Exegesis:

Hellēnis Surophoinikissa tō genei ‘Greek, Syrophoenician by race’: thus the evangelist defines her culture and religion (Greek, not Jew: perhaps the equivalent of Gentile, ‘pagan’ – cf. Lagrange païenne) and her nationality (Syrophoenician, as distinguished from the Libyophoenicians in North Africa).

genos (9.26) ‘nation,’ ‘people,’ ‘race’: the use of the word in this passage refers to her national (or racial) origin.

ērōta auton hina to daimonion ekbalē ‘she asked him to cast out the demon’: all of these words have already been dealt with: erōtaō (cf. 4.1) ‘make a request,’ ‘ask for (something)’; hina (cf. 5.10, 18) ‘that’ – indicating content, not purpose; to daimonion (cf. 1.34) ‘the demon’ – in this passage, as in the previous one, it is one and the same with ‘the unclean spirit’; ekballō (cf. 1.12) ‘cast out,’ ‘drive out.’

Translation:

A Greek, Syrophoenician by birth is not an easy expression to translate, without at least a little contextual setting, since in many translations the transliterated words Greek and Syrophoenician will mean absolutely nothing. Since the first of these denoted culture and the latter ethnic origin, one can say ‘Greek was her language and Syrophoenicia her tribe’ (Tzeltal, Southern Subanen). Syrophoenician may also be translated as ‘a native of that region,’ since Tyre and Sidon have already been mentioned in verse 24. The fact that person of a particular tribal background speaks the language of another group is a very common phenomenon in many parts of the world. Moreover, since language is the most universally recognized symbol of cultural relationship (that is, participation within a cultural group), this usage will properly reflect the meaning of the Greek text. Otherwise, there is an unresolved conflict involving two ethnic groups, and the meaning is often left quite obscure, not to say, entirely misleading. For example, in one language the literal translation really meant that she was born in the city of Syrophoenicia, a place in Greece, and in another rendering she was presumably from a Greek tribe called Syrophoenicia.

For cast the demon out see 1.26, 32, 34.

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 .