Exegesis:

The words in this verse have already been dealt with: for krateō ‘seize’ and egeirō ‘raise’ cf. 1.31; for anistēmi ‘rise’ cf. 1.35.

Translation:

Took him by the hand seems to us such a perfectly normal way of speaking that we do not realize that there are various alternative ways of describing this type of activity: ‘took his hand,’ ‘grasped the hand of the boy,’ ‘put the boy’s hand in his hand,’ ‘took hold of the boy by grasping his hand’ – all variants of the activity of grasping by the hand.

Lifted him up must not be translated in such a way as to be contradictory to the following expression ‘he arose.’ In some languages ‘lifted him up’ has been so rendered as to imply that Jesus literally lifted the child up off the ground by the arm. This is not what is implied by the following phrase. Obviously, Jesus assisted the boy to arise by taking hold of his hand. The resultant translation in some languages is ‘helped him rise up and he stood up’ (Tabasco Chontal).

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:

eis tēn oikian (cf. 7.17, 24; 9.33) ‘in the house’ (Revised Standard Version, Goodspeed); ‘indoors’ (Moffatt, The Modern Speech New Testament, Montgomery); ‘back home’ (Manson; cf. O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada em casa, Zürcher Bibel zu Hause).

palin ‘again’: practically all commentators and translations connect ‘again’ with ‘the disciples asked’; Gould, Manson and Translator’s New Testament, however, connect it with eis tēn oikian ‘in the house,’ ‘indoors.’

epērōtōn ‘they were asking’: The Modern Speech New Testament and Montgomery translate ‘began questioning.’

Translation:

In the house is not only a locative phrase, but a transitional one as well, for it points out a contrast in location. The equivalent in some languages is ‘when they were back in the house.’

This matter may be specified as ‘what he said’ or ‘divorce,’ if the receptor language has no generic term such as ‘matter.’

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 estin ‘is’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has estai ‘shall be.’

Exegesis:

ouch houtōs de estin en humin ‘but it is not thus among you’ as the Greek stands this is a statement of fact, not a command or a statement concerning the future.

megas ‘great’ some (cf. Rawlinson) understand it to mean, in accordance with Semitic usage, ‘greatest.’

estai humōn diakonos ‘shall be your servant’ as in the similar saying in 9.35 this is a volitive future, a command: ‘must be your servant’ (so Revised Standard Version).

diakonos (cf. 9.35) ‘servant.’

Translation:

It refers to the pattern of life described in the previous verse. However, some scholars, e.g. Goodspeed, have taken this present as referring to the future, e.g. ‘but it is not to be so among you.’ Luther has aber also soll es unter euch nicht sein ‘but it should not be so among you.’ This type of pronoun may not occur in some languages, and hence a recasting of the clause may be required, e.g. ‘you should not do like that,’ if the meaning is exhortatory; or ‘you do not lord it over each other,’ if the meaning is purely descriptive of their relationships to each other.

Whoever would be great must be your servant may require certain syntactic adjustments, e.g. ‘if a man wishes to be great he must be’ or ‘a man who wishes to be … must become….’

Would be great means ‘desires to have authority’ or ‘wants to be in command.’ In Tzeltal this is rendered as ‘has a heart to receive strong authority,’ meaning ‘desires to have much power.’ In Tzotzil the equivalent is ‘whoever wants to tell everybody else what to do.’

Must be your servant can be translated as ‘must do errands for you’ or ‘must serve you.’

In some translations the force of this verse is lost because among you is mistranslated, for if it refers only to the position of greatness among the disciples, it can mean that if a person wants to come in from the outside (i.e. originally not one of the disciples), and desires to be the greatest of the group, he must get to be such by being the servant of the disciples. This is the meaning attached to this passage by those who cite the actions of a novitiate in an order who wants to end up by being head of an order. The meaning, however, must be made clear that it is ‘whoever among you wants to be great among you, must be the servant of all of you.’

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:

At the end of the verse Textus Receptus adds ho ean eipē ‘whatever he may say,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

arthēti kai blēthēti ‘you be taken up and cast’: although passive in form, these two verbs probably have the force of middles: ‘take and throw yourself’ (so most English translations; cf. also Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Zürcher Bibel).

eis tēn thalassan ‘into the sea.’

kai mē diakrithē (only here in Mark) ‘and he should not doubt’: the verb in the New Testament means ‘to become undecided,’ ‘to waver,’ ‘to vacillate.’

hoti ho lalei ginetai ‘that what he says comes to pass’: ginetai is used here with a futuristic force, ‘will come to pass,’ ‘will happen.’

estai autō ‘it shall be to him,’ i.e. what he says shall be done for him, shall be granted him (The Modern Speech New Testament).

Translation:

For truly in this type of construction see 8.12.

Whoever says … it will be done for him must in many instances be adapted to a conditional construction, involving ‘if,’ e.g. ‘if anyone says … it will be done for him.’

Part of the syntactic problem in this verse is the fact that so many clauses intervene between the principal condition (the clause introduced by whoever) and the final result it will be done for him. These intervening clauses are complex because of (1) the direct discourse, with its own subject, (2) the negative-positive contrast does not doubt … but believes, and (3) the involved indirect discourse believes that what he says will come to pass. This type of complexity necessitates in some languages a division of the sentence into several basic units and with a somewhat altered order, e.g. ‘if a man says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, this will be done for him, provided he does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen,’ or ‘if anyone says to this mountain, Be removed from here and be thrown into the sea, this is just what will be done for him; it will happen for him only if he does not doubt in his heart; he must believe that what he says will come to pass.’ This last alternative is a typical paratactically combined series of sentences which convey essentially the same meaning as the hypotactically arranged group in the Greek construction.

Be taken up and cast into the sea, as noted above, may be taken in the reflexive sense, e.g. ‘get up and throw yourself into the sea’ or ‘remove yourself from here and hurl yourself into the sea.’ The reflexive is a much easier and often more meaningful form of expression than the passive.

Though doubt is usually a much easier term to translate than faith or believe, it is represented by a variety of idiomatic renderings, and in the majority of instances the concept of duality is present, e.g. ‘to make his heart two’ (Kekchi), ‘to be with two hearts’ (Punu), ‘to stand two’ (Sierra de Juárez Zapotec), ‘to be two’ or ‘to have two minds’ (Navajo), ‘to think something else’ (Tabasco Chontal), ‘to think two different things’ (Shipibo-Conibo), and ‘to have two thoughts’ (Yaka). In some languages, however, doubt is expressed without reference to the concept of ‘two’ or ‘otherness,’ e.g. ‘to have whirling words in one’s heart’ (Chol), ‘his thoughts are not on it’ (Baoule), ‘to have a hard heart’ (Piro), and ‘to repeatedly spread out in order,’ implying the process of arranging and rearranging of material as one wavers back and forth over varying possibilities (Chokwe).

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:

The clause hotan anastōsin ‘when they rise’ following anastasei ‘resurrection,’ is omitted by Westcott and Hort, Souter, and Revised Standard Version, but retained by all other modern editions of the Greek text. (For the textual evidence, strong in favor of omission, cf. Taylor.)

Exegesis:

en tē anastasei (cf. v. 18) ‘in the (Day of) resurrection.’

hotan anastōsin is impersonal ‘when they rise,’ i.e. ‘when men are raised (from the dead on the resurrection Day).’ Cf. v. 25.

hotan (cf. 11.19) ‘when,’ referring to a single definite event.

eschon ‘they had’: for the use of this verb with the meaning of ‘have’ or ‘possess’ cf. 6.18. The phrase ‘had her as wife’ means ‘married her.’

Translation:

For resurrection compare 12.18, and note also the expressions for rise again 9.9.

The first clause may be variously translated, e.g. ‘when people rise from the dead to whom will she be a wife’ or ‘… who will have her for a wife,’ or ‘… to whom will she belong.’

The seven, as a numeral substitute for a noun expression (compare the use of the Twelve), may require a noun complement, e.g. ‘the seven men’ or ‘the seven brothers.’

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:

After ti lalēsēte ‘what you should say’ Textus Receptus adds mēde meletate ‘nor be anxious,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

hotan agōsin humas paradidontes ‘and whenever they arrest you and deliver you up to trial.’

hotan (cf. 11.19) ‘whenever’: here the sense is probably ‘whenever’ (rather than ‘when’), indicating repeated events and not simply one single event.

agō (cf. 1.38) ‘cause to go,’ ‘lead,’ ‘bring’: in a specialized use, ‘lead away,’ ‘take into custody,’ ‘arrest.’

paradidōmi (cf. 1.14) ‘deliver up (to trial),’ ‘turn over to the court.’

mē promerimnate ‘do not be concerned beforehand’: only here does the verb appear in the N.T.

ho ean dothē humin ‘whatever may be given you (by God).’

to pneuma to hagion (cf. 1.8) ‘the Holy Spirit.’

Translation:

The first clause may be accurately translated as ‘arrest you and hand you over to the authorities to be tried.’

For anxious see under cares 4.18. In this context words for ‘worry’ or ‘concern’ must be specifically applicable to the special anxieties involved, e.g. ‘don’t let your stomach rise up’ (Farefare), ‘don’t let you mind kill you’ (Navajo), ‘don’t be driven hard,’ a reference to animals being chased in the hunt (Piro).

Is given is a very indefinite passive, requiring in some languages an agent, e.g. ‘God gives you.’

Hour is more idiomatically rendered as ‘at that time’ or ‘on that occasion,’ since ‘hour,’ as a precise unit of time may be quite strange and completely inapplicable to this type of context.

For Holy Spirit see 1.7.

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:

aphete autēn (cf. 2.5) ‘leave her alone’: Arndt & Gingrich suggest ‘let go,’ ‘tolerate,’ while Lagrange prefers the meaning ‘let her do it.’ In light of the context, however, the Revised Standard Version is to be preferred (cf. Swete).

ti autē kopous parechete; ‘why are you causing her trouble?’ ‘why are you giving her difficulty?’: Moulton & Milligan give examples from the papyri of the use of this phrase meaning ‘cause trouble,’ ‘bother.’

kopos (only here in Mark) ‘trouble,’ ‘difficulty,’ ‘toil.’

parechō (only here in Mark) ‘to present,’ ‘to furnish,’ ‘to cause.’

kalon ergon ‘a good work,’ ‘a beautiful deed,’ ‘a noble thing’: the adjective here indicates “what is morally good, with a nuance of nobility and beauty” (Lagrange).

kalos (cf. 4.8) ‘beautiful,’ ‘fine,’ ‘fitting.’

ergon (cf. 13.34) ‘deed,’ ‘task,’ ‘action.’

ērgasato (only here in Mark) ‘she worked,’ ‘she performed,’ ‘she accomplished.’

en emoi ‘to me’: the preposition here indicates the object to whom something is done.

Translation:

Let her alone is sometimes translated rather concretely, e.g. ‘do not touch her’ (Cashibo-Cacataibo), an expression which implies avoidance of molestation or disturbance.

Beautiful thing requires recasting in some languages, e.g. ‘what she has done to me is beautiful’ or ‘it is very good what she has done to me.’

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:

grēgoreite kai proseuchesthe hina ‘you (plural) must watch and pray that’: Revised Standard Version takes ‘that’ to refer to the content of the prayer (as in v. 35 and 13.38); if, however, both verbs be taken with hina, it could indicate purpose – ‘watch and pray, in order that…’ (so Translator’s New Testament; cf. Moffatt “so that”).

peirasmon (only here in Mark; cf. peirazō 1.13) ‘temptation’: the context seems to demand the meaning of ‘temptation’ leading to sin, and not merely the idea of ‘trial’ or ‘testing.’

pneuma (cf. 2.8) … sarx (cf. 10.8) ‘spirit … flesh’: here presented as distinct and antithetical elements of man’s nature. The contrast between the two, say Arndt & Gingrich, is between the will as opposed to inferior feelings such as fear, anxiety, etc. which are attributed to the ‘flesh.’

prothumon (only here in Mark) ‘ready,’ ‘willing,’ ‘eager.’

asthenēs (only here in Mark); cf. astheneō (6.56) ‘weak,’ ‘powerless.’

Translation:

Watch would seem to be best translated as ‘stay awake’ or ‘stay alert.’

Enter into temptation is an awkward idiom in most languages, for one does not literally ‘enter into’ such an experience. In Tzeltal this concept is expressed as ‘end by being tempted,’ and in Copainalá Zoque one must say ‘fall when Satan tries you.’ In Highland Puebla Nahuatl one may ‘enter into sin,’ but not ‘enter into temptation.’

The spirit … the flesh is a fundamental contrast, but one which is variously expressed in different languages. Often, however, spirit is equivalent to ‘heart’ (Eastern Highland Otomi, Loma (Liberia), Guerrero Amuzgo, Highland Puebla Nahuatl ), and flesh may be rendered as ‘body’ (Guerrero Amuzgo, Highland Puebla Nahuatl , Tzeltal), ‘you yourself’ (Central Tarahumara). The following translations are illustrative of the contrastive expressions: ‘your hearts are ready but your bodies are weak’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl ), ‘your heart is strong but you yourselves are not strong’ (Central Tarahumara), ‘your heart has strength, but your body does not have strength’ (Tzeltal), ‘your heart desires to do good, but your heart is weak,’ in which ‘heart’ must be used in both clauses since it not only stands for the center of the personality, but is also the symbol of typical human nature (Loma (Liberia)).

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 .