Translation commentary on Mark 6:45

Text:

eis to peran ‘to the other side’ is omitted by Taylor and Manson, but retained by all other modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

ēnagkasen … embēnai … kai proagein ‘he compelled … to enter … and to go ahead.’

anagkazō (only here in Mark) ‘force,’ ‘compel’; Arndt & Gingrich see a weakened meaning ‘strongly urge.’ The word implies unwillingness on the part of the disciples.

embainō (cf. 4.1) ‘get in,’ ‘embark.’

proagō (10.32; 11.9; 14.28; 16.7) ‘lead the way,’ ‘go before,’ ‘precede.’

eis to peran (cf. 4.35) ‘to the other side’: on the difficulties of joining this phrase to pros Bēthsaida ‘to Bethsaida’ see the commentaries. It is generally agreed that this is Bethsaida Julias on the east side of the Lake.

heōs autos apoluei ‘while he dismisses.’

heōs ‘until’: with the present indicative (as here) it means while the action indicated by the verb is in processfor further examples cf. Mt. 5.25, Jn. 9.4).

apoluō (cf. 6.36) ‘send away,’ ‘dismiss.’

Translation:

Made his disciples get into the boat is a verbal, not a direct, instrumental causative, i.e. ‘he told his disciples to get into the boat.’ One must avoid the impression of Jesus manhandling his disciples, an easy mistake to make at this point.

If a verb of ‘speaking’ or ‘commanding’ is used, one may shift this verse to direct discourse, ‘he ordered his disciples, Get into the boat and go on ahead of me to the other side, to the town of Bethsaida….’

Dismissed the crowd is paralleled in some languages by ‘told the crowd to go home’ (Southern Subanen), but see also 6.36.

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 6:45

Section 6:45–52

Jesus walked on the water of the lake

This section tells about another miracle that showed Jesus’ power. After he fed the five thousand men, Jesus urged his disciples to get into their boat and go to the other side of the lake. Then during the night he came to them while they were still in the boat on the lake. He walked to them on the surface of the water and climbed into the boat with them.

There are several ways to divide this section into paragraphs:

(a) Two paragraphs (as in the Good News Bible)

6:45–50a

6:50b–52

(b) Three paragraphs (as in the Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation)

6:45–46

6:47–50a

6:50b–52

(c) One paragraph (as in the New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, English Standard Version)

6:45–52

You should divide this section into paragraphs in a way that is natural in your language. The Notes and Display follow option (a).

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here is another possible heading for this section:

Jesus walks on the water

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 14:22–23 and John 6:15–21.

Paragraph 6:45–50a

6:45a

Immediately: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Immediately connects this story with the previous story about feeding five thousand men. Mark used this word to show that this new story follows right after the previous one. These events began immediately after the previous events.

In your translation, introduce this new story in a way that makes it clear that this is what happened next. Also make it clear that another story is beginning.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Immediately after this (New Living Translation)
-or-
As soon as they had finished (Revised English Bible)

Jesus made His disciples get into the boat: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as made here means “compelled,” “commanded” or “strongly urged.” This word implies that the disciples were hesitant to go. But it does not imply that Jesus had to use force to get them to leave. (Gould pages 120–121: “This language expresses haste and urgency, for which, however, Mt. and Mk. give no reason. But the fourth Gospel states a fact, which would certainly account for this urgency, telling us that the people were about to come and seize him to make him a king (J. 6:15). According to this, Jesus knew that his disciples would side with the multitude in this design, and therefore dismisses them with this abruptness and imperativeness.”)

The New Living Translation has another way to translate this clause:

Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat

disciples: This is the same word as in 6:41d. See the note at 6:1c.

boat: The boat mentioned here is probably the same boat that Jesus and the disciples had ridden in to come to this place. See the note at 6:32 for a more complete description of this type of boat.

6:45b

go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida: There is a textual issue in this verse:

(1) Almost all Greek manuscripts have “go on ahead to the other side to Bethsaida.” For example the New Revised Standard Version says:

go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida

(Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version, New Living Translation, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, King James Version)

(2) A few Greek manuscripts have only “go on ahead to Bethsaida.” They do not have the phrase “to the other side.” For example, the New International Version says:

go on ahead of him to Bethsaida

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), since it has the support of the majority of manuscripts. Also, nearly every English version follows this option. (The phrase “on the other side” was most likely omitted in some manuscripts because of the geographical difficulties presented with this reading. Bethsaida was under the rule of Philip the tetrarch, and therefore was east of the Jordan River. (Metzger page79, Blight and Smith page 143))

Bethsaida: The word Bethsaida is the name of a town northeast of the Lake of Galilee.

6:45c

while He dismissed the crowd: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He dismissed the crowd indicates that Jesus sent the crowd of people away. These are the people whom he fed in 6:30–44.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

while he sent the crowd away (Good News Bible)
-or-
while he gave all the people permission to leave

It is implied that Jesus did not get into the boat with the disciples. He stayed behind on the land to dismiss the crowd. In some languages it may be natural to follow the New Century Version and make this explicit:

He stayed there to send the people home.

In some languages it may be natural to translate what Jesus said as direct speech. For example:

…while he stayed behind and said to the crowd, “You may/should go home now.”

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