark).

Translation:

Follow here has the sense of ‘to go with’ (cf. 1.17).

For a discussion of problems relating to expressions of lineage and relationships such as James and John the brother of James, see 1.19 and 3.17. Here the equivalent of such as expression may be ‘James and John, they were brothers.’

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 .