Text:
Instead of rantisōntai ‘they may sprinkle,’ read by Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Vogels, Merk, Lagrange, and Taylor, baptisōntai ‘they may bathe (themselves)’ is read by Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, Souter, and Kilpatrick. The manuscript evidence is fairly evenly divided: rantizō ‘sprinkle’ should be considered the “harder” reading.
At the end of the verse kai klinōn ‘and of beds’ is added by Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels and Kilpatrick; the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, however, reject it.
Exegesis:
As Revised Standard Version indicates, vv. 3-4 are parenthetical. Unlike Revised Standard Version, however, v. 2 in Greek is the beginning of a sentence which is left incomplete: instead of v. 5 taking up the sentence and completing it, the incomplete sentence of v. 2 is left hanging, and v. 5 begins another (complete) sentence. It is not necessary in a translation, however, literally to reproduce the Greek grammatical constructions, especially if awkwardness is the result.
kai ap’ agoras ean mē rantisōntai ‘and from the market-place if they don’t sprinkle’: there are two main ways in which this admittedly obscure statement may be understood: (1) ‘when they come back from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash themselves’; thus American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Manson, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada (Zürcher Bibel adds, in brackets, die Hände); (2) ‘anything from the market-place they do not eat unless they sprinkle (or, ‘wash,’ depending on the text preferred) it.’ This is the translation preferred by Goodspeed, Moffatt, Williams: Lagrange, who argues for it, points out that vv. 3-4 thus refer to the ceremonial purification of the person, of the food, and of the dishes. While dogmatic finality is impossible, especially in light of the textual uncertainty of the main verb, it would appear that Lagrange’s arguments offer a reasonable explanation of the text, together with Black’s exposition of the Aramaic form underlying the Greek phrase.
It should be noticed that Translator’s New Testament offers another translation, one which lies between the two discussed above: ‘and they do not eat anything from the market place unless they wash themselves’ (understanding ap’ agoras as ‘something (brought) from the market-place’ and translating baptisōntai ‘wash themselves’).
ha parelabon kratein ‘which they received to hold on to’: a reference to other traditions, similar to the ones mentioned.
paralambanō (cf. 4.36) ‘receive’: here as the complement of paradidōmi ‘hand over’ of a tradition which is handed over by one generation and received by another.
krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘hold on to,’ ‘keep,’ ‘observe.’
baptismous potērion kai xestōn kai chalkiōn ‘washings of cups and pots and copper vessels.’
baptismos (only here in Mark) ‘washing’ (of dishes).
potērion (9.41; 10.38, 39; 14.23, 36) ‘cup,’ ‘drinking vessel.’
xestēs (only here in the N.T.) from the Latin sextarius ‘the sixth part of a modius’; in a general sense, as here, ‘pitcher,’ ‘pot,’ ‘jug,’ without any reference to size.
chalkiōn (only here in the N.T.) ‘copper vessel,’ or ‘kettle.’
Translation:
The market place is usually not difficult to translate, but in some instances certain local adaptations may be required, e.g. ‘the trading post,’ ‘the place of buying and selling,’ or ‘the place where provisions are bought.’
They should refer specifically to the Pharisees (and all the Jews), not to the elders.
Do not eat unless becomes in some languages ‘do not eat if they do not,’ ‘do not eat until they,’ or ‘eat only when they have.’
Purify themselves seems somewhat preferable as a base for translating ‘wash themselves,’ since whatever water was used – whether in sprinkling or bathing – had as a primary function the ceremonial purification of the person. Purification is described in various ways, e.g. ‘to become really clean’ (Huautla Mazatec), ‘to become not mixed,’ in the sense of contaminated (Mezquital Otomi), ‘to take away pollution’ (Loma (Liberia)).
Many other traditions which they observe may be rendered as ‘they keep doing many other things which their ancestors told them to do’ or ‘they follow their fathers in keeping many other customs.’
The washing of cups … is an appositional expression, identifying the content of the traditions. One must frequently reproduce this as a verb expression, especially in languages in which traditions may be translated as a verb phrase, e.g. ‘they wash cups and pots and bronze vessels.’
Where the people are unacquainted with bronze it has been customary to use a word ‘metal vessels’ or ‘metal containers.’
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 .