Exegesis:

eneteilato (13.34) ‘he commanded,’ ‘ordered.’ Freely translated, the meaning of the question is: “What commandment (entolē) did Moses give you?”

Translation:

Answered may be easily mistranslated in languages which require certain types of verbs introducing direct discourse. What follows is of course a question, even though it is given in response to another question. Accordingly, in some languages this must be adapted as ‘he asked them in turn.’

Command may be rendered as ‘tell you to do’ or ‘order you to do.’ Often some complimentary verb must be added, for Moses was not actually commanding the people but enjoining a particular order upon them.

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:

After thelete ‘you want’ Westcott and Hort, Lagrange, Kilpatrick, and Taylor omit me ‘me,’ which is included by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

The construction of the Greek is rather uncommon (with the omission of me ‘me’ the construction is more nearly normal), but the sense is clear enough: Revised Standard Version ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ accurately translates the Greek.

Translation:

In some instances said must be rendered as ‘asked’ because of the following question.

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:

autois ‘to them’ is omitted by Westcott and Hort, and Taylor, but retained by all other editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

gegraptai (cf. 1.2) ‘it is written,’ ‘Scripture says’: the quotation, from Isa. 56.7, represents Yahweh speaking, so that ‘My house’ of the quotation is ‘God’s house’ (not as though Jesus were claiming the Temple was his own house).

proseuchēs (cf. 9.29) ‘of prayer.’

klēthēsetai ‘shall be called’: a Hebraism for ‘shall be.’

pasin tois ethnesin (cf. 10.33) ‘for all peoples,’ ‘for all nations.’

spēlaion lēstōn ‘a den of robbers,’ ‘a cave of bandits’: the phrase is a reference to another O.T. passage, Jer. 7.11.

spēlaion (only here in Mark) ‘cave,’ ‘den.’

lēstēs (14.48; 15.27) ‘robber,’ ‘highwayman,’ ‘bandit.’

Translation:

Taught may require an object, as it does in so many languages, in which case one may have ‘taught the people.’

Is it not written anticipates a positive answer, but the form may be quite varied, e.g. (1) ‘Is it written…; it surely is so written’; (2) ‘it is written, is it not, of course, …’ and (3) ‘is it not written, no…’ or ‘is it not written, yes….’ It should be noted that in some languages agreement with a sentence introduced by a negative must also be a negative, while in other languages agreement is introduced by a positive – forms which are anticipated in some languages in the very form of the question.

Is it … written involves an awkward passive which because of the anticipatory it, referring to the following direct discourse, must be altered in many languages, e.g. ‘the writings contain, do they not, My house shall….’

House of prayer may be rendered as ‘house where they talk to God’ (Copainalá Zoque, Guerrero Amuzgo). In some instances, however, ‘all the nations’ must be made the subject of the praying, for the prayers are not to be uttered on behalf of all the nations, but the temple is a place where all people may pray, e.g. ‘a house in which people of all the nations may pray.’

Den is a cave, but one with a special purpose, namely, to hide in. In order for the full meaning to be conveyed, in Shipibo-Conibo this added feature must be introduced, e.g. ‘cave … to hide in,’ otherwise one might assume that this was only a providential provision for travelers caught in a rainstorm.

Robbers are not thieves, but those who take away possessions by force.

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:

ta Kaisaros ‘the things that are Caesar’s’; ‘what belongs to the emperor.’

apodote (only here in Mark) ‘give back,’ ‘return,’ ‘pay,’ ‘render.’

exethaumazon ep’ autō ‘they marvelled greatly at him.’

ekthaumazō (only here in N.T.: cf. thaumazō 5.20) ‘to wonder greatly,’ ‘to marvel much.’

epi ‘at’: for this use the preposition cf. 1.22.

Translation:

Render to is equivalent in many languages to ‘pay to’ or ‘give back to,’ in the sense that the coin had been minted by Caesar’s government. Accordingly, one can translate this passage as ‘pay back to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and pay back to God the things that belong to God.’

For amazed see 1.22, 27. However, at him may require adaptation in the form of a causal statement, e.g. ‘because of him’ or ‘because of what he said,’ in instances in which one cannot say ‘amazed at a person,’ but only ‘amazed at what a person does’ or ‘because of a person.’

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:

grēgoreite (cf. v. 34) ‘you must watch.’

Translation:

Say is used in this verse in two different meanings: (1) addressing particular persons and (2) uttering something which is universally applicable. This may require two different verbs in another language, e.g. ‘what I am saying to you I mean for everyone,’ ‘what I am now talking to you about includes everyone’ or ‘what I am telling you I am also saying for the benefit of everyone.’

For watch see verse 33.

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:

chōrion (only here in Mark) ‘place,’ ‘plot of land,’ ‘field,’ ‘estate’: it is from John 18.1 that we get the designation ‘garden’ (kēpos).

Gethsēmani (only here in Mark) ‘Gethsemane’: the word is derived from gath-semaneʿ, ‘oil-press.’

kathisate (cf. 9.35) ‘you sit here.’

heōs proseuxōmai ‘until I pray’: the aorist of the verb may be taken here to refer to the action as completed, i.e. ‘until I finish praying’; the meaning, therefore, is ‘while I pray.’

proseuchomai (cf. 1.35) ‘pray.’

Translation:

The word employed to render place must be capable of indicating a small area such as a garden. In some languages, however, there is no equivalent of the generic term place, and one must use a more specific designation, e.g. ‘grove of trees,’ implying an area which is planted and cared for.

They must include not only the disciples, the immediately preceding third person plural referent, but also Jesus. In some languages one can only overcome this syntactic problem by saying ‘Jesus and his disciples went.’ Otherwise the implication is that the disciples went off to the garden of Gethsemane without Jesus.

For pray see 1.35.

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:

tēs blasphēmias (cf. 3.28) ‘the blasphemy’: impious speech against God.

ti humin phainetai; ‘What does it seem to you?,’ ‘how does it appear to you?’

katekrinan (cf. 10.33) ‘they condemned.’

enochon (cf. 3.29) ‘liable of,’ ‘worthy of,’ ‘deserving of’: here the word denotes the punishment .

Translation:

For blasphemy see 2.7, but note that in this passage it is not necessary to interpret blasphemy in the technical sense of ‘making oneself equal with God.’ It is quite enough to render this passage as ‘the evil words he has spoken’ or ‘you have heard him speak against God.’ In Tzeltal this is rendered as ‘you have heard him, he’s against God.’

What is your decision is often translatable either as ‘what do you think’ or ‘what do you say?’

Condemned him as deserving death involves a number of complex relationships of events, rendered in some instances by paratactic combinations, e.g. ‘condemned him, they said, He should be killed,’ or ‘condemned him and decided that he should be killed.’ Death must be interpreted usually in the sense of ‘be killed,’ not merely as ‘to die.’

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 .