Text:

Instead of hos an topos mē dexētai ‘whatever place may not receive’ of all the modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has hosoi an mē dexōntai ‘whoever (pl.) may not receive.’

At the end of the verse Textus Receptus adds amēn legō humin, anektoteron estai Sodomois ē Gomorrois en hēmera kriseōs, ē tē polei ekeinē ‘Truly I tell you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom or Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.’ All modern editions of the Greek text reject this addition which, for the sake of harmony, was introduced here from Mt. 10.15.

Exegesis:

os an topos mē dexētai humas ‘whatever place may not receive you’: the presumed meaning would be, ‘whatever town,’ or ‘whatever city.’ Manson, however, suggests that ‘place’ here probably refers to the synagogue as the place of worship where the disciples would naturally go to deliver their message. In the light of the following clause ‘nor should they hear you’ this conjecture is reasonable.

dechomai (9.37; 10.15) ‘receive,’ ‘accept,’ ‘welcome’; ‘receive as guest.’

ekporeuomenoi (cf. 1.5) ‘going out,’ ‘leaving’: this participle probably should not be understood as temporal ‘when you go out’ (Revised Standard Version) but in light of the imperative mode of the principal verb ‘shake off,’ should be translated as an imperative ‘go out!’ ‘leave!’

ektinaxate ton choun ton hupokatō tōn podōn humōn eis marturion autois ‘shake off the dust which is under your feet as a testimony to them’: cf. Acts 13.51, 18.6, for examples of this practice.

ektinassō (only here in Mark) ‘shake off.’

chous (only here in Mark) ‘dust,’ ‘dirt.’

eis marturion autois (cf. 1.44) ‘as a testimony to them’ probably in a hostile sense ‘against them’ (Revised Standard Version), though Taylor objects (Translator’s New Testament ‘to them’); autois ‘them’ refers to the citizens of the town.

Translation:

Any place must in many instances be ‘the people of any place’ (‘town’ or ‘synagogue’).

Receive is in some languages ‘to welcome’ or ‘to let you enter their town’ or ‘to say, Welcome’ (Cashibo-Cacataibo), or ‘to respect,’ literally, ‘to consider big’ (Tzeltal).

Refuse to hear is translatable as ‘will not listen to.’

Testimony against them (or possibly ‘to,’ see above) is rendered in a number of ways, for this context does not employ the Greek term marturion ‘witness’ in the more usual sense. Some of the ways in which this expression may be translated are ‘in order to show them what they have done’ (Navajo), ‘that shall become a testimony in their eyes’ (Tzeltal), ‘a sign, that witnesses to their guilt’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘to show that they are responsible’ (Barrow Eskimo), and ‘so that it will be known about them’ (Central Mazahua).

For translators who follow Textus Receptus, there are added complications in the comparative expression more tolerable for, which is rendered variously in different languages (for a discussion of some comparative expressions see 1.7). More tolerable for is often translated as ‘the people of Sodom and Gomorrha will suffer less than the people of that city.’ In some instances one must use a double expression, e.g. ‘that city will suffer much, Sodom and Gomorrha will suffer little’ (Chol). Some languages employ an idiom meaning ‘to surpass,’ e.g. ‘the people of that city will surpass in suffering what the people of Sodom and Gomorrha suffer.’

Day of judgment may be rendered as ‘day when God judges’ or ‘day when God will say people have sin’ (Tzotzil), or ‘day when people will be judged.’

Note that in many instances one cannot speak of ‘a city suffering,’ but only of ‘the people of a city suffering.’

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 .