Exegesis:

meta spoudēs (only here in Mark) ‘with haste,’ ‘in a hurry’; perhaps ‘eagerly’ (Lagrange).

ētēsato legousa ‘she requested, saying’: it is not necessary, however, in English, to translate both verbs (as does Revised Standard Version); simply ‘she requested.’

thelō hina ‘I want that’: as in 5.23 the force of the phrase here is probably imperatival; thelō hina … dōs moi ‘Give me’ (it may be that thelō hina is equivalent, as in later Greek, to ‘please’).

exautēs (only here in Mark) ‘at once,’ ‘immediately’ (the whole phrase is ex autēs tēs hōras ‘this very hour’).

pinaki (6.28) ‘platter,’ ‘dish.’

Iōannou tou baptistou (8.28) ‘of John the Baptist’ (cf. ho baptizōn ‘the Baptizer’ in 1.4).

Translation:

Immediately with haste reflects a double expression in the Greek text. The idea is that the girl not only returned very soon, but she was obviously hurrying to deliver her request.

The closest equivalent of platter is often ‘serving tray,’ whether consisting of earthenware, wood or basketry. It must be a sufficiently large object, so as to hold a human head, but not one in which the head would be hidden from view, as in the case of a basket. Evidently, Herodias was eager that her triumph might be clearly witnessed by all who were present.

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 Merk (in parentheses) add, baptismous xestōn kai poteriōn, kai alla paromoia toiauta polla poieite ‘washings of pots and cups, and many other such like things you do’: the majority of modern editions of the Greek text omit these words.

Exegesis:

aphentes tēn entolēn tou theou ‘leaving the commandment of God.’

aphiēmi (cf. 2.5) ‘abandon,’ ‘forsake,’ ‘leave.’

entolē (7.9; 10.5, 19; 12.28, 31) ‘commandment’: the singular ‘the commandment of God’ here represents all the commandments, ‘the Law of God.’

krateite tēn paradosin tōn anthrōpōn ‘you hold on to the tradition of men.’

krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘hold to,’ ‘keep,’ ‘observe.’

paradosis (cf. 7.3) ‘tradition.’

Translation:

Without some break at the beginning of this verse, it is quite possible for people to think that these words are likewise from the book of Isaiah. Accordingly, the use of indentation, quotation marks, or special particles or forms to mark such quotations should be employed (e.g. in some languages the limits of quotations are specially marked by some form of the verb, ‘says he,’ e.g.: ‘he says … says he’). Some translations have even introduced ‘Jesus said,’ at the beginning of this verse in order to make the transition clear (e.g. Loma (Liberia)).

Commandment of God may be ‘what God commanded’ or ‘the orders which God spoke.’

Leave the commandment cannot be translated in some instances simply as ‘to abandon,’ but rather ‘to no longer do’ or even ‘to refuse to do.’

Hold fast may be rendered as ‘you are very careful to do’ or ‘you do not fail to do.’

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:

Most of the words in this verse have already been dealt with: paraggellei ‘he commands,’ 6.8; anapesein ‘to recline,’ ‘to sit down,’ 6.40; labōn ‘taking,’ 6.41; paratithōsin ‘they may place,’ ‘they may set before,’ 6.41.

eucharistēsas (14.23; cf. eulogeō 6.41) ‘giving thanks (to God).’

eklasen (8.19; 14.22; cf. kataklaō 6.41) ‘he broke.’

Translation:

Commanded the crowd to sit … may be shifted to the direct form as ‘commanded the crowd, Sit down….’

In a number of languages ‘to give thanks’ requires an object. Accordingly, one may translate ‘he gave thanks to God’ or ‘he said to God, Thanks’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui, Tzeltal).

For broke and gave to the disciples to set before see 6.41.

As in all instances of intra-Gospel parallels, one should attempt to reproduce the identical wording of the Greek text with substantially similar renderings in receptor languages. This may not always be completely possible, for certain minor shifts in wording in the Greek text may call for accompanying adaptations in receptor languages, and hence there cannot be any one-to-one system of exact correspondence. Nevertheless, the degree to which parallelism can be reproduced, whether within a single book or between books, should be a constant concern of the translator. On the other hand, it is not wise to refer to a portion already translated and to take over the wording without examination, for such arbitrary lifting of material out of context may result in very artificial transitions and syntactic relationships, especially in matters of tense sequence, conjunctions, pronominal reference, and aspects of the verb.

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:

amēn (cf. 3.28) ‘truly,’ ‘solemnly.’

hoti ‘that’ is recitative, introducing direct speech.

eisin tines hōde tōn hestēkotōn ‘there are some of those standing here,’ ‘some of those here present.’

hōde (cf. 8.4) ‘here.’

hoi hestēkotes ‘those who are standing’: the verb histēmi ‘stand’ is used here in the sense of ‘being’ or ‘existing’ rather than the strictly physical sense of ‘standing’ (Lagrange ‘some of those present’; O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada ‘some of those who are here’).

hoitines ou mē geusōntai thanatou ‘who certainly will not taste death,’ ‘who will by no means die’: the double negative is emphatic, and the statement is a forceful way of saying ‘who certainly will be alive.’

ou mē (9.41; 10.15; 13.2, 19, 30; 14.25, 31; 16.18) ‘not’: an emphatic way of making a negative statement.

geuomai (only here in Mark) ‘taste’: in a figurative sense, as here, ‘experience,’ ‘come to know.’

heōs an idōsin ‘until they see’: the meaning is not that they will die as soon as they see the Kingdom of God come with power; the emphasis is on the fact that during their lifetime they will see the Kingdom come with power.

heōs an (cf. 6.10) ‘until.’

eidein ‘see’: the word should be translated literally, rather than in a figurative manner, e.g. ‘perceive,’ ‘become aware of,’ ‘experience.’ The aorist subjunctive should be simply rendered ‘see’ rather than ‘have seen,’ as some translations have it.

tēn basileian tou theou elēluthuian en dunamei ‘the Kingdom of God having come with power’: the perfect passive participle elēluthuian ‘having come’ functions as an adjective (in the predicate position) which makes an additional statement concerning the Kingdom. It is not, simply, that in their lifetime they will see the Kingdom of God: it is that they will see the Kingdom present (‘having come’) in power. This ‘having come,’ therefore, lies in the future just as much as heōs an idōsin ‘until they see’: it is said that they will see (in the future, within their lifetime) the Kingdom having arrived – which ‘arrival’ is also future in relation to the time of the prediction. A translation should attempt accurately to convey the meaning of the Greek, which is reasonably clear and precise.

(On the interpretation of the passage, see the commentaries in loc.).

hē basileia tou theou (cf. 1.15) ‘the Reign of God’: here spoken of as an ‘event’ (however interpreted), visible in its coming.

elēluthuia ‘having come’: regardless of the interpretation of the verse, the force of the perfect participle should be observed. In Revised Standard Version ‘before they see the kingdom of God come,’ the ‘come’ is ambiguous: it may mean ‘having come,’ but may also mean ‘coming.’

Translation:

Them should refer to the same group as is identified in 8.34, ‘the crowd as well as the disciples.’

For this use of truly, with double type of attribution, see 8.12.

Some standing here, as an expression equivalent to ‘now living,’ may actually be translated in certain languages as ‘some sitting here,’ for ‘sitting’ is in a number of languages of Africa, for example, the verb which by extension also means ‘to live’ or ‘to exist.’

A literal translation of taste death has been understood in some languages to mean ‘partake of a cannibalistic meal.’ The meaning is, of course, ‘to die,’ though in some languages the negative is shifted to the subject constituent rather than to the verb, e.g. ‘not all those here are going to die until they see…’ (Copainalá Zoque). This shift is designed to avoid the tendency to interpret the ‘until’ clause as designating the point at which such persons are to die. In some languages, one can preserve something of the force of the idiom ‘taste death’ by using a parallel ‘feel death’ (Tabasco Chontal), ‘see death’ (Navajo; cf. also Toraja-Sa’dan), and ‘suffer death’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl).

In some languages the expression ‘see the kingdom’ is impossible, because ‘kingdom’ actually identifies a process of ‘rule’ or ‘ruling’ (see kingdom, 1.15 and 4.11). However, one can often speak of ‘see God ruling,’ which would be the closest equivalent to see the kingdom of God. In other instances one may be able to translate as ‘see that God has now begun to rule with power,’ though this is not a very close approximate.

Power is generally rendered in this context as ‘great authority’ (Tzeltal), or ‘strength to command,’ rather than merely ‘power’ or ‘might,’ if these terms refer primarily to physical prowess or dominance.

It must be recognized that part of the difficulty of translating this verse is the fact that scholars are so divided as to what it actually means. In all fairness to the Scriptures it is best to avoid taking any overly decisive position, or the results may do violence, either to the prediction of Jesus or to the subsequent events of history.

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 ēlthon ‘they came’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden have ēlthen ‘he came.’

Before dielogizesthe ‘you were discussing’ Textus Receptus adds pros heautous ‘among yourselves’; Kilpatrick adds pros heautous after dielogizesthe; all other modern editions of the Greek text omit the two words.

Exegesis:

en tē oikia ‘in the house’: perhaps Peter’s house, which, it would seem, had become Jesus’ “home” in Galilee.

dielogizesthe (cf. 2.6) ‘you were discussing,’ ‘debating (with one another).’

Translation:

Came must often be changed to ‘arrived at,’ because of the problem of narrative perspective. However, in some languages, e.g. Yatzachi Zapotec, there are two words for ‘arriving’; one is used when one arrives at a destination other than one’s home and another when the point of arrival is at home (although in Yatzachi Zapotec there is an additional complication in that in this particular passage the point of arrival must also be related to the home of the narrator). In this passage Jesus was evidently arriving at his “home.”

On the way must be rendered in some languages by an expression containing a verb, ‘as you walked along the path’ (or ‘along the road’), since on the way implies a process of journeying, not simply a position.

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:

enagkalisamenos (cf. 9.36) ‘embracing,’ ‘taking into (his) arms.’

kateulogei titheis ‘he blessed laying’: most translations have it simply, ‘he laid (his hands upon them) and blessed.’ The participle titheis ‘laying’ may indicate means ‘by laying (his hands upon them),’ or accompanying circumstances ‘as he laid (his hands upon them)’ (cf. Williams, Zürcher Bibel).

kateulogeō (only here in the N.T.; cf. eulogeō 6.41) ‘bless’: in accordance with the customs of the time, we are to understand that Jesus invoked God’s blessings upon them (‘May God bless you’) rather than pronounced a blessing himself (‘I bless you’). Some commentators and translators understand the preposition kata in this compound verb to have the meaning ‘tenderly,’ ‘warmly,’ ‘lovingly.’ The imperfect of the verb describes Jesus blessing the children one by one, not all at the same time.

tithenai tas cheiras (cf. 5.23 for epitithenai tas cheiras) ‘to lay hands,’ ‘to place (his) hands’: as Lagrange points out, this imposition of hands is the mode of the benediction.

Translation:

Them must refer specifically to the children.

In his arms probably refers to a position on his lap rather than to his simply lifting them up from the ground while he was in a standing position (as a Rabbi he was probably teaching in a seated position). This difference is important in some languages.

For bless see 6.41, but in this instance persons are the object of the blessing, and hence certain adjustments may be required.

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:

stas ‘standing,’ ‘standing still’: only here in Mark is histēmi used with the meaning ‘standing still,’ ‘stopping’; elsewhere it means simply ‘to stand.’

tharsei (cf. 6.50) ‘Cheer up!’ ‘Courage!’ ‘Take heart!’

egeire (cf. 1.31) ‘rise,’ ‘stand up.’

Translation:

Said must in some languages occur with an object specifying to whom he spoke. The most likely object would be ‘the disciples.’

Call him implies ‘call him to come’ or ‘summon him,’ not just ‘shout at him.’

For take heart see 6.50.

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 .