Exegesis:

ērōta (cf. 4.10) ‘he asked,’ ‘he inquired.’

posous (cf. 6.38) ‘how many?’

Translation:

Loaves may require expansion to ‘loaves of bread.’

They said may be translated as ‘they replied.’

The elliptical elements implied in the reply ‘seven’ may need some expansion in certain languages, e.g. ‘we have seven loaves of bread,’ ‘we have seven loaves’ or simply ‘seven loaves,’ for in a number of languages numerals must always be used with the nouns they modify or with some classifier of the noun class to which such objects belong.

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 .

Text:

Instead of tous emous logous ‘my words’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Kilpatrick has tous emous (omitting logous) ‘mine,’ ‘my people.’ For this deletion of logous ‘words’ which is based more on Marcan usage than on manuscript evidence (of the translations, Translator’s New Testament and Manson read ‘of mine’).

Exegesis:

epaischunthē (only in this verse in Mark) ‘he may be ashamed’: the meaning is ‘ashamed to own me,’ ‘ashamed to confess me publicly,’ ‘ashamed to acknowledge his relation to me.’

en tē genea tautē tē moichalidi kai hamartōlō ‘in this adulterous and sinful generation.’

genea (cf. 8.12) ‘generation.’

moichalis (only here in Mark) is a noun ‘adulteress,’ used as an adjective, ‘adulterous’: in the religious sense, as used here, the word means ‘irreligious,’ ‘faithless,’ ‘godless,’ ‘irreverent,’ based on the O.T. concept of God’s people being betrothed to God, in the relation of husband and wife.

ho huios tou anthrōpou (cf. 2.10) ‘the Son of man.’

hotan elthē en tē doxē tou patros autou ‘when he comes in the glory of his Father.’

erchomai ‘come’: the word should be so translated in this passage, and not ‘come back’ as some translations have it.

doxa (10.37; 13.26) ‘glory,’ ‘majesty,’ ‘brightness,’ ‘sublimity’ (of God).

patēr ‘father’: used of God in Mark in 11.25-26 (‘your Father in heaven’), 13.32 (‘the Father’) and 14.36 (‘Abba, Father’).

meta tōn aggelōn tōn hagiōn ‘with the holy angels’: this phrase is connected with the main verb ‘comes’: ‘when he comes … with the holy angels.’

aggelos (cf. 1.2, 13) ‘angel.’

Translation:

Certain key words have been treated previously: glory (2.12), generation (8.12), Son of man (2.10), holy (1.7), and angels (1.13).

Ashamed of may be rendered as ‘will have nothing to do with,’ or ‘feels shame when I and my words are mentioned’ (or ‘are remembered’).

In this adulterous and sinful generation may require two types of modifications: (1) close relationship to the grammatical subject, e.g. ‘whoever in this adulterous and sinful generation’ and (2) shift from an abstract to a concrete form, e.g. ‘whoever of these sinful and adulterous people living now,’ or ‘adulterers and sinners who are now in the world’ (Tzeltal).

Since adulterous refers to infidelity to God, this meaning has been brought out in San Miguel El Grande Mixtec as ‘to leave one for another against God,’ in which the expression ‘to leave one for another’ is a common expression for adultery.

The construction of the three clauses constituting this verse is not an easy one. In some languages this type of arrangement may require some slight modification, e.g. ‘if any one … is ashamed…, the Son of man will be ashamed of him, when he comes….’

Compare verse 8.31 for the use of Son of man with a possible first person pronoun, e.g. ‘I the Son of man.’

Though many instances of the verb come must be rendered as ‘went,’ in this instance comes must usually be retained in its literal sense, since the meaning is coming from heaven to earth. In some languages, however, one must use ‘return.’

In the glory may be more accurately rendered in some instances as ‘with the glory,’ literally ‘shiningness’ (Tetelcingo Nahuatl) and ‘highness’ (Amganad Ifugao).

With the holy angels must be more closely connected with ‘comes’ in many languages, e.g. ‘comes together with the holy angels.’

Note that in English the verbs are all present, but these will vary in other languages, e.g. is ashamed may be rendered by a tenseless form, implying ‘now or ever in the future’ and comes is generally translated as a remote future tense.

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 .

Exegesis:

ēgnooun (only here in Mark) ‘they did not know,’ ‘they were ignorant (about)’: in this context, ‘they did not understand.’

to rēma (14.72) ‘word,’ ‘saying,’ ‘expression,’ with the special meaning in this context of ‘prophecy,’ ‘prediction.’

ephobounto auton eperōtēsai ‘they were afraid to ask him’: the infinitive epērōtēsai ‘to ask’ completes the meaning of the main verb ephobounto ‘they were afraid,’ while auton ‘him’ is the direct object of the infinitive.

Translation:

It is rarely that one can find a noun expression equivalent to the Greek rēma or English saying. Usually, the only corresponding expression is ‘what he was saying’ or ‘what he meant when he was saying,’ for the men were not ignorant of the words which Jesus used, but of the implications of what he was trying to communicate to them.

To ask him may require expansion in some languages by the addition of the direct object (or second object, as it is sometimes called), e.g. ‘to ask him what he meant’ or ‘to ask him what his words meant.’

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 .

Exegesis:

dexētai (cf. 6.11) ‘should receive,’ ‘should accept.’

ou mē (cf. 9.1) ‘in no way,’ ‘by no means’: an emphatic negative.

Translation:

For truly as an introductory adverb see 8.12.

Receive the kingdom of God is not an easy expression to translate, and its literal rendering has often resulted in misunderstanding. For example, in one language it meant that a person had taken over the kingdom upon the death of God. In another language the literal rendering meant that one man had agreed to guard God’s property for him. Moreover, a kingdom (even as a territory, rather than a rule) cannot be received as some portable object can be received. The result of all these problems leads to a number of necessary adaptations, e.g. ‘receive God as king’ (Conob), ‘like God to rule over’ (Copainalá Zoque), ‘agree to God reigning over’ (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), ‘welcome God as ruler’ (Huastec), ‘be happy to have God rule over’ (Sayula Popoluca), and ‘be happy to have God be your chief’ (Tzotzil).

Like a child must be added to the first expression in such a way as to characterize the activity of a child, e.g. ‘welcome God as ruler as a child welcomes him’ (Huastec) and ‘wish for, as a little child does, where God rules’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave).

Enter it must be translated in such a way as to correspond with the immediately preceding clause, e.g. ‘will not have God as ruler’ (Sayula Popoluca).

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 .

Exegesis:

epetimōn … hina siōpēsē ‘they were rebuking … that he be silent’: the hina gives the content of the rebuke, not its purpose.

epitimaō (cf. 1.25) ‘rebuke,’ ‘stop,’ ‘command.’

siōpaō (cf. 3.4) ‘be silent,’ ‘be quiet.’

pollō mallon ‘the more instead,’ ‘rather much more.’

polu ‘much’: as an adverb elsewhere in Mark it is always used in the neuter accusative plural form polla (cf. 1.45; 3.12; 5.10, etc.): here in the dative singular it means ‘the more.’

mallon ‘more,’ ‘rather.’

Translation:

Rebuked is here used in the sense of ‘scolded.’

All the more is sometimes translatable as ‘the more they told him, Be quiet, that much more he kept shouting out.’

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 .

Exegesis:

en poia exousia ‘in what sort of authority,’ ‘by what authority.’

poios (11.29, 33; 12.28) is a qualitative interrogative pronoun meaning properly ‘of what kind,’ ‘of what sort’: in usage, however, it is often weakened to mean simply ‘what’ (cf. 12.28), and that is the meaning most commentators and translations give it here. Arndt & Gingrich, however, suggest that the dative poia ‘by what’ here is equivalent to the genitive of the indefinite pronoun, tinos ‘of whom,’ and the phrase means ‘by whose authority.’

exousia (cf. 1.22) ‘authority.’

tauta ‘these things’ is undefined. Most commentators take it to refer to the cleansing of the Temple, narrated in vv. 15-16.

hina tauta poiēs ‘that you should do these things’: in this phrase hina indicates result, ‘so that you do these things,’ or else hina … poiēs ‘that … you should do’ is simply equivalent to poiein ‘to do,’ as Revised Standard Version has it.

Translation:

Said may be rendered by ‘asked,’ in view of the following question.

By what authority is not easy to translate literally in some languages, but the meaning can be conveyed, even though a somewhat paraphrastic expression may be required, e.g. ‘what permission do you have to do these things’ (Eastern Highland Otomi), ‘by whose power do you do these things,’ or ‘because of what sort of right do you do these things.’

The last clause shifts the question from the abstract ‘authority’ to the specific source of the authority, e.g. ‘who told you that you could do these things’ or ‘who gave you the right to do these things.’

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 .

Text:

Instead of eidōs ‘knowing,’ ‘perceiving’ of the great majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Taylor, Turner and (apparently) Revised Standard Version have idōn ‘seeing.’

Exegesis:

Some of the words in this verse have already been dealt with: for proserchomai ‘come to,’ ‘approach’ cf. 1.31; grammateus ‘scribe’ cf. 1.22; suzēteō ‘dispute’ cf. 1.27; kalōs ‘well,’ ‘fittingly’ cf. 7.6; entolē ‘commandment’ cf. 7.8; prōtē ‘first’ (of rank, or importance, not of time) cf. 6.21.

heis ‘one’: as in 5.22 the numeral is equivalent to the indefinite pronoun tis ‘a certain one.’ The whole phrase heis tōn grammateōn means simply ‘a scribe.’

akousas ‘hearing’: the participle here is practically in the nature of a relative clause, ‘who heard.’

poia (cf. 11.28) ‘what,’ ‘which’: although some (cf. Swete, Lagrange) hold that the pronoun has here the qualitative force ‘of what sort,’ ‘of what kind,’ most commentators and translations take it to be simply interrogative, equivalent to tis ‘what?,’ ‘which?’

prōtē pantōn ‘(the) first of all’: it is to be noticed that pantōn ‘of all’ is not feminine, in agreement with prōtē ‘first (commandment),’ but is either masculine or neuter. It probably is to be taken in a general way “first of all commandments” even though there is no concordance of genders (in which Taylor sees Semitic influence); Field, however, takes it to mean omnium rerum “of all things” (cf. also Lagrange le premier de toutes choses).

Translation:

Them disputing with one another may have one of two different meanings: (1) Jesus is included in the group disputing, and hence it is a case of the Sadducees disputing with Jesus, or (2) the Sadducees may be regarded as disputing among themselves on the basis of Jesus’ answer. Where the ambiguity of the Greek may be preserved, one should attempt to do so. Otherwise, one can choose either of the alternative meanings and translate the clause in such a way as to relate it meaningfully to the following.

Because of the series of verbs, involving three different subjects (came up … heard … disputing … seeing … answered … asked), it is often necessary to break the sentence up into smaller units, e.g. ‘a scribe came up and heard them disputing with one another; he saw that Jesus was answering them well; he asked Jesus.’

First must be understood in terms of importance or value, not with reference to time or position, except as these elements may also imply importance. One may translate accordingly, ‘what is the most important commandment?’

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 .

Exegesis:

ho eis ton agron ‘the man (working) in the field.’

eis here equals en ‘in’ (cf. 1.9).

agros (cf. 5.14) ‘field,’ ‘plot of ground.’

mē epistrepsatō eis ta opisō ‘he is not to go back (to the house)’: the man working in the field is enjoined to flee at once without taking time to go back to the house and get his cloak.

epistrephō (cf. 4.12) ‘turn around,’ ‘turn back’: here, with eis ta opisō (literally, ‘to the places behind’), it means ‘go back,’ ‘return.’

himation (cf. 2.21) ‘outer garment,’ ‘cloak,’ ‘mantle.’

Translation:

Turn back is often rendered as ‘return to his home.’

Let him … not turn back may be translated as a statement of obligation, e.g. ‘a man who is in the field should not return to his home to get his cloak.’

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 .