Exegesis:

suzētein (cf. 1.27) ‘argue with,’ ‘debate,’ ‘dispute.’

zētountes par’ autou sēmeion apo tou ouranou ‘seeking from him a sign from heaven.’

zēteō (cf. 3.32) ‘ask,’ ‘request,’ ‘want.’

sēmeion (8.12, 14; 13.4, 22; 16.17, 20) ‘sign,’ i.e. ‘an outward (visible) indication of secret power or truth’ (Souter): in this context the ‘sign’ would be a wonder or miracle clearly of divine origin (apo tou ouranou ‘from heaven’).

peirazontes auton ‘testing him,’ ‘putting him to the test’: the participle may be understood as indicating purpose (Manson, Revised Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, Zürcher Bibel), or attempt, ‘trying to test him’ (cf. Taylor).

peirazō (cf. 1.13) ‘test,’ ‘try’: here, as in 1.13, with a bad intent, and so ‘tempt.’

Translation:

Argue may be ‘to exchange words’ or ‘to speak against what he was saying.’

Seeking from him a sign from heaven may be ‘ask him to show them a sign from heaven’ or ‘wanted him to produce a sign from heaven.’

Though sign is used in the sense of ‘miracle’ or ‘mighty work,’ one should, if at all possible, try to reproduce the essential significance of the Greek term sēmeion which points to the meaningful character of an event or object (note the use of the root sēm- in the derivatives semantics and semiology). This then was to be more than a miracle; rather, it was to be a demonstration of power which would have special meaning for the people – in this instance his immediate opponents, the Pharisees. In order to convey this meaning various devices have been used, e.g. ‘a thing which shows’ (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), ‘supernatural power which shows,’ in which ‘shows’ does not mean ‘is visible,’ but ‘that which shows something else’ (Navajo), ‘events which tell people something’ (Uduk), ‘happenings which point out’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl), ‘miracles which are to prove’ (or ‘to demonstrate’) (Western Highland Purepecha), ‘how one is going to know’ (Shipibo-Conibo).

From heaven is not always easily related to the preceding expression. If this clause has reference to a portent which shows from heaven (or the sky), that is one thing (and not very difficult to translate), but if the meaning is primarily a demonstration of divine power, then one may be required to say ‘wanted him to do a great work with power from heaven’ or ‘ask him to show that his power was from heaven.’

Test must not be translated in the sense of ‘tempt,’ with the connotation of ‘try to make sin.’ The meaning is more ‘so they could really test him’ or ‘so they could put him to the test.’

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 .