Text:

After ta peteina ‘the birds’ Textus Receptus adds tou ouranou ‘of the heaven’: all modern editions of the Greek text omit this addition.

Exegesis:

kai egeneto ‘and it was’ plus the indicative epesen ‘it fell’: for this Semitic construction see 1.9; 2.23.

en tō speirein (cf. 6.48 for identical construction) ‘in the sowing,’ ‘as he sowed’: a Semitic construction (Taylor, 62), but found also in Greek.

ho men epesen ‘some (seed) fell’: throughout the whole parable (vv. 5, 7, 8) sperma ‘seed’ is to be understood.

ho (‘some’) is the neuter of the relative hos ‘who,’ ‘which’: it is here used as a demonstrative ‘this (seed),’ ‘this portion (of the seed).’ In connection with allo (v. 5) alla (v. 7) and alla (v. 8) the whole series may be translated: ‘some … and other … and other … and others.’ Notice that ho ‘some’ and auto ‘it’ are collective, meaning ‘some seed’ (not singular, ‘a seed’).

piptō (4.5, 7, 8; 5.22; 9.20; 13.25; 14.35) ‘fall.’

para tēn hodon literally ‘by (alongside) the path’: some see in the Greek phrase a mistranslation of the underlying Aramaic, since the meaning, clearly, is ‘on’ the beaten path that ran through the field, on which the sower walked as he scattered his seed (cf. Lk. 8.5 ‘and it was trodden upon’). “Along” (Revised Standard Version) is ambiguous enough; some (Manson, Moffatt, Berkeley) have “on.”

ta peteina (4.32) ‘the birds.’

katephagen (12.40) ‘they ate,’ ‘they ate up,’ ‘they devoured.’

Translation:

Probably ‘on the path’ is a more justified translation, if one cannot use an ambiguous expression for the Greek phrase (see above).

The birds (as indicated in the added phrase of heaven) refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are the ‘field birds.’

Many languages distinguish carefully the way in which a bird eats from the manner in which people or animals eat. One must make certain to employ the right term.

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:

proskaleitai (cf. 3.13) ‘he summons,’ ‘he calls to himself.’

hoi dōdeka (cf. 3.14, 16) ‘the Twelve’ as a title, not simply as a number of men (Revised Standard Version ‘the twelve’).

apostellein (cf. 1.2; 3.14) ‘to send off’: a commission and authority to carry out the ministry of Jesus, in accordance with their call as disciples (cf. 3.14-15).

duo duo ‘by the twos,’ ‘two by two’: the use of the cardinal numbers in a distributive sense is not only Semitic but thoroughly Greek as well.

exousian tōn pneumatōn tōn akathartōn ‘authority over the unclean spirits,’ i.e. authority or power to cast them out.

exousia (cf. 1.23; 3.15) ‘authority,’ ‘capacity,’ ‘power.’

ta pneumata ta akatharta (cf. 1.23) ‘the unclean spirits.’

Translation:

For problems in translating the twelve, see 3.14. For authority see 2.10, and for unclean spirits see 1.26.

Called must not be interpreted in the sense of ‘call out to’ or ‘to summon’ (in the legal sense). Moreover, in this context, we are not dealing with the ‘commissioning’ of 3.13. In some languages the equivalent is ‘he spoke especially to the twelve followers’ or ‘he addressed himself to the twelve learners.’

Send them out may be rendered as ‘told them to go out,’ for their going out was in response to a verbal command.

Two by two must be distributive, not collective, i.e. two men went in one direction and two others in another.

Authority over may be rendered simply as ‘power (or ‘strength’) to cast out’ (or ‘to command’). It should be noted, however, that this was a delegated power, not an inherent capacity.

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 idōn … erchetai ‘and seeing … he comes,’ ‘when he saw … he came’: in Greek the complete sentence goes from kai idōn ‘and seeing’ to epi tēs thalassēs ‘on the sea,’ the main verb being erchetai ‘he comes.’ The text appears to say that ‘he saw them’ from the hill where he was praying, and so he came, about the fourth watch of the night (cf. Lagrange).

basanizomenous en tō elaunein ‘distressed in (their) rowing,’ ‘troubled as they rowed.’

basanizomai (cf. 5.7) here in the sense of ‘be troubled,’ ‘be distressed’; perhaps the whole phrase means ‘they were straining at the oars’ (Goodspeed; cf. Translator’s New Testament; cf. Manson ‘laboring at the oars’; Berkeley ‘toiling hard at rowing’).

en tō elaunein (cf. 4.4 en tō speirein ‘as he sowed’) ‘in the rowing,’ ‘as they rowed’: the verb occurs only here in Mark.

ho anemos (cf. 4.37) ‘the wind.’

enantios (15.39) ‘against,’ ‘contrary,’ ‘opposed.’

peri tetartēn phulakēn tēs nuktos ‘about the fourth watch of the night’: according to the Greco-Roman system the night (6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.) was divided into four watches of three hours each. The fourth watch, the last one, would be from 3:00 to 6:00 A.M.

phulakē (in 6.17 ‘prison’) ‘watch.’

peripatōn epi tēs thalassēs ‘walking on the sea,’ ‘walking on (top of) the water.’

peripateō (cf. 2.9) ‘walk.’

kai ēthelen parelthein autous ‘and he was going to pass them by’: it is generally agreed that the verb thelō here does not mean ‘will’ or ‘wish,’ but is used in a weakened sense, being the equivalent of an auxiliary. American Standard Version ‘as if intending to pass them by’ reads into the text more than is there.

parerchomai (13.30, 31; 14.35) ‘pass by,’ ‘pass’: this is the meaning most commentators and translators give the verb in this passage; without a direct object it may mean ‘come to,’ ‘join’ (Lk. 12.37, 17.7) and this is the meaning Goodspeed gives it here, ‘and (he) was going to join them,’ an interpretation which seems quite reasonable in view of the context.

Translation:

Rowing is not too widely practiced in the world, and even where it is known, there are two principal practices: (1) pulling the oars, and hence going in the direction to which one’s back is turned, and (2) pushing the oars, as in the Orient, and thus facing the direction in which the boat is moving. Where rowing is completely unknown, translators have tried to describe the action as ‘making the boat move’ (Eastern Highland Otomi) and ‘pushing the water back with wooden poles’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui).

Wind was against them may be translated as ‘the wind was blowing against them’ or ‘the wind was blowing on their back’ (i.e. if our Western kind of rowing is understood) or ‘the wind was blowing into their faces’ (if the Oriental type is generally inferred by the people). One may avoid this problem somewhat by saying ‘blowing from the direction in which they were going.’

The fourth watch is variously rendered: ‘when it was almost dawn’ (Southern Subanen), ‘when the cocks had crowed’ (Maninka), ‘towards dawn’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘at the very first cock-crow’ (Batak Toba), ‘when it was already three o’clock at night’ (Indonesian).

Walking on the sea is ‘walking on top of the lake’ (or ‘face of the lake’ in some instances).

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:

nai (only here in Mark) ‘certainly,’ ‘assuredly,’ ‘exactly.’

kurie (in the vocative only here in Mark) ‘Sir’: a title of respect, not the Christian title ‘Lord.’

kai ta kunaria ‘yet the (little) dogs.’

hupokatō tēs trapezēs ‘underneath the table.’

trapeza (11.15) ‘table.’

esthiousin apo tōn psichiōn ‘they eat the crumbs’: the phrase esthiein apo ‘to eat of’ indicates the thing of which one partakes (not the idea of ‘some’ of it).

psichion (diminutive) ‘crumb,’ ‘bit’: perhaps here the word refers to the bits of bread used to clean the hands of the guests and then thrown under the table to the dogs (cf. Rawlinson).

Translation:

Yes cannot be translated literally in many languages, for there is no direct yes-or-no question. There is simply a negative statement it is not right…. Moreover, in a high percentage of languages if one is going to show agreement with a negative statement, one must use a negative, not a positive, reply. For example, in Tzeltal the woman’s reply must be ‘No sir; but even the dogs….’ In some languages, however, one can use the expressions ‘you are right’ or ‘you have said true,’ to indicate agreement with the preceding statement, whether in a positive or negative form.

Lord is probably not the better rendering at this point. The woman’s respect for Jesus is generally regarded as not equivalent to a recognition of his divine status, so much as a very polite means of address.

The children’s crumbs cannot be translated as a possessive construction in some languages, since these are not crumbs which belong to the children, but crumbs from the bread which they have been eating. They are therefore ‘crumbs from the children’ or ‘crumbs from the children’s bread,’ Pamona translates ‘the left-overs of the food,’ while Javanese has ‘the spilt (food).’

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 dieblepsen ‘he looked intently’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has epoiēsen auton anablepsai ‘he made him see again.’

Instead of the neutral plural hapanta ‘all things’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has the masculine plural hapantas ‘all men.’

Exegesis:

For epethēken tas cheiras ‘he laid his hands upon’ cf. 5.23; for ophthalmous ‘eyes’ cf. 8.18.

kai dieblepsen kai apekatestē ‘and he looked intently and was restored,’ ‘and he saw clearly and was restored.’

diablepō (only here in Mark) ‘look intently’ (Revised Standard Version) or ‘see clearly,’ ‘see properly’ (Translator’s New Testament); others translate the word here ‘look hard,’ ‘look steadily,’ ‘stare straight ahead.’

apokathistamai (cf. 3.5) ‘be restored,’ ‘be made sound.’

kai eneblepen tēlaugōs hapanta ‘and he saw everything clearly.’

emblepō (10.21, 27; 14.67) ‘see.’

tēlaugōs (only here in the N.T.) ‘plainly,’ ‘clearly’; Moulton & Milligan define it ‘clearly from afar’ (cf. Taylor, Translator’s New Testament).

Translation:

In many languages, the first occurrence of he must be rendered as ‘Jesus,’ since the immediately preceding third person singular subject is the blind man. However, the second he must be changed to ‘the man,’ for this marks a change in subject. Of course, the reader can, with some care, determine these shifts from the context, but if in the receptor language it would be normal to mark such changes overtly, they should be so treated in the translation. This procedure is nothing more nor less than having the translation conform to the syntactic requirements of the language into which one is translating.

Restored may be ‘regained his sight,’ ‘his eyes were healed,’ or ‘finally he could see.’

Saw everything clearly is rendered in Tzeltal as ‘everything far off appeared clear,’ a normal way of talking about complete vision; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘he gained certainty concerning everything when he saw it.’

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 autois ‘them’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has autō ‘him.’

Exegesis:

genea (cf. 8.12) ‘generation’: here also refers to the contemporaries of Jesus.

apistos (only here in Mark) ‘unbelieving,’ ‘not having faith,’ ‘faithless’ (rather than ‘unfaithful’).

heōs pote ‘until when?’ ‘how long?’

heōs (6.23; 13.19, 27; 14.25, 34, 54; 15.33, 38) ‘until,’ ‘till.’

pote (13.4, 33, 35) ‘when.’

anexomai (only here in Mark) ‘I will endure,’ ‘bear,’ ‘put up with.’

Translation:

For generation see 8.12.

Faithless is to be understood in an active sense ‘you people who do not believe’ (Copainalá Zoque, Highland Puebla Nahuatl). For faith see 1.15.

How long am I to be with you is equivalent in some languages to ‘how long must I remain with you,’ in the sense of how long must I remain with you in order for you to have faith.

Bring should be translated by the same word as brought of verse 17.

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 kai ‘and’ before peran tou Iordanou ‘beyond the Jordan’ of the great majority of the modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden have dia tou ‘through the,’ so that the whole clause reads ‘through the other side of the Jordan.’

Exegesis:

anastas erchetai (cf. anastas apēlthen 7.24) ‘rising, he comes,’ i.e. ‘leaving that place (ekeithen ‘thence’) he went.’

horia (cf. 5.17) ‘boundaries,’ ‘region’: the phrase eis ta horia does not mean ‘to the boundaries’ but ‘into the region.’ The route indicated by the words of the text goes through Judea, across the river Jordan into Perea (cf. Goodspeed).

peran tou Iordanou (cf. 3.8; 4.35) ‘beyond the Jordan,’ ‘Perea.’

sumporeuontai palin ochloi pros auton ‘again crowds come together to him.’

sumporeuomai (only here in Mark) ‘go along with’; with reference to many people, as here, ‘come together,’ ‘flock,’ ‘gather.’

ochloi ‘crowds’: here only, in Mark, is the plural used.

eiōthei (only here in Mark) ‘he was accustomed’: the form eiōtha is the perfect of ethō but has a present sense ‘to be accustomed’: the pluperfect eiōthei, therefore, has an imperfect sense. The meaning here is not ‘as he had been accustomed,’ but ‘as he was accustomed,’ ‘as his custom was.’

Translation:

Beyond the Jordan identifies ‘the region on the other side of the Jordan’ (or ‘Jordan river,’ if a classifier is required).

Crowds involves certain difficulties, since in, many languages there are two types of plurals, aggregates and distributives. In Greek, however, it is not certain whether the plural actually denotes different crowds or whether it is a so-called augmentative plural, i.e. a plural which emphasizes the extent or size rather than the actual number of objects or occurrences. If, therefore, the Greek term ochloi is taken to mean simply the size of the crowd, then ‘many, many people’ or ‘very large crowd’ may be used. However, the use of the Greek form may indicate a distributive plural, implying that Jesus met with crowd after crowd wherever he went, in which case, of course, a distributive – whether of time or space – may be used. One must, however, avoid the mistake made in some languages of using an aggregate plural, for Jesus would not be addressing himself to several crowds at the same time.

As his custom was is translatable in many languages by a habitual, or customary, aspect of the verb. However, in some languages the idea of customary action can only be expressed by a separate verb phrase, e.g. ‘he was accustomed to teach; he began to teach again’ (Tzeltal).

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 .