Text:

Instead of dieblepsen ‘he looked intently’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has epoiēsen auton anablepsai ‘he made him see again.’

Instead of the neutral plural hapanta ‘all things’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has the masculine plural hapantas ‘all men.’

Exegesis:

For epethēken tas cheiras ‘he laid his hands upon’ cf. 5.23; for ophthalmous ‘eyes’ cf. 8.18.

kai dieblepsen kai apekatestē ‘and he looked intently and was restored,’ ‘and he saw clearly and was restored.’

diablepō (only here in Mark) ‘look intently’ (Revised Standard Version) or ‘see clearly,’ ‘see properly’ (Translator’s New Testament); others translate the word here ‘look hard,’ ‘look steadily,’ ‘stare straight ahead.’

apokathistamai (cf. 3.5) ‘be restored,’ ‘be made sound.’

kai eneblepen tēlaugōs hapanta ‘and he saw everything clearly.’

emblepō (10.21, 27; 14.67) ‘see.’

tēlaugōs (only here in the N.T.) ‘plainly,’ ‘clearly’; Moulton & Milligan define it ‘clearly from afar’ (cf. Taylor, Translator’s New Testament).

Translation:

In many languages, the first occurrence of he must be rendered as ‘Jesus,’ since the immediately preceding third person singular subject is the blind man. However, the second he must be changed to ‘the man,’ for this marks a change in subject. Of course, the reader can, with some care, determine these shifts from the context, but if in the receptor language it would be normal to mark such changes overtly, they should be so treated in the translation. This procedure is nothing more nor less than having the translation conform to the syntactic requirements of the language into which one is translating.

Restored may be ‘regained his sight,’ ‘his eyes were healed,’ or ‘finally he could see.’

Saw everything clearly is rendered in Tzeltal as ‘everything far off appeared clear,’ a normal way of talking about complete vision; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘he gained certainty concerning everything when he saw it.’

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 autois ‘them’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has autō ‘him.’

Exegesis:

genea (cf. 8.12) ‘generation’: here also refers to the contemporaries of Jesus.

apistos (only here in Mark) ‘unbelieving,’ ‘not having faith,’ ‘faithless’ (rather than ‘unfaithful’).

heōs pote ‘until when?’ ‘how long?’

heōs (6.23; 13.19, 27; 14.25, 34, 54; 15.33, 38) ‘until,’ ‘till.’

pote (13.4, 33, 35) ‘when.’

anexomai (only here in Mark) ‘I will endure,’ ‘bear,’ ‘put up with.’

Translation:

For generation see 8.12.

Faithless is to be understood in an active sense ‘you people who do not believe’ (Copainalá Zoque, Highland Puebla Nahuatl). For faith see 1.15.

How long am I to be with you is equivalent in some languages to ‘how long must I remain with you,’ in the sense of how long must I remain with you in order for you to have faith.

Bring should be translated by the same word as brought of verse 17.

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 kai ‘and’ before peran tou Iordanou ‘beyond the Jordan’ of the great majority of the modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden have dia tou ‘through the,’ so that the whole clause reads ‘through the other side of the Jordan.’

Exegesis:

anastas erchetai (cf. anastas apēlthen 7.24) ‘rising, he comes,’ i.e. ‘leaving that place (ekeithen ‘thence’) he went.’

horia (cf. 5.17) ‘boundaries,’ ‘region’: the phrase eis ta horia does not mean ‘to the boundaries’ but ‘into the region.’ The route indicated by the words of the text goes through Judea, across the river Jordan into Perea (cf. Goodspeed).

peran tou Iordanou (cf. 3.8; 4.35) ‘beyond the Jordan,’ ‘Perea.’

sumporeuontai palin ochloi pros auton ‘again crowds come together to him.’

sumporeuomai (only here in Mark) ‘go along with’; with reference to many people, as here, ‘come together,’ ‘flock,’ ‘gather.’

ochloi ‘crowds’: here only, in Mark, is the plural used.

eiōthei (only here in Mark) ‘he was accustomed’: the form eiōtha is the perfect of ethō but has a present sense ‘to be accustomed’: the pluperfect eiōthei, therefore, has an imperfect sense. The meaning here is not ‘as he had been accustomed,’ but ‘as he was accustomed,’ ‘as his custom was.’

Translation:

Beyond the Jordan identifies ‘the region on the other side of the Jordan’ (or ‘Jordan river,’ if a classifier is required).

Crowds involves certain difficulties, since in, many languages there are two types of plurals, aggregates and distributives. In Greek, however, it is not certain whether the plural actually denotes different crowds or whether it is a so-called augmentative plural, i.e. a plural which emphasizes the extent or size rather than the actual number of objects or occurrences. If, therefore, the Greek term ochloi is taken to mean simply the size of the crowd, then ‘many, many people’ or ‘very large crowd’ may be used. However, the use of the Greek form may indicate a distributive plural, implying that Jesus met with crowd after crowd wherever he went, in which case, of course, a distributive – whether of time or space – may be used. One must, however, avoid the mistake made in some languages of using an aggregate plural, for Jesus would not be addressing himself to several crowds at the same time.

As his custom was is translatable in many languages by a habitual, or customary, aspect of the verb. However, in some languages the idea of customary action can only be expressed by a separate verb phrase, e.g. ‘he was accustomed to teach; he began to teach again’ (Tzeltal).

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:

empaixousin (15.20, 31) ‘they will ridicule,’ ‘they will make fun of,’ ‘they will mock.’

emptusousin (14.65; 15.19, cf. ptuō 7.33; 8.23) ‘they will spit on.’

mastigōsousin (only here in Mark; cf. mastix 3.10; 5.29, 34) ‘they will scourge,’ ‘they will flog’: here the verb refers to the whipping given those who were condemned to death (Latin verberatio).

The other words have already been dealt with: for apokteinō ‘kill’ cf. 3.4; meta treis hēmeras ‘after three days’ cf. 8.31; anastēnai ‘to rise (from the dead)’ cf. 8.31.

Translation:

They refers to the Gentiles.

In some languages the equivalent of and connecting a series of events is ‘then,’ e.g. ‘they will mock him; then they will spit on him; then they will….’

In some parts of the world spitting is regarded as a symbol of blessing, e.g. among the Shilluk. In this instance one must translate so that the people will understand that spitting among the people of ancient Palestine had a different meaning, e.g. ‘spit on him to show they hate him’ (or ‘despise him’).

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:

Before agorazontas ‘buying’ Textus Receptus omits tous ‘the ones,’ ‘those,’ which is retained by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

hieron (cf. 11.11) ‘Temple’: here specifically the Court of the Gentiles where all this traffic was carried on.

tous pōlountas (cf. 10.21) ‘those who sold’: the merchants who sold the animals, as well as oil, wine, and salt, for the Temple sacrifices.

tous agorazontas (cf. 6.36) ‘those who bought’: pilgrims who came to offer sacrifice and worship in the Temple.

tas trapezas (cf. 7.28) ‘the tables’ on which the money changers displayed their coins; ‘banks.’

tōn kollubistōn (only here in Mark) ‘of the money changers’: many of the worshipers, Jews of the Dispersion, would not have the half shekel coins required for the payment of the Temple tax (cf. Rawlinson).

tas kathedras (only here in Mark) ‘the chairs,’ ‘seats,’ ‘stools.’

tas peristeras (cf. 1.10) ‘the doves’ used in sacrifices, according to the requirements of the Law (cf. Lev. 12.6, 8; 14.22; 15.14, 29).

katestrepsen (only here in Mark) ‘he upset,’ ‘he overturned.’

Translation:

Came to may require alteration to ‘arrived at.’

Drive out may be rendered in a form parallel to what is used in other Gospels where the action is described as accomplished – at least in part – by the use of a whip. Where languages require a distinction between driving out as a group, or singly (as, for example, in Navajo), the former is probably preferable.

Sold and … bought is in some languages best rendered as ‘exchanged’ (or in some cultures as ‘bartered’).

Pigeons, which are very widespread, – at least in some relatively similar form – may be translated by the closest local parallel, even though the relationship may not be exact.

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:

dōmen ē mē dōmen; ‘are we to pay, or not?’: an example of what is called the deliberative subjunctive.

ho de eidōs autōn tēn hupokrisin ‘but he, perceiving their hypocrisy’: cf. Goodspeed (and Lagrange) ‘but he saw through their pretense.’

hupokrisis (only here in Mark; cf. hupokrites 7.6) ‘dissimulation,’ ‘outward show,’ ‘hypocrisy.’

ti me peirazete; ‘why do you put me to the test?’: cf. the similar use of the verb in 8.11; 10.2.

pherete moi dēnarion hina idō ‘bring me a denarius that I may look (at it)’: the hina clause expresses purpose; Rawlinson and Revised Standard Version, however, understand it as being imperatival ‘let me look at it.’

dēnarion (cf. 6.37) ‘denarius’: a silver coin, minted by the Roman government.

Translation:

Should implies the concept of obligation, which is equivalent in some languages to ‘must we pay.’ This is a question of obligation, not of mere future possibility.

Knowing may be rendered either as ‘being acquainted with’ or ‘recognizing’; either meaning would fit this context.

For hypocrisy see 7.6. In this particular context the San Mateo del Mar Huave language employs an interesting idiom ‘he could see that they were talking just with their mouth,’ that is to say, ‘not with the heart,’ which would have implied sincerity.

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:

For grēgoreō ‘watch’ cf. the preceding verse; ho kurios ‘the master,’ ‘the owner’ cf. 1.3.

Listed here are the four watches of the night, according to the Roman system, of three hours each, running from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.

opse (cf. 11.11) ‘the evening,’ ‘late’: here, the first watch, from 6:00–9:00 P.M.

mesonuktion (only here in Mark) literally ‘the middle of the night’: here, the second watch, from 9:00 P.M. to 12:00 midnight.

alektorophōnias (only here in the N.T.) ‘at the crowing (phōnē) of the rooster (alektōr)’: here, the third watch, from 12:00 midnight to 3:00 A.M.

prōi (cf. 1.35) ‘early,’ ‘at dawn’: here, the fourth watch, from 3:00–6:00 A.M. (cf. 6.48 where ‘the fourth watch’ is referred to).

Translation:

Watch is variously translated in this context, e.g. ‘be on the look-out,’ ‘keep a close watch,’ ‘be constantly alert,’ or ‘wait, look.’

The paraphrastic expression included within dashes in the Revised Standard Version text combines quite well with the introductory verb watch. Where the difficulty arises is the connection of this sentence with the following verse, which expresses a negative purpose. This latter expression cannot be combined with the last of verse 35. There are usually three different types of solutions: (1) punctuation as a parenthetical expression, either within parentheses or dashes – a solution which is quite acceptable to rather literate people; (2) the repetition of ‘watch’ at the beginning of verse 36, so that the proper syntactic relationship may be preserved; or (3) an alteration in order in which the clause within dashes in the Revised Standard Version is placed first in the verse, followed by the imperative, ‘watch,’ e.g. ‘since you do not know when the owner of the house will come, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the early morning, therefore watch, lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping.’

Many languages have highly developed expressions for periods of the night, some of which rather closely parallel the series occurring in this verse. For example, the evening is ‘the sun lost’ (Tzotzil) and ‘the sitting together time’ (Mende). The period around midnight is ‘the stomach of the night’ (Uduk). A cockcrow is ‘when the owls make a noise,’ ‘when the cock screams’ (Piro), and ‘rooster-cry-time’ (Maninka). The period in the morning before sun-up may be described as ‘when the world begins to get white’ (Tzeltal), and ‘before the sky-opens-door’ (Maninka).

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 .