Translation commentary on Mark 15:5

Exegesis:

ouketi ouden apokrithē ‘no longer did he answer anything,’ ‘he did not answer any more.’

apokrinomai (cf. 8.4) ‘answer,’ ‘reply.’

hōste thaumazein ‘so as to marvel,’ ‘so that he marvelled’: for this construction, indicating result, cf. 1.27.

thaumazō (cf. 5.20) ‘marvel,’ ‘wonder.’

Translation:

Made … answer may refer either to the accusations or to Pilate’s question. In the first instance, an equivalent may be ‘he did not say another word to defend himself’; in the second, one may translate as ‘he did not answer Pilate anything further.’

Wondered implies surprise on the part of Pilate at such unusual behavior, almost equivalent to ‘Pilate was dumbfounded.’

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 15:5

15:5a-b

But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply: The Berean Standard Bible reverses the order of the Greek clauses. The Greek literally means “But Jesus no longer answered anything, so that Pilate was amazed.” It may be more natural in your language to follow the Greek order.

15:5a

But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But indicates a contrast with Pilate’s question in 15:4a. Pilate expected Jesus to verbally defend himself against the things that the chief priests accused him of. But he did not.

to Pilate’s amazement: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to literally means “so that” or “with the result that.” Another way to translate this phrase is:

as a a result, Pilate was amazed.
-or-
so that Pilate was amazed.

If you are following the order of the Berean Standard Bible, it may be helpful to translate this phrase as a separate sentence. For example:

this amazed Pilate:

Pilate’s amazement: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as amazement is a verb that means “marveled,” “impressed,” “astonished,” “surprised,” or “wondered.”

Pilate was amazed that Jesus did not respond to the things of which they were accusing him. In some languages, it may be natural to make some of this information explicit. For example:

Pilate was amazed that Jesus remained silent and did not attempt to defend himself.
-or-
Pilate was surprised that Jesus did not defend himself.

15:5b

Jesus made no further reply: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus made no further reply is literally “Jesus no longer answered anything.”

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Jesus still did not say anything.
-or-
Jesus continued to remain silent.
-or-
Jesus did not answer (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Jesus still said nothing (New Century Version)

Paragraph 15:6–15

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