Translation commentary on Mark 6:10

Exegesis:

The sense of the order is: ‘whenever you enter a town stay in the same house until you leave that town’ (cf. Mt. 10.11).

menete (14.34) ‘stay,’ ‘remain,’ ‘abide.’

heōs an (9.1; 12.36) ‘until’: the verb which follows is in the subjunctive mode.

Translation:

If this verse is translated literally, it may result in nonsense, e.g. ‘when you enter a house, stay in the house, till you leave the house.’ This is precisely what a number of translations mean, and it is not without reason that readers are puzzled. The meaning (see the Matthaean parallel, Mt. 10.11) is ‘when you enter a house as a guest, do not change residence till you leave the town.’ This was designed to prevent the practice employed by some religious teachers who went from house to house, imposing on the hospitality of as many people as possible.

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 6:10

6:10a

And He told them: The Berean Standard Bible follows the Greek text by introducing what Jesus said in 6:10 with the clause And He told them. This marks the beginning of direct speech. (See the General Comment on 6:8–9 above.) Many English versions do not translate these words. This is because:

(a) they also translate 6:8–9 as direct speech, and

(b) in English it is sufficient to introduce Jesus’ words one time, as it was done in 6:8a.

You should begin 6:10 in a way that is clear and natural in your language.

6:10b

When you enter a house: In Greek, this is literally “Wherever you enter a house” (as in the New Revised Standard Version). This implies that each group of two disciples would go to a different village. It also implies that they would need to find a place to stay while they did the work that Jesus sent them there to do.

you enter a house: The clause you enter a house refers to “staying” or “sleeping” in that house.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Wherever you enter a house to sleep
-or-
Wherever you are welcomed (Good News Bible)
-or-
In whatever house people invite you to stay

6:10c

stay there until you leave that area: The clause stay there until you leave that area means that the disciples should stay in only one house in each town. They should not move from house to house.

Be careful not to translate this in a way that makes readers/hearers think that the disciples were to stay indoors and not leave the house.

that area: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible has translated as that area is literally “there.” If you follow the Berean Standard Bible and supply a word here, use a general word that can include villages.

General Comment on 6:10b–c

In some languages it may be natural to reorder 6:10b and 6:10c and mention the area/town/village at the beginning of what Jesus said. For example:

Stay there until you leave that area, when you enter a house.
-or-
when they went into an area, they were to stay at the same house all the time.
-or-
When you enter each village, be a guest in only one home. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

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