Exegesis:

eiselthōn (cf. previous verse) ‘entering (the house)’: in the next verse ekbalōn ‘driving out (of the house).’

ti thorubeisthe (only here in Mark) ‘why do you make a tumult?’ (cf. the noun thorubos in the previous verse).

to paidion (5.40, 41; 7.28, 30; 9.24, 36, 37; 10.13, 14, 15) ‘the child,’ ‘the infant’: here, a twelve year old girl (v. 42).

ouk apethanen alla katheudei ‘she did not die but is sleeping,’ ‘is not dead but sleeps.’

apothnēskō (cf. v. 35) ‘die.’

katheudō (cf. 4.27) ‘sleep’: this word offers no problem to the translator since its meaning is ‘to sleep’ whatever may have been the sense in which it was used by Jesus (whether literal or metaphorical).

Translation:

Entered must in some languages specify ‘entered the house.’

Child offers certain problems to the translator since languages frequently have a number of terms, depending upon the age and stage of maturity. Note that the age is specifically given in verse 42, and it may be assumed that she had not experienced puberty (this latter event is the decisive distinction in many indigenous terms for ‘child’ or ‘girl’).

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 oikon (cf. 3.19) literally ‘into a house’: Translator’s New Testament ‘to His home’; Goodspeed ‘home’; Taylor ‘indoors.’ If the usage here is the same as that in 3.19 and 2.1 the meaning is ‘(his) home.’

epērōtōn (cf. 5.9) ‘they asked.’

parabolēn (cf. 3.23) ‘parable’; here in the sense of ‘figure,’ ‘illustration’ (Gould suggests ‘riddle’).

Translation:

Entered the house and left the people poses a problem in some languages if translated literally, for one would assume that Jesus left the people before entering the house, or at least in entering the house he left the people. The Greek text indicates that ‘he entered the house, away from the people,’ meaning ‘he went into his home, away from the people.’ The equivalent in other languages may be ‘when he had gone into his home and the people were no longer with him.’

For disciples see 2.15 and for parable see 3.23.

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:

diestelleto (cf. 5.43) ‘he ordered,’ ‘he commanded’: it would be better literally to translate this verb ‘he gave orders’ or (in a weakened sense) ‘he instructed,’ ‘he enjoined’ (Translator’s New Testament, Zürcher Bibel; Lagrange; cf. Moulton & Milligan), than to translate ‘he warned’ (Goodspeed, Manson, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada), ‘he cautioned’ (Moffatt, Revised Standard Version).

horate, blepete apo tēs zumēs ‘beware, watch out for the leaven….’

horate (cf. 1.44) ‘beware!,’ ‘look out!,’ ‘careful!’

blepō ‘look,’ ‘see’: in the imperative, ‘pay attention!’ ‘look out!,’ the verb is used in 4.24; 13.5, 9, 23, 33; with the preposition apo ‘from’ following, ‘watch out for!,’ in 8.15; 12.38.

zumē (only here in Mark; cf. the parallels in Mt. 16.6, 11, 12, Lk. 12.1) ‘leaven’: used in a figurative sense in these passages in the Gospels and also in 1 Co. 5.6, 7, 8, and Gal. 5.9, in a bad sense. In general it refers to attitudes, teachings, example. Lagrange: “a principle of moral corruption that contaminates all it touches.” Gould defines the leaven of the Pharisees as being their blindness to spiritual things, and the leaven of Herod as being his worldliness. Herod is Herod Antipas, referred to in 6.14ff.

Translation:

He must be changed to ‘Jesus’ in some languages.

The phrase take heed, beware, or as one may also translate in English “beware, watch out for,” involves a number of subtle problems: (1) the two related verbs, both implying caution and concern, (2) the need of paying attention only in order to avoid, and (3) the possibility of having the two verbs cancel each other out. In one translation this phrase meant ‘beware! take care of…’ (in the sense of ‘provide what is necessary on behalf of’). The meaning here must sometimes be split between two verbs (as in the Revised Standard Version), in which the first verb admonishes the disciples to pay attention and the second insists that they avoid the object in question. From our standpoint, this seems somewhat preferable to the Greek order, which first cautions and then orders one to look out for. The meaning can be conveyed as ‘beware, don’t become involved with….’

Leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod are obviously and purposely obscure phrases, designed evidently by Jesus to stimulate his disciples to consider the real implications of the feeding of the multitude. Accordingly, one must use the word ‘yeast’ (or ‘leaven’), even though within the immediate phrase the meaning is not fully evident.

Leaven is variously rendered, depending upon a number of local cultural factors, e.g. ‘that which causes bread to be sour’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl), ‘sour-water’ (Yucateco), ‘that which causes bread to swell’ (Shipibo-Conibo), or ‘that which causes bread to rise.’ In some instances it is the same term as for ‘beer foam,’ for that is precisely what is used by the people in the preparation of bread.

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:

katabainontōn autōn ‘while they were coming down’ (cf. embainontos autou ‘as he was entering’ 5.18).

For katabainō ‘come down’ cf. 1.10; diastellō … hina ‘command … that’ cf. 5.43; diēgeomai ‘narrate,’ ‘relate’ cf. 5.16; ek nekrōn ‘from the dead’ cf. 6.14; anistēmi ‘rise’ cf. 8.31.

ei mē hotan ‘except when’: in this context the meaning is ‘until after.’ As Arndt & Gingrich point out, in such a construction as this the action of the subordinate clause (in this case anastē ‘should rise’) precedes that of the verb of the main clause (here diēgēsōntai ‘they should say’): therefore, not until after the Son of man should rise from the dead were they to narrate what they had seen on the mountain.

ei mē ‘except’: introduces a condition, or exception, to a statement or command.

hotan (cf. 2.20) ‘when.’ For a similar construction cf. 12.25 hotan gar ek nekrōn anastōsin ‘for when they rise from the dead.’

Translation:

The pronominal referents of they, them and they must be made clear. The first they refers to Jesus and the disciples, while the following them and they denote the disciples. In many languages it is not necessary to be so careful about pronominal reference, as would seem to be implied in this and other notes with regard to pronouns, since the context seems to “sort out” the referents adequately. However, in some languages one may be completely misled by inexact pronominal elements, since the language requires very specific identification in any potentially ambiguous situation.

Charged them to tell must be shifted into direct discourse in many languages, e.g. ‘commanded them, Do not tell anyone….’

Some languages do not have a syntactic construction corresponding closely to the negative exception implied in the relationship no one … until. This can only be rendered by a paraphrastic construction, e.g. ‘he commanded them not to tell anyone what they had seen, but he said they could tell when he, the Son of man, had risen from the dead’ (Kekchi).

Rise from the dead is in Greek literally ‘arise from among the dead.’ A literal rendering is not always possible, for it might very well imply (as it has in some translations), ‘to stand up in the cemetery.’ The idea is of course ‘come back to life,’ ‘live again after being dead,’ or ‘to regain life.’

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:

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 .