Translation commentary on Mark 14:40

Text:

instead of palin elthōn heuren autous katheudontas ‘coming again he found them sleeping’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, and Vogels have hupostrepsas heuren autous palin katheudontas ‘returning he found them sleeping again.’

Exegesis:

ēsan … katabarunomenoi (only here in the N.T.) ‘they were … weighted down,’ ‘they were … heavy’ (from barus ‘heavy’).

ouk ēdeisan ti apokrithōsin autō (cf. 9.6 for a similar statement) ‘they did not know what they should answer him,’ ‘they did not know what to say to him’: as in 9.6 the verb apokrinomai (cf. 8.4) does not always have the meaning ‘answer’ with a previous question implied, but may mean simply ‘say.’

Translation:

For the translation of came as ‘went back’ see verse 37.

Their eyes were very heavy is merely an idiom meaning ‘they were very sleepy,’ translatable in some instances as ‘they could scarcely open their eyes.’

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 14:40

14:40a

And again Jesus returned: Jesus returned again to the three disciples. The action is similar to 14:37a, except that this is the second time that Jesus returned to see the disciples sleeping.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Afterwards he returned to the three disciples
-or-
After Jesus had prayed this, he came again to the three disciples

again: The context indicates that the word again applies to two different events:

(a) Jesus returned again to his disciples. For example:

Again he returned to them. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
And once more he came back (New Jerusalem Bible)

(b) He found them sleeping again. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

he found them sleeping again

The context indicates that both facts are true. Jesus came to his disciples again, and he found them sleeping again. Use a natural way in your language to indicate this.

14:40b

for their eyes were heavy: The word for here introduces the reason that the disciples were sleeping. In some languages a connector may not be needed.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

…they could not keep their eyes open. (NET Bible)
-or-
They had not been able to stay awake.

their eyes were heavy: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as their eyes were heavy is an idiom. It means that they were very sleepy. If your language has an idiomatic way to express this, you may want to use it here.

14:40c

And they did not know what to answer Him: In this part of the verse there is implied information. The text implies that Jesus woke the three disciples and rebuked them because they were asleep again. The clause They did not know what to answer Him indicates that they had no excuse to offer Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

They did not know what to say to him to excuse themselves.
-or-
When Jesus saw them sleeping, they woke up, and they did not know how to speak to Jesus about their sleeping.

Paragraph 14:41–42

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