Exegesis:

ekēruxan hina metanoōsin ‘they (the Twelve) preached that they (the hearers) should repent’: hina ‘that’ indicates the content of the preaching, not its purpose (cf. 5.18).

kērussō (cf. 1.4; cf. 3.15) ‘preach,’ ‘proclaim.’

metanoeō (cf. 1.15) ‘repent.’

diamonia polla exeballon (cf. 3.15; 1.34) ‘they cast out many demons.’

ēleiphon elaiō pollous arrōstous ‘they anointed with oil many sick people.’

aleiphō (16.1) ‘anoint’: here for the purpose of healing (cf. Lagrange on this practice both in the past and in the present). It is generally assumed that the oil would be rubbed on, but Lk. 10.34 speaks of oil being poured on.

elaion (only here in Mark) ‘oil,’ i.e. ‘olive-oil.’

kai etherapeuon ‘and they healed (them)’ (cf. 1.34).

Translation:

They should in many languages be ‘the twelve disciples,’ for between this pronoun and the proper referent there are several confusing third person plural referents in the intervening verses.

Went out refers to their journey, not to the process of going out of a house – as is implied in some translations. One may simply say ‘they left.’

Preached that … may be shifted to a direct form, ‘announced to people, You should repent.’ (For preach and repent, see 1.4)

For expressions relating to casting out of demons, see 1.34, and for words for demons see 1.26 and 32.

Anointed introduces a process which is quite foreign to many people. Accordingly, one needs to be careful as to how this act is described. In one language the translator had used a word meaning ‘to give a massage to’; and in another ‘to touch with oil.’ As suggested above, the meaning is probably ‘to rub on,’ but not implying over the entire body or even any major part of it. The act was essentially symbolic, rather than therapeutic. If, as in some languages, the place of anointing must be specified, the ‘head’ is as likely to be correct as any other supplied term.

The oil should be some type of vegetable oil, not kerosene or motor oil. (‘Daubed with crankcase oil’ is too frequent a rendering of this term.)

Healed is ‘made them well’ or ‘caused them to be well.’

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 .