Exegesis:

periblepsamenos (cf. 3.5) ‘looking around.’

duskolōs (10.24) ‘with difficulty’; pōs duskolōs ‘with what difficulty!’

chrēmata (only here in Mark) ‘wealth,’ ‘property,’ ‘riches.’

eiseleusontai ‘they shall enter’: the Kingdom of God is here referred to in eschatological terms.

Translation:

Looked around implies ‘looked around at the people.’

How hard introduces an exclamatory expression, which in some languages can only be stated as ‘very hard’ or ‘exceedingly difficult,’ e.g. ‘those who have riches will have a very difficult time to enter….’

Have riches may be either ‘have much property’ or ‘are very rich.’

For problems involved in expressions for the kingdom of God see 1.15, 4.11, and 10.15.

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:

hupokatō ‘under’ is read by Westcott and Hort, Lagrange, Nestle, Kilpatrick, and Taylor, while hupopodion ‘footstool’ is read by Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, Vogels, Souter, and Merk. The genuine reading in the O.T. passage quoted (Ps. 110.1) is hupopodion (the Septuagint translation of hadom ‘footstool’): this fact, besides the manuscript evidence, makes it probable that the genuine reading here is hupokatō ‘under’ (as well as in the parallel Mt. 22.44; in Lk. 20.43, however, the true reading is hupopodion ‘footstool’).

Exegesis:

autos Dauid ‘David himself’: in accordance with normal Greek usage the pronoun is emphatic (cf. Lagrange); Black, however, sees Semitic influence and translates ‘He, David.’

en tō pneumati tō hagiō ‘in the Holy Spirit,’ ‘under the influence of the Holy Spirit.’

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

The passage quoted (Ps. 110.1) is the O.T. passage most often quoted in the New Testament. It is here reproduced exactly as the Septuagint translates the Hebrew, with the single exception of the omission of the definite article ho before kurios ‘Lord.’ This does not, however, affect the meaning of the passage.

eipen kurios tō kuriō mou ‘the Lord said to my Lord’: the Greek is a translation of the Hebrew neʾem YHWH laʾdoni ‘said Yahweh to my Lord.’ As quoted here Kurios (YHWH) is God, while the second kurios mou (ʾadoni) ‘my Lord,’ is the Messiah. If language allows, the translation should be equivalent to the Greek, ‘the Lord said to my Lord.’ If, however, ambiguity arises from this double use of ‘Lord,’ the meaning may be conveyed by ‘The Lord (or, God) said to my Messiah,’ or, ‘God said to my Lord.’ By no means, however, should a translation read ‘God said to Christ,’ in which ‘Christ’ is a proper name: such a translation would altogether mar the allusiveness of the quotation on the lips of Jesus.

kathou ek dexiōn mou ‘sit at my right hand’: the ‘right hand’ is the place of authority and power.

kathēmai (cf. 2.6) ‘to sit.’

ek dexiōn mou (cf. 10.37) ‘at my right.’

heōs an ‘until’: this phrase may mean ‘until that time – and no longer’ (as it does in 6.10; cf. also heōs alone in 6.45 and 14.32), but not necessarily so. It is the context which determines the particular force of the phrase, and here, as well as in 9.1, it is not to be inferred that the action of the verb (‘sit’) is to last only until the point indicated by the heōs an clause (‘until I put your enemies under your feet’), and is then terminated. Cf. 9.1 for a similar instance of this usage.

hupokatō tōn podōn sou ‘underneath your feet’: as indicated in Text (above), the Septuagint, a passage also often quoted in the N.T. The figure is that of subjection of enemies, in which the victors placed their feet upon the necks of their defeated enemies (cf. Joshua 10.24).

Translation:

Inspired by the Holy Spirit is an Revised Standard Version rendering of the secondary agency, indicated in Greek by the use of the preposition en ‘in’ or ‘by’ and the dative case of the following noun phrase ‘the Holy Spirit.’ In some languages one can use a preposition such as ‘by’ or ‘through,’ but in other languages one must employ a kind of paratactic construction, e.g. ‘David said; the Holy Spirit caused him to say it’ (Sayula Popoluca).

The Lord must often be adapted to the requirements of possession, since ‘Lord’ cannot occur in some languages without some possessive, e.g. ‘our Lord.’ In Tzeltal, for example, ‘our Lord’ is commonly used of God, and hence in the passage ‘our Lord said to my Lord’ the meaning is relatively clear, despite the generally allusive character of the passage.

At my right hand (cf. usage in 10.37) may require a marginal note in some languages in order to indicate that this is the preferred or honored position, since in some cultures the right hand is regarded as the place of less honor than the left.

Put should not be rendered in a grossly literal manner. The meaning is better conveyed in some languages by a causative, e.g. ‘cause your enemies to be.’

Since a position ‘under the feet’ is generally regarded as one of inferiority or defeat, such an idiom is almost always quite acceptable and does not require any marginal explanation.

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 ekeinais tais hēmerais (cf. 1.9) ‘in those days’: a vague definition of time (cf. v. 17, where it is more definite).

meta tēn thlipsin ekeinēn ‘after that tribulation’: in the context, this refers to the thlipsis ‘tribulation’ in v. 19. The preposition meta ‘after’ in no way indicates the length of time intervening between the two events, whether great or small: it simply denotes the temporal succession of the events described.

The rest of the verse is patterned after the language of Isa. 13.10.

skotisthēsetai (only here in Mark) ‘shall be darkened’: the verb skotizō ‘to darken,’ ‘to lose (its) light’ appears only in the passive in the N.T.

to pheggos (only here in Mark) ‘the light,’ ‘the radiance.’

Translation:

In those days, as a general reference to time, is translated in some languages as ‘at that time,’ ‘then,’ or ‘then later.’

Tribulation, which is a noun of process, must often be translated as a verb, e.g. ‘after the people have suffered,’ ‘after they have had great troubles,’ or ‘after they have been greatly troubled.’

Will be darkened is in some languages equivalent to ‘will not shine’ or ‘will become dark.’

Give its light is usually translatable by some verb meaning ‘to shine,’ ‘to be brilliant,’ or ‘to glow.’ A literal rendering of ‘give light’ is often quite misleading.

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, Soden, Vogels, and Kilpatrick add kai allos, Mēti egō; ‘and another, Is it I?,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

ērxanto (cf. 1.45) ‘they began.’

lupeisthai (cf. 10.22) ‘to be sad,’ ‘to be sorrowful.’

heis kata heis ‘one after the other.’

mēti egō; ‘Is it I?’: the interrogative mēti expects a negative answer (cf. 4.21), and the question is not a request for information, but a protest of loyalty, ‘Surely it is not I?’ a question requesting confirmation – ‘No, it is not!’

Translation:

For sorrowful see 10.22. Began to be is equivalent in many languages to ‘became.’

To say … one after another is rendered in some languages by a distributive form of the verb ‘to say.’ In other languages one must translate, ‘one said, Is it I, and another said, Is it I, and so all said the same.’

The form of the question should definitely anticipate a negative reply, e.g. ‘I am not the one, am I?’ or ‘I will not do it, will I?’

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, Soden, and Vogels add hoi neaniskoi ‘the young men,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

neaniskos (16.5) ‘a young man.’

sunēkolouthei (cf. 5.37; cf. akolouthēo 1.18) ‘he was following with (him).’

peribeblēmenos sindona epi gumnou ‘clothed with a linen (sheet) about his naked (body).’ Arndt & Gingrich translate: ‘who wore (nothing but) a linen cloth on his naked body.’

periballō (16.5) ‘to place around’: the verb is used of clothing ‘to put on,’ ‘to clothe with,’ and in the passive, as here, it means ‘to be clothed with,’ ‘to wear.’ Field takes the word in its literal sense, ‘with a sheet wrapped about his naked body.’

sindōn (14.52; 15.46) ‘linen cloth’: here either a ‘sheet,’ or else a garment, the chitōn ‘under garment’ (cf. 6.9), made of the material . Lagrange conjectures that it was a flimsy sleeping garment.

epi gumnou ‘on his naked body’: here to gumnon, as a substantive, means ‘naked body.’ Moulton & Milligan show, from the papyri, that the word may mean ‘wearing only the chitōn [tunic].’ The meaning in this passage may be that the young man was wearing nothing except a linen tunic.

kratousin (cf. 1.31) ‘they seize.’

Translation:

Followed him should be understood in the sense of ‘followed along with.’

Linen cloth is variously translated, either as ‘a sheet’ or ‘a piece of white cloth’ (Southern Subanen, Barrow Eskimo), ‘one layer of clothing’ (Tzeltal), and ‘a cloth’ (Navajo).

They must refer to the men of the group who came out against Jesus, not to the immediately preceding third person plural pronoun which designates the disciples. Accordingly, this clause may be translated as ‘some men there grabbed 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, poiēsō ‘I shall do’ and Kilpatrick Textus Receptus add thelete ‘you wish,’ which is omitted by all other modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

ti oun poiēsō hon legete…; ‘what then shall I do with him whom you call…?’: the relative hon serves both as the object of poiēsō ‘I shall do’ and as the object of legete ‘you call.’ The proper translation is (as Revised Standard Version has it) ‘what shall I do with him…’ and not ‘what shall I do to him…’ (cf. Lagrange); but in many languages it is quite impossible to reproduce such a fine distinction.

Translation:

Said may need to be shifted to ‘asked,’ because of the following question.

Shall … do with must often be recast, e.g. ‘cause to happen to’ or ‘decide how this man … will fare.’

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 .