Punctuation:

Instead of the punctuation adopted by the majority, in which hoti is understood as the interrogative ‘why?,’ Souter takes hoti as introducing direct discourse and the phrase that follows as a statement of fact, “We couldn’t cast it out”: Field, however, calls such a construction “intolerable.”

Exegesis:

eis oikon (cf. 3.19; 7.17) ‘in a house’: probably with the same meaning ‘home’ as in 3.19; 7.17 (cf. Goodspeed, Translator’s New Testament, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada; Moffatt and Manson take it simply indoors; Lagrange translates à la maison.

kat’ idian (cf. 4.39) ‘privately,’ ‘alone.’

hoti (cf. 9.11) ‘why?’

ekbalein (cf. 1.12, 34) ‘to cast out,’ ‘to drive forth.’

Translation:

Since the immediately preceding third person singular referent is the boy, it is necessary in a number of languages to use ‘Jesus’ as the subject of ‘entered the house,’ otherwise, the passage means that after the boy went home, the disciples made their inquiry of Jesus.

Privately may be translated as ‘when there was no one else there.’

Could is often translatable as ‘have the power to’ or ‘have enough strength,’ though obviously the capacity is not physical, but spiritual.

For cast out see 1.34.

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 .