Exegesis:

oudeis gar estin hos poiēsei … kai dunēsetai literally ‘for there is no one who will do … and will be able’: instead of one verb in the present tense and the other in the future tense (as in Revised Standard Version), it is preferable to have them both in the present tense, or in the future tense (American Standard Version, Goodspeed, Translator’s New Testament, Manson; The Modern Speech New Testament ‘who will perform a miracle … and be able’).

poiēsei dunamin (cf. 5.30) ‘will do a mighty work,’ ‘will perform a miracle.’

epi tō onomati mou (cf. v. 37) ‘in my name’: it would be hazardous to try to establish a hard and fast distinction between en tō onomati ‘in the name’ and epi tō onomati ‘on the basis of the name’ in these passages.

tachu (only here in Mark) ‘soon afterward,’ ‘quickly,’ ‘suddenly’: cf. Manson ‘in the same breath,’ Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale en même temps.

kakologēsai (cf. 7.10) ‘to speak evil of,’ ‘to revile.’

Translation:

Do not forbid may be translated as ‘Do not tell him he should not’ or ‘Do not say to him, You must not’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave).

Some languages may require the shift of the negative from the person to the capacity to speak against Jesus, e.g. ‘anyone who does … will not be able to…’ or ‘if a person does … he will not be able to….’ In both instances the verb forms should indicate the most general circumstances. In certain languages, this type of tense-aspect would be expressed by essentially tenseless forms of the verbs.

For mighty work see miracles 6.2. In many instances this type of context leads to the choice of words expressing the response of the viewer, e.g. ‘things people are astonished at’ (Tzotzil) and ‘big things, not (customarily) seen’ (San Blas Kuna).

In my name should be translated the same as in the preceding verse.

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:

stugnasas (only here in Mark) ‘becoming gloomy’: Arndt & Gingrich suggest possibly ‘shocked,’ ‘appalled.’

epi tō logō ‘at the word,’ ‘with the saying.’

epi ‘upon’: after verbs which express feeling the preposition means ‘at,’ ‘because,’ ‘with’ (cf. 1.22; 3.5).

lupoumenos (14.19) ‘sorrowing,’ ‘sad,’ ‘distressed.’ Manson translates ‘in annoyance.’

ktēmata (only here in Mark) in general means ‘property,’ ‘possessions’; specifically it means ‘lands,’ ‘estates’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan; Swete).

Translation:

Countenance fell can only rarely be translated literally. In Navajo one must say ‘his face drew together’ and in Amganad Ifugao the equivalent is ‘his feeling changed.’

At that saying may be translated as a verb expression in the form ‘when Jesus said that.’

Sorrowful must in some languages be carefully handled in order to avoid the meaning of ‘sorrow’ as an emotional response to death or bereavement. In this passage the meaning is one of emotional distress and disturbance, and as in so many instances of such psychological reactions the ways of speaking about these experiences are quite varied and often highly metaphorical, e.g. ‘his stomach died’ (Mezquital Otomi), ‘he was heavy in his stomach’ (Uduk), ‘his heart was pained’ (Kpelle), ‘he was sick in his mind’ (Amganad Ifugao), ‘his heart hung’ (Loma (Liberia)), and ‘his heart was spoiled’ (More).

The cultural equivalent of great possessions is in many languages ‘many farms’ and in others ‘many houses.’ In some languages the closest corresponding expression is ‘he was very rich.’

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:

didaskōn ‘teaching’: the participle is probably temporal, ‘while he was teaching.’ It is to be noticed that the text does not say that Jesus was addressing the scribes: it is to be inferred that he was speaking to a group of people (whether there were scribes present or not is of no moment).

hoi grammateis (cf. 1.22) ‘the scribes,’ ‘the teachers of the Law.’

ho christos (cf. 8.29) ‘the Christ’: a title, ‘The Anointed One,’ and not a proper name.

huios Dauid (cf. 10.47) ‘son of David,’ ‘descendant of David,’ ‘David’s offspring.’ As a Messianic title, ‘son of David’ indicated that the Messiah would be of the lineage of David.

Inasmuch as a faulty interpretation may influence the translation of this incident, it is well to notice that Jesus, in raising the question and quoting Ps. 110.1, is not denying the fact that the Messiah, indeed, would be a descendant of David (as attested in many passages in the O.T.). Implicit in the title ‘son of David,’ however, was the concept that the Messiah would be somewhat less than David, or, at the most, one like unto David: so Jesus says, in effect, “not only David’s son, but David’s Lord” (Rawlinson). The purpose of the argument, as Taylor points out, “is not to deny the Davidic descent of the Messiah, but to suggest that a much higher view of his origin is necessary since David calls him ‘lord.’”

Translation:

For taught see 2.13, and for temple see 11.11.

A rendering of taught may require an object, since in many languages it is a transitive verb, e.g. ‘taught the people.’

For scribes see 1.22.

Son must in some instances be rendered ‘descendant’ or ‘offspring.’ In certain languages one must use ‘grandson’ so as to avoid the interpretation that the Christ was to be regarded as the immediate biological son of David.

The basic problem with this verse, however, as suggested above, is that the form would seem to deny the fact that Jesus was the offspring of David. To avoid this implication, which may be much stronger in some languages than in Greek or English, one may be obliged to insert ‘merely’ or ‘just,’ e.g. ‘the Christ is just the son of David,’ implying inferiority of status.

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:

humeis ‘you yourselves’: the pronoun is emphatic (cf. Rawlinson).

blepete (cf. v. 5) ‘beware!’ ‘watch out!’

proeirēka (only here in Mark) ‘I have foretold,’ ‘I told (it) beforehand.’

Translation:

Take heed does not refer to the people’s paying close attention to what Jesus was saying at that time, but to their being aware of what was going to happen in the future, i.e. ‘be on your guard against,’ ‘be careful,’ or ‘watch out for what will happen.’

Beforehand may require expansion into the form of a clause, e.g. ‘before these things happen’ or ‘before these events take place.’

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:

kai anakeimenōn autōn kai esthiontōn ‘and while they were reclining at table and eating.’

anakeimai (cf. 6.26) ‘recline at table,’ ‘recline at meal.’

heis ex humōn ‘one from you’ means simply ‘one of you,’ ‘a certain one of you.’

paradōsei (cf. v. 10) ‘will hand over,’ ‘will deliver.’

ho esthiōn met’ emou ‘he who eats with me,’ ‘the one eating with me’: the definite article with the participle does not particularize the designation as though it meant ‘the only one who is eating with me,’ ‘that particular man who is eating with me,’ but simply designates the man as a table companion, as a table guest. Several commentators and translations agree with Revised Standard Version in taking the phrase to mean ‘the one who is even now eating with me.’ Though possible (and perhaps probable) this meaning is not necessarily intended: the phrase may mean simply ‘one who eats with me’ with no reference to time.

The turn of the phrase, in Mark, may have been influenced by Ps. 41.10.

Translation:

At table need not be translated literally, since it is only implied in the Greek, which reads literally ‘reclining and eating.’ The equivalent in some languages is ‘sitting there eating.’

For truly in this type of construction see 3.28 and 8.12.

As noted above, there is considerable difference of opinion as to the precise meaning of the clause one who is eating with me. Some have interpreted this in a strictly temporal manner, indicating that Judas was at that moment eating with Jesus, while others have assumed that it meant that Judas, who might have been reclining next to Jesus, was one dipping into the same bowl. However, the meaning did not seem to be particularly evident to the disciples, for they all seemed to regard themselves as being included in this possibility.

For betray see 3.19.

In order to reflect the type of appositional construction of clauses in the Greek text, one may wish to follow a rather paratactic type of arrangement in some languages, e.g. ‘one of you will betray me; he will be one who is eating with me.’ Such an adaptation may be necessary if, the construction ‘one … one…’ is not possible.

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:

aphentes (cf. 1.18; 2.5) ‘leaving,’ ‘abandoning,’ ‘forsaking.’

ephugon (cf. 5.14) ‘they fled.’

pantes ‘all,’ i.e. ‘all the disciples.’

In this verse is to be found the meaning of pantes skandalisthēsesthe of v. 27.

Translation:

While in many instances languages tend to render what is a subordinate construction in Greek by coordinate verbs implying sequence of action, there are times in which coordinate verbs must be incorporated into a subordinate type of construction, if, as in this case, the relationship is not one of sequence of events but of incorporated events; that is to say, the forsaking of Jesus was accomplished by the flight of the disciples. Accordingly, in Tzeltal this meaning is given as ‘fleeing, they left 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 .