Translation commentary on Mark 14:17

Exegesis:

opsias genomenēs (cf. 4.35) ‘when it was evening,’ i.e. after sunset on Thursday, and by now (according to Jewish reckoning) the 15th Nisan.

meta tōn dōdeka (cf. 3.16) ‘with the Twelve’: a title, not a number.

Translation:

Because of the distance of he from the closest specific noun antecedent, it may be necessary to translate ‘Jesus came with the twelve disciples.’

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 14:17

Paragraph 14:17–21

This paragraph describes the final meal that Jesus ate with his twelve disciples before he died. At this meal, Jesus revealed that one of the twelve would betray him. He knew that Judas was the person who would betray him, but none of the other disciples knew.

In Middle Eastern culture, when a man eats a meal with another man, he must not then turn against him and harm him. But Judas did that. He behaved as though Jesus were his friend and then deliberately betrayed him. Jesus warned that Judas would be judged for what he did (14:21).

14:17a

When evening came: The phrase When evening came refers to sometime after sunset. It was the custom of the Jews to eat the Passover meal at night. It is good to use a general term in your language that refers to a time after dark.

Here are some other ways to translate the beginning of this paragraph:

That evening
-or-
When it was dark
-or-
After the sun had set

14:17b

Jesus arrived with the Twelve: The word arrived indicates that Jesus and the disciples came to the place where they would eat the Passover meal.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

arrived there
-or-
arrived at the house
-or-
came into the city and arrived at the place to eat the feast

the Twelve: The phrase the Twelve refers to Jesus’ twelve closest disciples. It includes the two disciples who made the preparations in 14:13–16. See how you translated this term in 14:10a.

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