Exegesis:
Apparently for stylistic reasons Revised Standard Version has changed amēn legō humin ‘truly I say to you’ from the position it occupies in the Greek text to the beginning of the verse.
potisē humas potērion hudatos ‘he should give you to drink a cup of water’: the verb potisē ‘should give to drink’ takes two direct objects in Greek, humas ‘you’ and potērion hudatos ‘a cup of water.’
potizō (15.36) ‘give to drink,’ ‘make to drink.’
potērion (cf. 7.4) ‘a cup.’
en onomati hoti ‘in the name that’: the phrase means ‘on the ground that’ (Moulton & Milligan quote a papyrus in which the phrase onomati eleutherou means ‘in virtue of being freeborn’; Goodspeed, ‘on the ground that you belong to Christ’); onoma ‘name’ is used with the meaning ‘title,’ ‘category’: ‘under the category that you belong to Christ,’ ‘in your capacity as a follower of Christ.’ Most translations use ‘because’ (American Standard Version, Moffatt, Montgomery, The Modern Speech New Testament, Manson; Lagrange pour la raison que vous êtes au Christ); the Revised Standard Version ‘because you bear the name of Christ’ is more interpretive in character. Translator’s New Testament has ‘in the Name, for you are Messiah’s.’
misthon (only here in Mark) ‘pay,’ ‘wages,’ ‘reward.’
For ou mē ‘not’ cf. 9.1; apollumi ‘lose’ cf. 1.24.
Translation:
For syntactic problems involving truly see 8.12.
The order adopted in the Revised Standard Version with respect to the expression truly, I say to you is generally better in most languages, since the direct discourse is not interrupted.
In some languages cup must be translated in terms of the closest equivalent, e.g. ‘little calabash’ (Southern Bobo Madaré). In other instances one cannot say ‘cup of water,’ but ‘water in a cup’ (Barrow Eskimo).
The verb give must always be treated with care, for there are many implications involved in some languages. For example, there may be two entirely different terms, depending upon whether (1) the gift is one in which an equivalent gift is expected in return (known as exchange gifts, and constituting a highly formalized type of indigenous barter) or (2) the object is one given without any regard for compensation. It is this latter meaning which should be indicated here. On the other hand, languages also distinguish between gifts which are prompted by evident need and those which are wholly without reference to such circumstances. Something of this point of view is suggested in the Copainalá Zoque rendering, ‘whoever lets you ask for a cup of water,’ implying that the man responds to the need.
Bear the name of Christ may be translated as ‘are called by the name of Christ’ (literally, ‘have the name of being Christian’ Amganad Ifugao). On the other hand, Greek onomati ‘name’ would seem to be used more in the sense of ‘because of’ or ‘on the basis that,’ and hence one may translate as ‘because you belong to Christ’ (Tzeltal).
Lose his reward is often badly mistranslated, implying that after the man has received his reward he will not forthwith lose it by misplacing it. The more idiomatic way of saying this in some languages is ‘he will certainly get what is to be given to him’ (Guerrero Amuzgo) or ‘he will certainly receive the pay for his hand’ (Tzeltal). In this latter expression ‘pay for his hand’ is the compensation which is gained for anything which a man has done with his hands. If it were an errand he had run, then he would receive ‘the pay for his feet.’
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 .